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

Mobile Food Vendor Permit

A food truck or other mobile food vendor operating in Rensselaer County needs a permit from the Rensselaer County Department of Health, whose Food Service Sanitation page lists "Mobile food vendors" among the food service facilities the program permits and inspects. The fee is $200.00 a year, listed as "Mobile Vendor Annual inspection & permit issuance $200.00" in the Rensselaer County Department of Health's "2015 Fees for Environmental Health Services" ("Effective: March, 1, 2015"), which the county's Environmental Health page links as "the current schedule of fees". The same schedule lists a "Permitted Facility Late Fee" of $50.00 for an application renewal. The Food Service Sanitation page directs applicants to call 518-270-2711 for information on how to obtain a food service permit. The county's Environmental Health page describes the fee schedules as "the current schedule of fees for sewage and the Environmental Health Division of Rensselaer County"; the resolution that adopted the 2015 schedule is not published online, so the figure is shown here as the schedule the county presents as current, with its 2015 effective date.

Food Service Establishment Permit

Delegated, so there is no statewide fee and none is shown here. The permit comes from the county or city health department with jurisdiction; where a county has no health department the state's own regional or district health director issues it instead, and in those cases the state portal lists a band of $75 to $175. New York City is a separate regime under the city health department. The term is unusual and worth planning around: up to two years rather than a fixed annual cycle, with the permit-issuing official setting the length based on your compliance record, the risk your operation presents, and whether you run an acceptable self-inspection programme — so a good record literally buys you a longer permit. One statutory fee does exist statewide and is easy to miss: $25 a year to manufacture frozen desserts for retail sale, collected alongside whatever the local permit costs. Approved day care centres, hospitals and nursing homes need no separate food service permit unless a third party runs the food service.

Shared with other businesses in Rensselaer County

• Temporary Food Stand Permit — Rensselaer County Department of Health, Environmental Health Division, $50 per temporary food stand ("Temporary Food Stands Annual inspection & permit issuance $50.00" in the county's 2015 Environmental Health Services fee schedule, effective March 1, 2015); the schedule's next line reads "If day of operation $100.00", annual, per the schedule line "Temporary Food Stands Annual inspection & permit issuance". Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
• Food Worker Training — Local Option under 10 NYCRR 14-1.73 (New York) — New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Community Environmental Health and Food Protection, No fee, set by the permit-issuing official where one is imposed. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.