Pushcarts, roadside vendors and BBQ pits

Pushcarts

Pushcarts need an MFV license too (DSHS). DSHS pushcart guidance:

• On wheels, non-motorized, movable by no more than two people, with overhead protection covering the whole unit. All equipment permanently attached.
• Must have a handwashing sink, a three-compartment sink and permanently attached potable water and wastewater tanks with hot and cold water.
• Food limited to: prepackaged food and drinks; commercially pre-cooked foods like hot dogs, sausages and hamburgers; food fully cooked at a central preparation facility; or other food DSHS specifically approves.
• Handling limited to assembling products: no slicing, dicing or cooking on the cart.
• Pushcarts with open food handling must meet the whole CPF exemption checklist to operate without a commissary.

DSHS Pushcart Guidance.

Roadside vendors

• Don't need to be enclosed, don't need sinks, and the water and wastewater tank rules don't apply, because they handle only prepackaged food (DSHS guide, pp. 6–8) (DSHS).
• On the application, a roadside vendor shouldn't pick Type III. If you cook on site, you're not a roadside vendor (DSHS how-to).

BBQ pits on a food truck

• A pit attached to the vehicle (for example on a deck) must be screened in.
• A separate pit must stay mobile, be screened in, and sit right next to the main vehicle.
• No operating from a "pit room" or fixed smoker unless it's permitted as a retail food establishment.
• All prep (cutting, slicing, seasoning) happens inside the main vehicle, which needs all required sinks; all cooking on the pit needs overhead protection.

DSHS BBQ pit requirements, Sep 24, 2026. Open-air BBQ trailers aren't designed to be licensed as MFVs (DSHS).