TXFVA Texas Food Vendors Assoc.
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Texas Food Vendors Association

Texas Food Vendor Permit Guide

TEXAS FOOD VENDORS · PERMIT GUIDE

The Texas food vendor permit guide.

Plain-English answers on the permits, licenses, and insurance every Texas food truck, trailer, and cart has to carry — updated for the statewide DSHS license under House Bill 2844, effective July 1, 2026. Written by the association that verifies these credentials every day.

HB 2844
STATEWIDE LICENSE · JULY 1, 2026
$309–$1,376
DSHS LICENSE, FIRST YEAR
1 license
EVERY TEXAS CITY HONORS IT
WHAT CHANGED

One statewide license replaced the city-by-city patchwork.

As of July 1, 2026, mobile food vendors are licensed once, statewide, by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) under HB 2844 — not permit-by-permit in every city. This guide walks the cost, the application, the law, and the other credentials that go with it.

BEFORE — THROUGH JUNE 2026
A separate health permit in every city you worked. New town, new application, new fee, new inspection, new expiration date to lose track of.
AFTER — JULY 1, 2026
One DSHS license, honored statewide. The health permit stops being a per-city toll — but the fire permit doesn’t. You still pull a fire permit in every jurisdiction you operate in, plus parking and event permits where the city requires them.
FIND YOUR TYPE — TXFVA TOOL

DSHS licenses you by what you do on the unit, not what you call yourself.

Answer four questions the way an inspector would watch you work. Vendors talk themselves into the cheap tier all the time and get re-tiered standing at the window.

Do you cook, hot-hold, cool, or otherwise prepare food on the unit — raw burgers, tacos, gyros, sushi, BBQ?
Do you thaw, cold-hold, or reheat commercially processed products for immediate service — hot dogs, deli, snow cones?
Do you sell reduced-oxygen or vacuum-sealed TCS food?
Is everything you sell prepackaged, and none of it vacuum sealed?
YOUR LIKELY CLASSIFICATION
—
Answer above
Four answers and this fills in. Nothing is sent anywhere — it runs in your browser.
TXFVA GUIDANCE — NOT A DSHS DETERMINATION. THE INSPECTOR SETS THE TIER.
THE TRAP

“We just grill a couple things” is still Type III. The tier is set by what the inspector sees you doing on the unit, and it gets set again on site at the event. Vendors who applied as Type I because it was cheaper get re-tiered standing at the window, with the line already forming — and the fee difference is the smallest part of the problem.

Texas food truck permit cost, 2026.

DSHS FEE SCHEDULE · FIRST YEAR
TYPE I
Prepackaged food including TCS, not reduced-oxygen packaged. Roadside packaged meals, prepackaged ice cream, snacks and drinks.
APPLICATION $309 · NO PRE-LICENSING FEE · COMPLAINT INSPECTION $300
$309
TYPE II
Prepackaged ROP/vacuum-sealed TCS food, or prepared for immediate consumption — cold holding, thawing, reheating commercially processed products. Snow cone and deli trailers, hot dog vendors, pushcarts.
APPLICATION $618 + PRE-LICENSING $400 · ROUTINE AND COMPLAINT INSPECTIONS $400
$1,018
TYPE III
Prepares, cooks, holds, and serves from the vehicle. Hamburgers from raw, tacos, gyros, sushi, BBQ.
APPLICATION $876 + PRE-LICENSING $500 · ROUTINE AND COMPLAINT INSPECTIONS $500
$1,376

FIRST-YEAR DSHS LICENSE FEE. FEES ARE PER UNIT — TWO TRAILERS IS TWO LICENSES. A FIRE PERMIT IS STILL REQUIRED IN EVERY JURISDICTION YOU OPERATE IN. PARKING, EVENT, AND COMMISSARY REQUIREMENTS ARE SEPARATE, AS ARE HANDLER CARDS AND THE MANAGER CERTIFICATE.

CARRY THESE ON THE UNIT

What our inspected members were actually asked for.

Type II and Type III units carry water and wastewater tanks, and inspectors have been asking members for the refill and disposal log to go with them. These two signs get asked for too. Print them, post them, keep the log current.

TXFVA LOG · PRINTABLE
Water & wastewater log
Fill date, potable gallons loaded, source, wastewater gallons dumped, approved disposal point, initials. One month to a sheet. This is the one inspectors have been asking members to produce on the spot.
REQUIRED FOR TYPE II AND TYPE III · OPEN AND PRINT
TXFVA LOG · PRINTABLE
Temperature log
Cook, hot hold, cold hold, cooling, reheat. Item, reading, in range or not, and what you did about it when it wasn’t. The corrective-action column is the one that keeps a bad reading from becoming a violation.
TYPE II AND TYPE III · OPEN AND PRINT
TXFVA SELF-AUDIT · PRINTABLE
Food vending vehicle inspection checklist
All 28 points DSHS checks, laid out as a walkthrough you run yourself. Tank sizing, labeling, sinks, screening, mobility, TxDOT weight records. Nothing on this sheet should be a surprise on the day.
RUN IT BEFORE THE PRE-LICENSING INSPECTION · TWO PAGES
TXFVA PREP SHEET · PRINTABLE
Commissary exemption checklist
The eight conditions that decide whether you operate independently or out of a central preparation facility. Two of them — potable water source and wastewater disposal — are the ones that require logs.
MEET ALL EIGHT OR OPERATE FROM A CPF
DSHS SIGN · PUB 23-13297
Employee health reporting
The symptoms and diagnoses a food employee has to report to you, posted where the crew can read it. Reporting is mandatory under Food Code 2-201.11.
DSHS PDF · REVISED 03/23/2026
DSHS SIGN
Allergen awareness
The nine major allergens, the symptoms of a reaction, what to do when one happens, and how to keep cross-contact off your surfaces.
DSHS PDF · CONSUMER PROTECTION DIVISION
DSHS GUIDEBOOK
Mobile Food Vendor Guide
The official 15-page guide: the HB 2844 rollout, requirements by type, the food vending vehicle inspection checklist, the commissary exemption checklist, and the pre-license inspection.
DSHS PDF · UPDATED MAY 2026
IN THIS GUIDE

Everything a Texas food vendor needs to get permitted and stay compliant.

More guides on the way: how to apply for the DSHS Mobile Food Unit permit, HB 2844 explained, permits by city (Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth), liability insurance and additional-insured COIs, and food handler & manager cards. The full list lives in the footer under Permit Guide.

GET STARTED

Permitted, verified, and never caught expired.

Join TXFVA as a Verified Food Vendor and every permit, license, and card you carry is tracked by expiration, one click from any organizer who asks, and backed by a public verification badge planners can confirm in seconds.