City of Cambridge Food Truck Program

Cambridge Food Truck Program

The City of Cambridge Food Truck Program provides entrepreneurial opportunities to vendors, diverse food offerings to patrons, and additional street level amenities to Cambridge public spaces.

The Food Truck Program continues in the spirit of the Pilot, helping to incubate and grow food truck businesses with a focus on:

  • Historically excluded proprietors 
  • First-time food truck operators
  • Businesses owned by Cambridge residents
  • Food truck businesses without a brick-and-mortar restaurant operation in Cambridge and no more than one brick-and-mortar operation outside of Cambridge
  • Food truck businesses that are not vending in other outdoor Cambridge venues on a regular basis

As a business incubator program, the Cambridge Food Truck Program allows first-time food entrepreneurs to test branding, menu ideas, and business concepts before making larger-scale investments. For historically excludedfood businesses proprietors who often lack the access to capital needed for costly early stage investments, the Food Truck Program provides a relatively low-cost opportunity that prioritizes these entrepreneurs in a thoughtful way that helps to grow their businesses without competing with existing small businesses in the designated areas.

As the food business industry continues to grow and change, food truck trailers have become an attractive, low-cost option for starting a food business. Allowing trailers to vend in the program aligns with the program’s goals to lower the barrier for food entrepreneurs to test menu options and marketing for their business. Food truck trailers interested in the program are welcome to apply for the start of the 2022/2023 season.

Applications for the 2022/2023 vending season are now open and interested vendors should complete the application available online via the City's Viewpoint platform. 

Interested vendors are encouraged to review the Food Truck Program Guidelines, which have been updated for the 2022/2023 season.

 

Additional Resources

Read how the Program Helped The Pull Up, LLC Establish its Business

Food Truck FAQs for Residents and Area Businesses

General Information about Food Truck Vending in Cambridge

Overview of City outreach for Food Truck Program

Read the Food Truck Pilot Evaluation Report to learn more about how the Pilot has performed to date. 

Customer feedback is being collected on an ongoing basis. Take this brief survey to share your experience with the City of Cambridge Food Truck Pilot

For More Information

Contact Christina DiLisio, cdilisio@cambridgema.gov or 617/349-4601