What permits do you need to open a food truck in Omaha?

Mobile Food Unit / Pushcart Permit (Douglas County Health Department)

A county-specific fee table, confirmed live from DCHD's own Mobile Units & Pushcart Permits page and set independently of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture's retail food establishment fee recorded at the state layer: Mobile Food & Drink Vendor $583.00, Mobile Drink Only Vendor $249.00 and Mobile Retail Vendor $168.00 a year, each with a one-time Initial Permit Fee for a new unit ($200.00, $100.00 and $50.00), and Ice Cream Push Carts $189.00 for 1-10 carts or $284.00 for 11 or more. DCHD's Permit Types table lists the same mobile fee in every quarter, so unlike the fixed-establishment permits these are not pro-rated, and the inspector makes the final determination of permit type. A unit must operate out of a licensed commissary (commercial kitchen) and have hot and cold running water; an operator who is not the commissary's permit holder must file a notarized Commissary Kitchen Certification Form before the sticker permit is issued, and DCHD allows one free commissary switch a year. Renewal is by an inspection appointment with the assigned inspector. Sticker permits are non-transferable, so a buyer of a previously permitted unit applies as a new unit, and a new unit also pays a one-time Nebraska Department of Agriculture permit fee for a state ID, which DCHD collects and forwards and which applies again on a change of commissary or ownership. This DCHD permit is separate from, and additional to, the City of Omaha's own Mobile Food Vendor license (recorded below) and the Peddler Permit under OMC §19-89, both of which DCHD's page lists among the other permits required.

Mobile Food Vendor Permit (City of Omaha)

Confirmed from the Municipal Code itself. OMC §11-333 makes it unlawful to sell food as a mobile food vendor in the city without a mobile food vendor license; §11-336 requires a nonrefundable $100.00 processing fee with the application, plus a further $100.00 for a vendor primarily doing business within a business improvement district lying in whole or in part in the CBD-zoned area, which the City forwards to that district; and §11-337 sets a $100.00 annual renewal fee for each motor vehicle, trailer, cart or other piece of mobile equipment, with the same $100.00 district add-on. This license is required in addition to, not instead of, the Douglas County Health Department's own mobile-unit permit recorded above: the application must include DCHD's documented approval where required and a Nebraska sales tax permit or proof of exemption (§11-334), and the license, DCHD permits and sales tax permit must be carried and producible at all times while selling (§11-338). The Code vests licensing in the Director of Public Works or a designee (§11-332); DCHD's own mobile-permit page names Park Omaha, (402) 444-7275, as the issuing office. Operating rules in §11-338 include a 75-foot buffer from a permanent food establishment's customer entrance during its hours unless it consents, sales only between 6:00 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., motor vehicle liability insurance, and, for sales from property other than a metered or signed paid parking space or city right-of-way, the owner's written consent plus a Planning Department temporary use permit unless the vendor is part of a private event or an event authorized by another city permit; that temporary use permit is $50.00 under OMC §55-890(b)(11), before the technology and training surcharge. A Peddler Permit under OMC §19-89, whose definition of peddler expressly includes mobile refreshment trucks, is a separate Permits and Inspections product priced as an occupation tax from $15.00 a week to $75.00 a year.

Certified Food Protection Manager

No state fee — the certificate is bought from an accredited private programme, and the state's own guidance points directly to the national accreditation list rather than running a programme of its own. Nebraska sets no individual food handler card requirement at state level at all; the only statewide mandate is that each establishment have a certified food protection manager as its person in charge. Some local health departments go further than the state floor — Lincoln-Lancaster County, for one, issues its own food handler and food protection manager permits under local rule — so check locally for anything beyond the manager requirement.

Shared with other businesses in Omaha

• Restaurant and Drinking Places Occupational Privilege Tax — City of Omaha Finance Department, Revenue Section, 2.5% of total monthly gross receipts from the sale of food and/or beverage prepared on the premises for immediate consumption, to the extent those receipts are subject to the Nebraska Sales & Use Tax. The business retains a 2% collection fee out of the tax it collects (i.e., remits 98% of the amount collected). A 10% penalty plus 1% interest per month (or part of a month) applies to a late-filed return., ongoing — filed and remitted monthly by the last day of the following month (quarterly by written Finance Director consent). Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
• Retail Food Establishment Permit — Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Consumer Protection, $122 a year for a limited retail food establishment; further preparation areas add $61 each, annual — renewal payments are due by 1 August. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.