Winter Haven, FL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Sec. 21-98(d), Hours of operation and frequency, ties a mobile food vendor's allowed hours directly to its distance from residential zoning. Under (d)(1), a vendor located more than 150 feet from property zoned AG1, RE, R-1, R-2 or RM, or located within a shopping center, can operate in the appropriate zoning district without any hours-of-operation restriction at all. every day of the week, Monday through Sunday, with subsection (d)(3) specifying the 150-foot distance is measured from the vendor's location to the residential property line. On top of the hours rule, subsection (e)(1)a sets the by-right zoning districts for mobile food vending on private or non-City property: the C-1, C-3, C-4, I-1, I-2, PI, and PR zoning districts.

Vending in the C-2 or MX districts is not by-right; it requires special use review by the planning commission under (e)(1)b. Winter Haven also requires the vending site itself to be improved, asphalt, concrete or another durable surface, and no more than two mobile food vendors may operate on one property at a time absent a SERC-approved vending rally. Sec. 21-98 was adopted by Ord. No. O-18-61, Sec. 3, on October 22, 2018, and amended by Ord. No. O-20-30, Sec. 1, on September 15, 2020.