Mobile Food Units

$300 

$100

A valid health permit through Tarrant County Public Health (TCPH) is required prior to applying for any Grapevine permit. “Permits issued by Tarrant County Public Health are for the purposes of providing approval of meeting health food code requirements allowing your business to offer food for public consumption. This approval is not to be mistaken for authorization to operate in any one city jurisdiction within Tarrant County (TCPH)”.

Please see the table above and the online application for Grapevine-specific requirements. 

MFUs must be located on a private, platted, commercial lot. They may not operate on vacant lots and may not be located in public streets, sidewalks, or any other public right-of-way. They may not stop, park, store, or operate on South Main Street properties or within the rights-of-way between the intersections of South Main Street/Northwest Highway and South Main Street/Dallas Road, or on any adjacent street within 250 feet of South Main Street. They must be a minimum of 100 linear feet from any residentially zoned property or residential use. They may not operate within the greater or one block and 300 feet of any block containing a public or private school. 

MFUs must in in addition to required parking. For example, an MFU may not operate in the parking lot of a restaurant that has 10 required parking spaces and 10 provided parking spaces.

More information about the location requirements can be found here. 

There is no limit on how many locations an MFU can visit each year. However, each location is limited to only 4 times per year, for no longer than 2 days each time. MFUs must be removed from the lot on a daily basis and may only operate during the business hours of the primary business and may not be parked for longer than 12 hours. They may operate no earlier than 7:00 a.m. and no later than 10:00 p.m.

For example, an MFU specifies in the application that they would like to operate at 1100 Food Truck Avenue from March 4th to March 5th, and then again at that location from August 29th to August 31st, November 1st to 3rd, and December 11th to 12th. Those dates max out the number of visits they can make to 1100 Food Truck Avenue for the calendar year. They can add as many other locations as they’d like, again with only 4 times per location. 

No - Temporary use permits are meant to cover outdoor events. In the past, an MFU was required to be associated with an event in order to operate in Grapevine. With this new permitting process, MFUs can operate without an event or corresponding temporary use permit. If, however, the MFU is part of a larger outdoor event that a business is hosting, the event representative will need to apply for a temporary use permit, separate from the MFU permit. 

Public and private schools may host a mobile food unit on-site, subject to the approval of a temporary use permit consistent with Subsection 42.A, Temporary Use Permits of the Zoning Ordinance and its limitations.

Your first step with the city is the MFU online application. Once staff receives that application, we will do initial reviews and request payment. Our goal is to facilitate a one-stop-shop inspection process each year. MFU operators will apply for the permit in January and early February. Mid-to-late February, our Fire Department will set a date, a central location, and will assign time slots so food trucks can come to be inspected once for the entire year. Once the Fire Inspection is passed, an inspection through the city will not be required until the next calendar year. If an MFU operator applies for their permit after the January/ February timeline, they will need to call the Fire Department at (817) 410-4424 to schedule an inspection. MFU permits are not valid until the Fire Inspection has been passed.

Please note, Health Department inspections will be conducted through Tarrant County Public Health and are done separately from Grapevine’s process. A valid health permit is required prior to applying for the annual MFU permit.