Food truck lottery
Learn about the annual lottery and site selection process.
Our annual live lottery is scheduled for March 22, 2023, at 4 p.m.
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Have questions? Contact:
Small Business Development -
617-635-0462
Site Rules
Please adhere to all site rules and regulations set forth by the City of Boston. Not adhering to these rules may result in removal from the lottery program.
ABSENCESYou are expected to vend at your lottery site for every shift. If you have an emergency, you must notify:
- the Business and Design Services Manager that you will not be vending that day immediately (vanessa.marte@boston.gov or 617-635-0462), and
- your customers publicly by tagging @bostonoeoi on Twitter or Facebook.
Businesses that miss more than three shifts in one year are subject to removal from that location. They may also be suspended from future public site lottery opportunities.
If you arrive at your lottery site and notice that a car is parked, please immediately call the Boston Police Department (617-343-4911). When you call:
- tell them them it’s not an emergency
- provide them the license plate number of the vehicle, and
- finally inform Mobile Enterprise Manager of this occurrence.
Vending without an Annual Food Truck Permit is prohibited by the City of Boston for all mobile businesses. If you are observed vending without proper documents:
- you will be immediately subject to removal
- you will be ineligible to participate in future City of Boston food truck programs, and
- you may be fined by the Boston Police Department or another City of Boston authority.
Site lotteries
We award all public sites through a lottery system. There is an annual lottery before each vending season. Lottery sites are kept throughout the year, unless they are dropped. New vendors can submit an application on a rolling basis to join our program. They’ll be awarded sites based on what is available.
| Lottery type | Application deadlines | Lottery dates |
|---|---|---|
| Annual live lottery | March 14, 2022 | March 16, 2022 |
Adding and dropping shifts
Food trucks have an opportunity to drop sites without a penalty. This must happen within the deadlines set forth by the City of Boston. We make the dropped sites available for new participants to use throughout the year:
- You must submit the drop form by the drop deadline for each quarter. After you drop your site, we make the site available for other food trucks.
- You have two weeks from the permit issue date to pick up your site permit at Public Works. You can also coordinate a pickup with the Mobile Enterprise Manager.
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Have questions? Contact:
Small Business Development -
617-635-0462
