APPROVED EVENT: A larger event, such as a farmers' market, music festival, or similar activity that has been approved by the city through a public property special event permit, a temporary use permit (on private property) or a block party permit. An approved event would also include events within a city park with the approval of the director of leisure services or their designee.
CATERED EVENT: For the purposes of this title, any event where a business or entity has requested the mobile food unit to provide food for a targeted audience and where the food is served to the customers within a building, structure, or facility and not directly from the mobile food unit, or where the business or entity requesting the service is paying for the food in a single lump sum payment rather than individual patrons paying for their food themselves.
CATERING BUSINESS: A business, social or home catering service providing food and incidental services for a social affair, event, or for a private dwelling, which does not engage in the sale of food or beverage to individually paying patrons.
MOBILE FOOD UNIT: Any type of annually licensed food establishment that is a readily movable vehicle (on wheels), that is self-propelled (driven), or can be pulled or pushed to a location and used for the vending of food or beverage items to the public.
MOBILE FOOD UNIT CLASSIFICATION: The type of mobile food unit based upon the type of menu items being served and preparation and storage requirements for the defined menu items based upon the Iowa department of inspections and appeals mobile food unit guide.
MOBILE FOOD VENDOR: A person engaged in the business of selling food or beverages from a mobile food unit.
PERSON: Natural persons, corporations, firms, and organizations of any description, whether acting in person or through agents, employees, or other persons.
PUSHCART: A nonself-propelled mobile food unit that is pushed or pulled by the mobile food vendor to a location and serves a limited offering of food or beverage items.
SOLICITOR: Any person who initiates or attempts to initiate personal contact with other persons at or near residences or businesses, including upon private driveways, parking lots, or public sidewalks in an apparent effort to solicit or attempt to solicit monies or orders for goods, services, subscriptions, or merchandise to be delivered immediately or at a future date.
STATE LICENSING LEVEL CLASSIFICATION: The Iowa department of inspections and appeals has established four (4) classification levels for mobile food vendors that will be referenced as a part of this chapter. There are more requirements for each of the levels but in general the levels are as follows:
A. Class I: Nonrefrigerated vending units that serve only intact, nonpotentially hazardous commercially prepackaged food and beverages. Examples include chips, crackers, cookies, soda, and sweets in manufacturer's packaging.
B. Class II: Refrigerated or hot vending units that serve potentially and nonpotentially hazardous commercially prepackaged foods from an approved source. Examples include packaged sandwiches, ice cream bars, individually wrapped and cooked hot dogs. No cooking is allowed as part of a class II unit.
C. Class III: Units that serve potentially and nonpotentially hazardous packaged food and unpackaged foods with limited assembly. These units are limited to precooked foods from an approved source that may be reheated on the unit. Examples include pushcart operations, packaged salads, hot dogs, shaved ice.
D. Class IV: Units that serve potentially and nonpotentially hazardous foods that are prepared, cooked, cooled or reheated and assembled on the unit. Examples include self-contained mobile food units, food trucks and any units that are capable of preparing and producing food items from precooked and/or raw products (meat, fish, poultry, plant foods and dairy products) to finished product for consumption.
TRANSIENT MERCHANT: Any person who engages in a temporary or itinerant merchandising business selling direct to the public from a temporary location or structure through a temporary association with a local property owner or business owner. The term "transient merchant", does not include mobile food vendors. Transient merchants shall be regulated by the provisions of the temporary use permit regulations within title 11, "Zoning Regulations", of this code unless defined and regulated elsewhere within this code. (Ord. 1030, 3-23-2017)