Madison, WI Outdoor Cooking: Outdoor Kitchen Permits (2026)

Madison's code defines "Outdoor Cooking Operation" as "outdoor preparation of food, including by grilling or smoking, as an accessory use of a restaurant, grocery store, catering business, or other use that prepares food for consumption by the public", a commercial-use definition, not one covering a homeowner's private patio grill or pizza oven. The operative standard sits in Sec. 151, MGO alongside the definition: subsection (a) makes an outdoor cooking operation a permitted use if it is not located within 200 feet of the property line of a lot with a residential use, and subsection (b) requires Plan Commission conditional-use approval if it sits within that 200-foot buffer.

Subsection (c) adds a separate cap for residential districts specifically: outdoor cooking operations there are limited to four days in duration and no more than five times a year, unless the operator secures conditional-use approval for anything beyond that. Because the definition ties the use to a food-service business, a private residential outdoor kitchen, a grill, smoker or pizza oven built for a single-family household's own use, falls outside this section entirely and is not subject to a Madison permit requirement under Chapter 28. Enforcement of the commercial standard runs through the Zoning Administrator, with the general Chapter 28 penalty applying to violations of the distance and frequency limits.