Port - Street Vendor Permit
Lottery
The next lottery will be on Tuesday, May 27th, 2025. The results will be sent to all participating vendors and posted on this webpage on Tuesday, May 27th, 2025.
Cafe Tables and Chairs
A restaurant or café that wants to apply for outdoor seating on the sidewalk in front of their business can apply for the Revocable Café Tables and Chairs Permit at San Francisco Public Works Bureau of Street-Use & Mapping (BSM).
Mobile Food Facilities
A Mobile Food Facility is any vehicle or pushcart used in conjunction with a commissary or other permanent food facility upon which food is sold or distributed at retail in a static location. The Department of Public Health and San Francisco Fire Department continue to enforce public safety regulations, while location permitting was transferred from the Police Department to Public Works.
Banners
A banner permit grants permission to temporarily occupy any City-owned utility poles (primarily poles with streetlights but no utility wires) for the purpose of providing notice to residents and visitors of San Francisco about City-sponsored, City-funded, City-wide special events and locations of the City's diverse neighborhoods. Article 5.7 Section 184.78 (PWC)
Autonomous Delivery Devices
In December 2017, the Board of Supervisors passed Ordinance 244-17 amending the Public Works Code (Section 794) to allow Autonomous Delivery Device (ADD) to operate on City sidewalks for research and development testing. In coordination with other City agencies, Public Works oversees the program and issues permits authorizing the operation of the devices on City sidewalks.
Street Vendor
A vendor under the Public Works Street Vendor Permit is a person or entity that vends merchandise, or pre-packaged food or drink, which may be sold from such structures as stands, tables, non-motorized carts or wagons and similar structures that are temporary and can be removed easily. Vendors may be stationary, meaning that they sell from one or more fixed location, or roaming, meaning that they move from place to place and stop only intermittently to complete a vending transaction.
