Food & Beverage
Alabaster, Alabama passes food truck ordinance
October 24, 2025
Alabaster, Alabama passed a food truck ordinance as a way to protect brick-and-mortar restaurants. In particular, the ordinance orders food trucks to stay at least 200 feet away from a physical restaurant, according to a report by WVTM 13.
City attorney Jeff Brumlow believes that this ordinance will be fair to both sides.
"We want people to become entrepreneurs and become brick-and-mortar restaurants in the city, and some of them start off as food trucks," Brumlow said in the report. "I can think of three off the top of my head that have done that, but we also want to respect those who have put all that money and investment in that brick-and-mortar restaurant and try to help them and protect them from that competition that really has a much lower entry point than they do."
The ordinance also updates fees for licenses and permits. Food truck operators want to see changes to current requirements that state food trucks have to be licensed and inspected by the county and the city. However, Brumlow argues that these fees are necessary.
"Every city is going to want to inspect the truck to make sure — number one — you do have your health permits," he said in the report. "They want to make sure you got your business license, and they want to make sure that your truck itself is safe under fire codes — under the various codes that have to be inspected for — things like how is propane gas being stored, things that the health department isn't looking for but a fire marshal would."
He also added that the city only charges $25 for permits.
