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 businesses extended
The NSW Government has extended the date of temporary changes to the planning system until 31 March 2022.
In March 2020 the government amended the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to include a new regulation allowing for a range of new ministerial orders in response to the pandemic.
The changes allow the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces to make an order for development to be carried out without the normal planning approval to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since then, the NSW Government has issued ministerial orders under the act including:
- extending retail trading, delivery and waste removal hours
- allowing home businesses to operate 24 hours a day
- providing more flexible conditions for takeaway food and beverage facilities, food trucks and dark kitchens
- allowing construction sites to operate the same hours on weekdays, weekends and public holidays
- permitting temporary pop-up cycleways within the City of Sydney local area
- allowing temporary vehicle sanitisation stations for the professional cleaning of taxis, ride share and community transport vehicles.
For full 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.
