Richland, WA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Richland Municipal Code § 23.42.325 sets nine conditions for vehicle-based food service, the code's term for a food truck equipped to both cook and sell food. A vendor must first hold a city business license under Chapter 5.04 RMC, and the truck itself must stay in full operational condition, licensed to drive on state roads and able to leave the site under its own power or a tow at any time. The truck can only operate as an accessory use to a permanent business already on the property, or on vacant land, and only after the vendor gets written consent from both the property owner and every business already located there.

Operating in the public right-of-way is off-limits except where RMC § 23.42.051 allows it, which covers concessions on city-owned and operated facilities with the city's separate permission. Vendors must also arrange on-site or adjacent restroom access with running hot and cold water for employees; a site without that access cannot host a truck at all. Outdoor seating and equipment are allowed, but not if they cut the site's off-street parking below the minimum Chapter 23.54 RMC requires. Vendors must keep the area clean, supply a waste container, and handle their own litter and waste.

The tightest restriction applies in the C-1 neighborhood retail district: trucks permitted there cannot operate between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., a curfew that does not appear for other commercial zones in the same section.