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

Scranton's mobile-food framework relies on existing chapters of the Scranton City Code rather than a single dedicated food-truck ordinance. The relevant layers are: (1) the city's peddler / itinerant vendor / transient merchant licensing chapter, which requires any person selling goods or food on a public street, sidewalk, or public space to obtain a license from the Department of Licensing, Inspections, and Permits and to display the license while operating; (2) the city's zoning ordinance, which governs which zoning districts permit mobile-food vending as a principal or accessory use - typically commercial and industrial districts as an accessory use at a primary business (a brewery, a restaurant lot, an industrial-park lunch service) and not in residential districts on an ongoing basis; (3) the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (with delegated local enforcement where applicable) licensing of any mobile-food unit as a Public Eating and Drinking Place under the Pennsylvania Food Code at 7 Pa. Code Chapter 46, which incorporates the FDA Food Code and requires plan review, a unit inspection, a certified food protection manager, and adequate hot- and cold-holding, water supply, three-compartment sink or equivalent, propane storage, and waste handling; (4) the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue Sales Tax registration (prepared food for immediate consumption is taxable at the PA state sales tax rate; the operator collects and remits monthly or quarterly); (5) PennDOT right-of-way rules for state highways in Scranton (including I-81, I-84, I-380, US 6 - the North Scranton Expressway and Moosic Street corridor, US 11, PA 307, and PA 347); and (6) Lackawanna County right-of-way rules for any county roadways. Scranton parks and city-sponsored events (Nay Aug Park, Connell Park, Lake Scranton trails, and downtown events such as La Festa Italiana at Courthouse Square) are administered by the Department of Public Works and Parks, which coordinates with LIP and the state Department of Agriculture on event-vendor authorizations. Scranton has not codified a curbside-vending map, a sidewalk-vending district, or a dedicated food-truck corridor. Operation at Lackawanna County Courthouse Square or other landmark public spaces requires city event-vendor authorization in addition to the peddler/vendor license. Scranton's downtown zoning allows mobile-food operations as accessory uses at certain festivals and events under the city's special-event framework.