Street Mobile Vendor

Compact Mobile Food Operation (CMFO)

Compact Mobile Food Operations are mobile food facilities that operate from an individual, pushcart, stand, display, pedal-driven cart, wagon, showcase, rack, or other non-motorized conveyance. These facilities are allowed to be stored at private residences after a health inspection is complete. However, produce must be washed and prepared in a permitted food facility.

Compact Mobile Food Operations can ONLY engage in “Limited Food Preparation.”

“Limited Food Preparation” refers to the following types of food preparation:

  • Heating, frying, baking, roasting, popping, shaving of ice, blending, steaming or boiling of hot dogs, or assembly of non-prepackaged foods.
  • Dispensing and portioning of non-potentially hazardous food or dispensing and portioning for immediate service to a customer of food that has been temperature controlled until immediately prior to portioning or dispensing.
  • Slicing and chopping of non potentially hazardous food or produce that has been washed at an approved facility or slicing and chopping of food on a heated cooking surface during the cooking process.
  • Cooking and seasoning for immediate service only for an individual customer’s order. No advance or partial cooking is allowed on the CMFO.
  • Juicing or preparing beverages that are for immediate service, in response to an individual consumer order, that does not contain frozen milk products.
  • Hot and cold holding of food that has been prepared at an approved permanent food facility.
  • Reheating of food that has been previously prepared at an approved food facility and held at safe food temperatures (41F or colder).

Limited food preparation does not include any of the following and, therefore, is not allowed on a CMFO:

  • Slicing and chopping potentially hazardous food, other than produce, unless it is on a heated cooking surface. Empty wastewater tanks into a sewer connection
  • Thawing.
  • Cooling of cooked, potentially hazardous food.
  • Grinding raw ingredients or potentially hazardous food.
  • Washing of foods, including produce.
  • Cooking of potentially hazardous foods for later use.
  • Handling, manufacturing, freezing, processing, or packaging of milk, milk products, or products resembling milk products that require a Milk Products Plant License from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.


The following chart summarizes the structural and operational requirements for CMFOs.

Operational Requirements Prepackaged* non-potentially hazardous food (greater than 25 square feet) Prepackaged* non-potentially hazardous food Limited food preparation (hot/cold holding, dispensing, portioning, slicing/chopping) Limited food preparation with raw meat, raw poultry or raw fish
Food handler card Not required Required Required Required
Overhead protection Required Required Required Required
Food from approved source Required Required Required Required
Food properly stored Required Required Required Required
Integral equipment Not required Required Required Required
Mechanical refrigeration Not required Required Required Required
Three compartment sink Not required Not required Not required - may provide adequate utensils in lieu of three-compartment sink Meet chapter 10 requirements for a MFF
Handwashing sink Not required Not required Required - warm water not required Meet chapter 10 requirements for a MFF
Food to be disposed at the end of operating day Not required Required Required Required
Access to commissary Required Required Required Required
Access to restrooms Allows for exemption if the CMFO is operated by multiple employees or operators
*Prepackaged food means any properly labeled processed food, prepackaged to prevent any direct human contact with the food product upon distribution from the manufacturer, a food facility, or other approved source.

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