New mobile food vendor policy adopted

Published on 01 November 2024

The City of Launceston has approved a new Mobile Food Vendor Policy, aimed at making it cheaper and simpler for food vans to operate on Council-managed land in the municipality.

City of Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood said food vans brought vibrancy and dynamism to events and streets and allowed startup businesses to establish themselves.

"There's clearly a role for food vans in our municipality, but we know from feedback from operators that the policies that the Council has previously had in place in this area have not been user friendly or economical," Mayor Garwood said.

"We've been working really hard to develop a new policy framework that will make it easier and cheaper for food vans to set up and operate on Council-managed land in Launceston, while also understanding its critical we continue to support our bricks and mortar stores.

"The new policy is aimed at providing more certainty for food van operators and to make the Launceston municipality an attractive and viable place for them to operate.

"We've determined a number of pre-approved locations throughout the municipality that mobile food vendors will be able to operate from, and we'll review these in the future.

"We've also significantly reduced registration fees to bring them into line with other local government areas.

"The new policy has been informed directly by mobile food vendors who provided feedback and input into its development.

"We're really grateful to those mobile food vendors who helped us to develop the new policy, and we hope it will ensure Launceston can capitalise on all the benefits food vans bring for our culture and economy moving forward."