Pittsburgh, PA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Under Chapter 719 as amended in 2025, food trucks (motorized 'vending vehicles') must obtain a Mobile Vehicle Vendor License from PLI and may only vend at locations the License Officer has approved. Approved locations must align with the zoning code's 'Outdoor Retail Sales & Services' use under Chapter 911, and park or Downtown locations are reviewed by the Public Art and Civic Design Commission under Chapter 175. A vending vehicle may not remain at any one approved location for more than four hours of vending at a time. Mobile vendors are excluded from Market Square and from direct adjacency to Schenley Plaza, and vending on Grandview Avenue remains prohibited. In the Strip District, mobile vending on private property requires written permission from the property owner. Vending vehicles must keep a 20-foot setback from intersections (measured from the stop bar), maintain a 25-foot trash perimeter, and stay at least 150 feet from any similar pre-existing vendor unless a brewery/bar host or non-overlapping hours exception applies. Generators must be permanently mounted on the vehicle, and vendors must remove all equipment from public property outside authorized operating hours, which are set by the License Officer rather than fixed in the ordinance.