03 Mar The use of a food truck in Vietnam in 2023!

Question: May I create a business with a main location as a food truck?

1/ Food business in the model of mobile trucks

According to the WTO Schedule of Commitments on Trade in Services applied to foreign investors, for food and beverage services, mobile business has not been “clearly” committed to foreign investors when operating in Vietnam. It remains in a grey area. At the same time, in fact, the licensing agency at the Department of Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh City since 2023 has not allowed foreign investors to do business under this model and is currently only approving the “Restaurants and food services” model, excluding mobile catering for the moment. Therefore, in order to provide this business service, your company needs to do it at a fixed location and meet the relevant conditions such as hygiene certificate, fire protection, etc. – these conditions will be specifically assessed after conducting the site survey. Once your facility is set up and running, you can provide catering services on an occasional contract basis with customers. Accordingly, the service will be performed flexibly at many locations requested by the customer and you can use a truck as a vehicle to provide the service. In other terms, you may use a truck at a location but you need to have a business agreement with your client (at that location), justifying the presence of the truck at the time of the service delivery. Kindly note that customers here such as businesses, weddings, corporate conference parties, ie that objects are clearly and specifically identified in the signed service contract.

Question: Should the food truck be subject to a hygiene and/or fire prevention certificate(s)?

2/ Legal issues related to trucks

As we mentioned above, trucks will be acted as a means of doing business, not a main model of mobile business. Therefore, you do not need to apply for a hygiene certificate,… in this case.

At the same time, when the company buys a truck, it must register the vehicle owner under the company’s name in accordance with the law.

You will have to make sure the driver possess a proper Vietnamese driving license (even for foreigners) of the class belonging to your truck.

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