Food Trucks & Mobile Vending · 6 min read · Last updated
Class C is the smallest and simplest of Hamilton's food service vehicle licences. It covers non-motorized carts and cycles that travel and sell pre-packaged frozen product, and nothing else. Because there is no cooking, no propane and no motor, three whole blocks of the Class B checklist fall away, and both the licence fee and the health inspection are set lower.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Mobile” category: “FOOD SERVICE VEHICLE CLASS C, By-law 07-170, Schedule 6. CLASS C: a non-motorized food service vehicle that is used as a travelling food premises from which pre-packaged frozen products exclusively are offered for sale including but not limited to an ice-cream cycle, yogurt cart or juice carts.”
Who needs this licence?
Class C is a non-motorized food service vehicle used as a travelling food premises from which pre-packaged frozen products exclusively are offered for sale. The City gives ice-cream cycles, yogurt carts and juice carts as examples.
The word doing the work is exclusively. If you sell anything that is not a pre-packaged frozen product, you are outside Class C. Scooping from a tub, adding toppings, or selling a bag of chips alongside the ice cream all take you into Class B.
Non-motorized is the second limit. A cycle, a cart, a trailer you push or pull qualifies; a van or truck does not, whatever it sells.
For anyone starting small, Class C is the cheapest legitimate way into mobile food vending in Hamilton, and it is worth structuring your product range to stay inside it if you can. The saving comes from a lower licence fee and a lower health inspection scope, and from an application that skips propane and vehicle safety entirely.
What documents do you need?
The Class C checklist is noticeably shorter than Class B, and what is missing tells you as much as what is present.
- Completed Business Licence Application Form.
- Business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year.
- If operating consistently at one property address: a Zoning Verification Certificate and the written permission of the property owner.
- Valid liability insurance of no less than two million per occurrence, with the City of Hamilton listed as an additional insured.
- A list of what you sell, specifying how products will be refrigerated or heated.
- A spill containment plan, including how and where grey water and grease will be disposed of.
- A description of the vehicle with photographs of all four sides and a clear view of the Ontario licence plate.
- The location where the vehicle will be stored or parked when not in use.
There is no vehicle ownership requirement, no vehicle safety certification and no propane documentation. All three are absent because a Class C vehicle is non-motorized and sells product that was frozen before it reached you.
That absence is the practical argument for Class C. The 36 day documents that force Class B applicants to time their filing carefully simply do not exist here, which makes the application both cheaper and faster to assemble.
The insurance requirement does not scale down with the cart. It is the same limit as the larger classes: no less than two million per occurrence, with the City listed as an additional insured.
Zoning and premises requirements
Zoning is conditional in Class C, exactly as it is in Class B. A travelling cart files no zoning certificate; a cart that operates consistently at one property address files both a Zoning Verification Certificate and the property owner's written permission.
Carts settle into a spot more often than their operators expect. A pitch that works becomes a daily pitch, and at that point the conditional requirement is live.
Zoning applies to where you trade, not to you or to the cart. Being licensed does not give you a right to stand anywhere; permission from whoever controls the land is a separate matter from your licence.
The storage location you declare is its own consideration. A cart with a running freezer needs somewhere it can be plugged in and left, and that place should be one you are entitled to use for the purpose.
Inspections and approvals
Two inspections are circulated by the Licensing Team once the application is received.
- Health Inspection: focused on the cold chain. Freezer temperature and its stability through a trading day, product condition and packaging integrity, and how product is handled during service. The City notes that the plate number is added to the inspection request.
- Licensing Inspection: the cart against your description and photographs, and compliance with the by-law requirements for the class.
The health inspection is scoped at the lowest level used across the food service vehicle classes, because pre-packaged frozen product handled without preparation is the simplest food safety case there is.
That does not make it trivial. A freezer that cannot hold temperature through an August afternoon is the classic Class C failure, and it is worth testing your setup on a hot day before an inspector does it for you.
Both inspections repeat at renewal.
How much does it cost?
The City sets the amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them during the application. The package is:
- A processing fee at application, with HST.
- A licence fee for Class C, no HST, set lower than the Class A and Class B licence fee.
- A health inspection fee, with HST, at the lowest scope in the food service vehicle family.
Both reductions come from the same source: no cooking, no preparation, and product that arrives sealed and frozen.
You also avoid costs that never appear on a City invoice. There is no vehicle safety certificate to buy and no propane certification to obtain, which for a Class B operator are annual expenses.
Renewal is a licence fee plus a health inspection fee. A late renewal carries a reinstatement fee with HST, and that single charge is large relative to the annual cost of a Class C licence, so the expiry date matters more here proportionally than in any other class.
How to apply
Confirm you fit the class. Non-motorized, travelling, and selling pre-packaged frozen product exclusively. If you plan to add anything prepared, apply for Class B from the start.
Set up the cart and photograph all four sides with the Ontario licence plate clearly visible, and settle where it will be stored when not in use.
Arrange liability insurance at no less than two million per occurrence with the City of Hamilton listed as an additional insured, and write your product list and spill containment plan.
File the package with Licensing and By-law Services and pay the fees. If you already know you will work one address consistently, include the zoning certificate and owner permission with the initial filing rather than adding them later.
Renewals and staying compliant
Renewal requires a completed Declaration B and repeats both the licensing inspection and the health inspection.
Current liability insurance at no less than two million per occurrence, with the City of Hamilton listed as an additional insured, has to be provided again. Insurance is the only recurring document in this class, which makes it easy to overlook.
Renewal is charged as a licence fee plus a health inspection fee, with no repeat processing fee.
Watch for scope drift over the season. Adding a scooped or prepared item to a frozen product cart moves you out of Class C, and renewal is the point to correct it rather than to carry it forward.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. What may a Class C food service vehicle sell?
The class is defined by the exclusive sale of pre-packaged frozen product; anything prepared or non-frozen falls outside it.
2. Which Class B requirements does Class C not include?
Class C vehicles are non-motorized and sell pre-packaged frozen product, so ownership, safety certification and propane paperwork do not apply.
3. How is the insurance requirement different for a small Class C cart?
Liability insurance of no less than two million per occurrence, naming the City as an additional insured, applies across the food service vehicle classes regardless of size.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.