Lexington County, SC Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Section 21.21.s of the Zoning Ordinance treats a mobile food truck offering temporary service as an accessory activity, permitted only at existing non-residential developments, provided the location is within the parameters of the development or for on-site construction activities. That means a food truck can pull up to an office park, shopping center, or industrial site already zoned and developed for non-residential use, or serve a construction crew on an active job site, without becoming a stand-alone land use requiring its own permit.

The same section draws a hard line for anything more permanent: food trucks located at a permanent location or food truck courts must meet applicable requirements for a Food Services activity. Food Services is defined in § 21.10 to cover restaurants and similar establishments selling prepared food for take-out, delivery, or on-site consumption, and § 21.10 specifically folds food truck courts into that same classification. A permanent food truck site or a food truck court therefore has to go through the full Food Services approval process, including the Schedule of Permitted Uses check in §§ 21.30-21.31 for whether Food Services is allowed in that zoning district, a zoning permit under § 171.10, and the parking ratio set for Food Services in § 22.20 (one space per three seats), rather than relying on the lighter accessory-use rule covering a truck making a one-off stop at a shopping center.

A food truck operating from an unimproved or residentially zoned vacant lot, or one that isn't tied to an existing non-residential development or construction site, falls outside § 21.21.s entirely and has no path to legal operation under that provision.