Georgia Mobile Food Unit Regulations
Your roadmap to permitting, design, and daily operations for food trucks, trailers, and pushcarts across Georgia.
Your roadmap to permitting, design, and daily operations for food trucks, trailers, and pushcarts across Georgia.
Converting a truck, trailer, pushcart, or tent into a compliant mobile food unit (MFU) in Georgia means following a mix of state food-code requirements and county-level procedures. This page pulls those threads together in one place, covering permit categories, commissary rules, build-out specs, inspection schedules, and the pitfalls that most first-time operators overlook. Bookmark the quick-links, scan the tables, and take the stress out of rolling your kitchen onto Georgia roads.
Georgia law lumps every rolling, floating, or push-powered kitchen under the umbrella term mobile food unit, yet the permit you need hinges on how long, where, and what you plan to serve. County environmental health offices issue the food-service side of the permit, while the Georgia Department of Agriculture handles Food Sales Establishment licences for vendors selling only sealed, shelf-stable items. The table below compares the most common categories so you can budget both time and money before ordering that wrap for your truck.
| Permit Type | Typical Fee Range | Validity Period | Pre-opening Inspection | Routine Inspection Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual MFU Service Permit | $250 – $400 | 12 months statewide* | Required | 2× per year |
| Seasonal MFU (≤120 days) | $150 – $225 | Up to 4 months | Required | 1× per season |
| Temporary Event Permit (≤14 days) | $75 – $150 | Event specific | On-site day of event | N/A |
| Cottage Food Extension (pre-packaged only) | $100 – $150 | 12 months | Required | 1× per year |
*Some counties issue a separate sticker for every jurisdiction—verify reciprocity before scheduling events.
Georgia’s Food Code draws a bright line: food preparation, ware-washing, and tank refills cannot happen in a home kitchen. Instead, every MFU must operate out of an approved commissary—a brick-and-mortar facility with its own valid food permit. Typical commissaries are restaurants closed during the truck’s service hours, shared-use kitchens, or dedicated food-truck hubs. Your commissary agreement must be in writing and identify trash disposal, wastewater dumping, dry storage, and frequency of use. Counties look for at least three commissary visits per week, logged with date, time, and manager initials.
Pick a commissary within 30 miles of your operating zone—closer makes surprise inspections painless and preserves food temperature during transport. Securing a backup commissary is wise insurance if the primary kitchen burns out an exhaust fan or changes ownership. Keep temperature logs, water-tank sanitation records, and cleaning schedules on file; inspectors tie these to Georgia recordkeeping requirements during scored visits.
A slick wrap and Instagram-worthy neon sign won’t matter if the truck’s interior flunks the first plan review. Georgia follows NSF/ANSI standards for food-contact equipment and mirrors the FDA’s 2025 Food Code for structural benchmarks. Start with sink math: each compartment in a three-bay sink must measure at least 14 × 10 inches, and you need 6-inch drainboards on both ends. Hand-wash sinks require splash guards or a 6-inch clearance from adjacent surfaces. Hot water must hit 100 °F at the hand sink and 110 °F at ware-wash—size your heater at 0.5 gal per minute of flow plus 15 gal reserve.
Water tanks: Georgia sets a 15-gallon baseline for hand-wash and ware-wash combined, then adds one gallon per linear foot of service window. If your truck sports an 8-foot window, plan on 23 gallons minimum. Waste tanks must be sized at least 15 % larger than fresh water. Mount tanks sloped to a ¾-inch valved drain—inspectors kneel to check.
Cooking & ventilation: solid fuel or oil volumes over 5 gallons trigger a Type 1 hood with an automatic suppression system and a Class K extinguisher within 30 feet. Electrical generators should produce under 70 dB at 10 feet for neighborhood compliance. Refrigeration must hold 41 °F or below; steam wells and griddles must maintain 135 °F or higher. Include a separate probe thermometer and calibrate weekly—link to our cold-holding chart to lock in target temps.
Before every shift, complete a start-up checklist: fill the fresh-water tank, empty the gray-water tank, mix sanitizer at 100 ppm chlorine or 200 ppm quat, and verify hand-wash water hits 100 °F in 15 seconds. A certified food manager—accepted credentials listed on our manager certification guide—must be on the unit or immediately reachable. Hair restraints, no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods, and glove changes after handling money remain the biggest score killers.
Georgia schedules the first routine inspection within 30 days of opening; after that, expect two graded visits per year. Score below 80 and a re-inspection lands within 10 days. The state uses a Uniform Mobile Food Vending Inspection Form—blocking the hand-wash sink costs nine critical points, while storing dry goods on the floor costs three. If you need a variance (say, for sous-vide chicken), both county and state must sign off. See the details in state-vs-local food safety laws.
Keep digital and paper records of wastewater receipts; several counties request geotagged photos of disposal sites during audits. Routine self-audits using our inspection compliance checklist slash surprise-visit stress.
Even veteran restaurateurs stumble when their kitchen drives on four wheels. The most frequent citation stems from menu creep: adding raw chicken wings to a truck built for pre-cooked sausages demands a new cross-contamination plan, bigger cold-holding, and an updated permit. Another silent killer is an undersized wastewater tank—overflow onto pavement triggers immediate permit suspension and costly hazmat cleanup. Electrical over-load ranks third; running a 1,800-watt espresso machine and a 1,500-watt steamer on the same 3,500-watt generator cripples cold storage.
Build a preventive maintenance calendar—oil changes, gasket checks, and hood-filter swaps—to keep fines and downtime off your balance sheet.