Apply for a mobile food vending business permit
Seek permission for your food van or truck to operate in our area.
Project Status: 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.
Flexible regulations for food trucks
The Environmental Planning and Assessment (Covid-19 Development – Takeaway Food and Beverages) Order 2020 started on 2 April 2022.
The order allows mobile food and drink outlets (food trucks) to operate on any land at any time, if certain requirements are met.
The full list of requirements is set out in the order and includes:
- 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
- it must not contravene any conditions of development consent for any other use of the land
- it may be located on that land where the current use, and development approval, is not for a food and drink premises.
- There must be enough space to allow customers to comply with social distancing requirements – customers must be able to stand least 1.5m from each other. Seating for customers cannot be provided.
- All other requirements including not obstructing vehicle or pedestrian access and taking steps to reduce noise still apply.
For more details visit the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment website.
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 permit 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 permit 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
Food truck information sessions
Before applying for approval, 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
- permit types and fees
- what areas you can trade in
- trading at events or on private land.
Local approvals policy
The 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.
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 3pm, Monday to Sunday. In other areas, they may operate from 9am to 12 midnight. Check the hours of operation map for specific boundaries.
Other information
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.
