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

Piscataway Township's Zoning Ordinance treats mobile food vending as a customary accessory use, not a freestanding permitted use available Township-wide. Section 21-26.2 of Chapter 21, Zoning, lists 'Kiosks, street vending carts, sidewalk cafes' among the accessory uses permitted in the TV, Transit Village Zone, the district built around the commuter rail station. A vending cart in that zone must be accessory to one of the zone's permitted principal uses, so a cart cannot be the only use on a lot; it has to sit alongside a qualifying development, reviewed by the Township Planning Board through the site plan process.

Outside the TV Zone, and separately from any land-use zone, the Uniform Fire Code governs mobile food truck operations under Chapter 19, Fire Prevention and Protection. Section 19-11.1 lets a mobile food truck operator apply for a semiannual permit that substitutes for a Type I permit at multiple venues for six months; the fee is $250 and the application must include a current fire-suppression system test, kitchen hood cleaning report and Class K extinguisher inspection proof. Operators must give the Fire Code Official at least 72 hours' notice before each event, or pay a $50 late processing fee, and every truck is subject to inspection at each stop.

Because the permit is venue-based rather than zone-based, a truck holding it can serve at approved locations across the Township without a separate zoning use approval, so long as the underlying event or site itself is zoned to allow it.