Apply for a mobile food vending business approval
When you need to do this
If you’re starting a mobile food vending business, there are 2 types permitted in our area:
- Food vans: restricted to serving food that’s not potentially hazardous or involves low-risk practices such as frothing milk for coffee or selling ice-cream.
- Food trucks: selling potentially hazardous food that’s cooked to order or required to be maintained at temperature.
What you need to do
Food van applications
Defined as those restricted to serving food that’s not potentially hazardous or involves low-risk practices such as frothing milk for coffee or selling ice-cream.
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Complete the food van application form
- Ensure all fields have been filled in correctly. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.
- Attach all required documentation to your application form. Failure to supply the required documents will result in your application being returned.
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Lodge the form by email, mail or in person
- By email: [email protected]
- By mail: City of Sydney, GPO Box 1591, Sydney NSW 2001. DX: 1251 Sydney
- In person: Take the form to Town Hall House customer service centre.
The fee to apply or renew a food van approval is $400.
Pay fees upon lodging your application. If you email your application and opt to pay by credit card, we will contact you to obtain payment.
Food truck applications
Defined as those selling potentially hazardous food such as food that’s cooked to order or is required to be maintained at temperature.
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Complete the food truck application form
Ensure all fields have been filled out correctly. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.
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Provide copies of the required documents
Required documents for new food truck applications:
- Road and Maritime Services vehicle registration
- Certificate of currency of third party property damage insurance to the value of $10 million
- Certificate of currency for public and product liability insurance to the value of $10 million
- Operational plan of management
- Vehicle build and layout plans
- Food safety supervisor certificate
- Suggested menu or list of foods being sold
- Trade waste permit from Sydney Water
- Health inspection report by us or qualified organisation – this applies if using a commercial kitchen or other approved food handling facility.
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Lodge the form by email, mail or in person
- By email: [email protected]
- By mail: City of Sydney, GPO Box 1591, Sydney NSW 2001. DX: 1251 Sydney
- In person: Take the form to Town Hall House customer service centre.
The fee to apply or renew a food truck approval is $600.
Pay fees upon submitting your application. If you email your application and opt to pay by credit card, we'll contact you for payment.
Before you start
Read the policy
Our local approvals policy sets out the relevant laws for safe food handling and preparation practices, and conditions for on-street trading including hours of operation, permitted streets and proximity to other businesses.
Attend a food truck information session
Before applying, we recommend you attend one of our food truck information sessions to discuss your proposed business. The information session will include:
- what constitutes a food truck versus a food van or other temporary food stall
- the essential features of your internal truck build
- your proposed plan of management
- approval types and fees
- what areas you can trade in
- trading at events or on private land.
We’ll add information about upcoming sessions to this page as they’re scheduled. Please check back for updates on dates, times, and registration details.
Restricted areas and exclusion zones
There are a few areas in the local area where food trucks and vans are not permitted to operate. Check the restricted areas and exclusion zones map for details.
Hours of operation
Food trucks and vans may operate in the city centre from 8am to 3am, Monday to Sunday. In other areas, they may operate from 9am to 12 midnight. Check the hours of operation map for specific boundaries.
Changes for mobile food vendors
Recent changes to the Food Standards Code introduced new food safety requirements for businesses that handle and serve unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food. The requirements are described on their website, foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/retail/mobile-food-vendors.
Businesses handling unpackaged, potentially hazardous foods must:
- employ a qualified onsite food safety supervisor
- train all food handlers in safety and hygiene
- demonstrate food safety.
Businesses that slice, weigh, repack, reheat, or hot-hold food they didn't make must also have a qualified onsite food safety supervisor and trained food handlers.
The NSW Authority offers resources and free online training to support the regulations. Use a quick quiz to find out which Food Safety Management Tools apply to your business.
For more information, visit the NSW Food Authority website.
Flexible regulations for food trucks
The State Environmental Planning Policy enables mobile food and drink outlets (food trucks) to operate as exempt development, if they meet the specified standards.
Food trucks are allowed to operate at any time, but there are some restricted times in residential areas and under conditions of our mobile food vending vehicles – local approvals policy.
- Food trucks must have consent of the owner of the land where they are located. If a council or other public authority has control and management of the land, such as a public road, public reserve or other public place, consent in writing from the council or relevant public authority must be obtained.
- If the food truck is located on private land it is limited to one food truck for each lot, and it must not contravene any conditions of development consent for any other use of the land.
- Other requirements including not obstructing vehicle or pedestrian access and taking steps to reduce noise also apply.
OPEN Sydney
The food trucks program emerged from our OPEN Sydney consultation in mid-2011 where many people said they wanted more late-night quality food options in the city.
Since then, a number of trials have been conducted. You can download reports of these trials below.
