Palm Desert, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Section 5.97.110 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code is the location rulebook for food vending trucks. Vending from a truck on any public street, alley or highway is banned under any circumstances. In a public parking lot the truck cannot vend within one thousand five hundred feet of the nearest property line of any school property, unless the school is a college, university or vocational school that primarily serves students older than eighteen, and it cannot vend within seven hundred fifty feet of any eating and drinking establishment or any open concession stand at a public park, unless the truck is associated with a certified farmers' market that is open at the time.

Hours are fixed by season, Monday through Sunday: October 1st through April 30th, nine a.m. to five p.m., and May 1st through September 30th, nine a.m. to seven p.m. Section 5.97.170 excepts trucks servicing construction sites from § 5.97.110, and a truck at a city-permitted special event follows that event permit under § 5.97.100(G).

A truck parked out of the public right-of-way needs the property owner's written consent. With it, up to four tall stand-up cocktail-type tables are allowed, but no chairs, fences or other site furniture. A truck that stays in one location longer than one hour must be within two hundred feet travel distance of a legally approved and permitted toilet and handwashing facility.

Vendors must post signage that loitering is not permitted and that customers can remain on the lot only up to thirty minutes after receiving food. Serving or consuming alcohol at vending sites is prohibited. Refuse must leave the site within thirty minutes of the close of vending, and Category 4 or Category 5 trucks provide two thirty-two-gallon litter receptacles within fifteen feet.

A temporary exemption under § 5.97.115 for four designated areas, with seven a.m. to nine p.m. hours, ended December 31, 2016.