Newark, NJ Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Section 8:7-6(u) of the Revised General Ordinances forbids anyone from hawking or peddling with a motor vehicle within 200 feet of another motor-vehicle peddler anywhere in the City of Newark, but the code carves out one exception: the Downtown District, where that spacing rule does not apply. Selling inside any of Newark's Special Improvement Districts carries a separate hurdle. Section 8:7-6(v) bars peddling within the boundaries of any Special Improvement District unless the vendor has approval from the district management corporation the City designated to run it.

4(d) authorize IBID and NDD, respectively, to assist the City in regulating sidewalk vending within their boundaries, subject to the rules in each district's Vendor Handbook, which is reviewed and updated annually by an agency the Mayor designates. A vendor cannot rely on a general citywide peddler license alone inside the Ironbound or Downtown District footprint; the district's own handbook rules control there. One corridor is closed to peddling altogether: § 8:7-6(w) bans peddling anywhere within the Bloomfield Avenue/Lower Broadway Business Improvement District except two stretches of Bloomfield Avenue, between Lake Street and Highland Avenue, and between Roseville Avenue and North 10th Street.

Outside these district-specific rules, the general citywide spacing and location limits in § 8:7-6, such as keeping 10 feet from intersections and away from fire hydrants and bus stops, still govern where any cart or vehicle can be positioned.