WHAT YOU NEED
TO KNOW
MOBILE FOOD
VENDOR
CITY OF RIVERSIDEMobile Food Vendor Definitions
• Box Springs Mountain Open Space
• Challen Park Open Space
• Mount Rubidoux Park and San
Andreas Avenue/Glenwood Drive
between Tequesquite Avenue
and Fourteenth Street
• Pachappa Hill Open Space
• Quail Run Open Space
• Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park
Vending vehicles are PROHIBITED
at the following regional
reserve/open space parks:
HOURS OF
OPERATION
All Other Areas
Sunrise to Midnight
Residential Only Areas
Sunrise to Sunset
RiversideCA.gov/Code
For more information, contact the
Code Enforcement Division at
(951) 826-5633 or visit
Business Tax Application
To apply for a Business Tax Certificate, visit
RiversideCA.gov/BusinessTax
SEE ANY ILLEGAL VENDING
OR OTHER ISSUES?
REPORT IT TO 311
RiversideCA.gov/311
Permit Requirements
Food Vendor Requirements
All vendors selling food or beverages are
required to obtain a County of Riverside
Health Permit and must follow all County
Health Code requirements.
No person shall engage in mobile food
vending or operate a vending vehicle
within the limits of the City of Riverside
without first having a Business Tax
Certificate from the City of Riverside.
• “Mobile food merchant” means and refers to
any individual that operates or assists in the
operation of a vending vehicle in the sale,
display, solicitation or offer for sale, barter,
exchange, gift or otherwise of foodstuffs from a
vending vehicle.
• “Mobile food vending” means and refers to the
sale, display, solicitation or offer for sale, barter,
exchange, gift or otherwise, of foodstuffs from
any vending vehicle.
• “Vending operations” means and refers to the
sale, display, solicitation, offer for sale, barter,
exchange, gift or otherwise of foodstuffs from a
vending vehicle.
• “Vending vehicle” means and refers to any
self-propelled, motorized device by which
any person or property may be propelled or
moved upon a highway, excepting a device
moved exclusively by human power, or which
may be drawn or towed by a self-propelled,
motorized vehicle, or used exclusively upon
stationary rails or tracks, from which foodstuffs
are sold, displayed, solicited or offered for sale,
bartered, exchanged, given or otherwise.
No mobile food merchant shall sell,
display, solicit, barter, gift, or exchange or
otherwise, any foodstuff or other item, from
a vending vehicle within the corporate
limits of the City of Riverside, except as set
forth in this Code.
Vending vehicles shall not park within
100 feet of intersections, traffic signals,
and marked or unmarked crosswalks
when making a sale or attempting to
make a sale.
Vending vehicles shall not be left
unattended or parked overnight in the
public right-of-way.
Vending vehicles shall not operate out of
metered parking stalls and shall respect
all curb markings, including but not
limited to loading zones, bus stops, and
restricted parking areas.
Vending vehicles shall not operate
within any designated bikeway, bike
lane, or bicycle parking area.
Sales from vending vehicles parked
along streets shall only occur out of
the portion of the vending vehicle that
faces the sidewalk, or that portion
opposite moving traffic. No sales shall
be made to persons standing in the
portion of the roadway open to other
vehicles.
No mobile food merchant shall operate
in a manner that blocks or obstructs
the free movement of pedestrians or
vehicles.
No mobile food merchant shall place
any sign, chair, table, umbrella or other
object in the public right of way, which
would obstruct pedestrian or vehicle
traffic.
Vending vehicles must be brought to a
complete stop and be lawfully parked
adjacent to the curb.
It is unlawful to sell or offer for sale,
display, solicit, barter, exchange, gift or
otherwise, any food and/or beverages
to any minor child, attending any of
the public or private schools within the
City, on the street or from other public
places within 1,000 feet of the exterior
boundaries of land on which is located
any public or private school or pre-
school building within the City between
the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. of any
school day, without premission.
MOBILE FOOD VENDOR
RULES AND
REGULATIONS
PRIVATE PROPERTY
No more than two vending vehicles shall be
permitted on any private lot in the following zones:
Permission is required from the private
property owner to operate on the property.
No overnight parking of vending vehicles.
A minimum of two off-street parking spaces
shall be provided for each vending vehicle.
The parking required herein shall not be
reserved, encumbered, or designated to
satisfy the off-street parking of another
business or activity that is operating on the
site at the same time as the vending vehicle
Mobile food merchants operating a
vending vehicle must provide or have
garbage receptacles readily available
for immediate use by customers of the
vending vehicle.
Mobile food merchants operating a
vending vehicle must pick up, remove
and dispose of all garbage, refuse or
litter consisting of foodstuffs, wrappers,
and/or materials dispensed from the
vending vehicle, and any residue
deposited on the street from the
operation thereof, and shall otherwise
maintain in a clean and debris-free
condition the entire area within a 25-
foot radius of the location where mobile
food vending is occurring.
No vending vehicle shall stop or
conduct business in any designated
alley.
Ice cream vending. Mobile food
merchants engaged in vending
ice cream and similar food items in
residential neighborhoods shall comply
with California Vehicle Code Section
22456, as may be amended from time
to time.
Office, Commercial General, Commercial Retail,
Commercial Regional Center, Mixed-Use Village,
Mixed-Use Urban, Business and Manufacturing
Park, General Industrial, Air Industrial Zone, Airport
Zones and any zone within a Specific Plan that
allows commercial uses.
Any mobile food merchant who has
not been granted a permit to operate
in a special event must remain 200 feet
away from the boundary of the special
event for the duration of the event.