Register a temporary food stall

Before you can trade at a market or event, you must register with us.

At least $175 – There are 2 fee categories for temporary food premises.

Project Status: When you need to do this

New stallholders wishing to trade as a temporary food business at any market or event in the local area must register with us.

Processing times

Our service levels and registration processing times may be impacted due to extremely high volumes.

Registration forms must be lodged at least 28 days prior to your event to ensure the stall is registered. Unregistered food stalls won’t be able to trade.

We’ll continue to process registrations as quickly as possible. Your patience is appreciated.

Health and Building unit

Available 24 hours, 7 days a week.

: 02 9265 9333
: [email protected]

What you need to do

Complete the temporary food stall application

Your registration must be completed at least 28 days before you first trade in the local area.

Download the temporary food stall application form (PDF, 63.94KB).

You don't need to notify the NSW Food Authority. Your application and registration of temporary food premises with us will count as notification.
Lodge the completed form
- Email: [email protected]
- In person: at Town Hall House customer service centre
- By mail: City of Sydney, GPO Box 1591, Sydney NSW 2001

Pay the inspection fee

Once you've registered, we'll carry out random, unannounced inspections of your stall. All food businesses inspected will be charged a fee. The fee is only payable once a year even if your stall is inspected more often.

There are 2 fee categories for temporary food premises:

High-risk food is anything that is considered to be potentially hazardous food and requires temperature control. This includes but is not limited to:
- raw or cooked meat
- small goods
- dairy products
- seafood (excluding live seafood)
- processed fruit and vegetables
- cooked pasta and rice
- food containing eggs, beans, nuts or other protein rich foods
- food containing the above, such as sandwiches, rolls and pizza.
Selling high-risk food types requires a food safety supervisor. See food safety requirements below, for more information.
Low-risk food is anything that is not potentially hazardous food. This includes but is not limited to:
- dry goods, pickles
- salad dressings, bottled marinades
- pasta sauces, nuts in the shell
- salted/fermented dried meats
- honey and jam, peanut butter
- fruit/plain cakes, biscuits and crackers
- hard cheeses, fruit juices
- unopened canned foods, bottled salsas
- raw whole fruit and vegetables, dried fruit
- plain bread and bread rolls
- yoghurts and confectionery
- bottled sauces (tomato/ketchup), Asian and soy.
See food safety requirements below, for more information.

Temporary food stall applicationPDF · 93.49 KB · Last modified 26 August 2020

Temporary food stall checklistDOCX · 154.09 KB · Last modified 26 August 2020

Before you start

Food not requiring notification

Anyone who sells food at a fundraising event for community or charitable causes isn’t required to notify us, unless selling food could pose a health risk. For example, food not thoroughly cooked and eaten immediately or it has to be kept hot or under refrigeration to be safe.

Anyone who provides food for free or donates food isn’t required to notify us. Examples may include:

a free sausage sizzle for junior soccer players
providing food for people experiencing homelessness
making food for volunteer firefighters during the bushfire season.

After you finish

If you’re a new stallholder, when you have completed and submitted the temporary food stall application, you will receive a confirmation email with your individual temporary food premises or TFP number, for example, TFP/2020/xxx.
If you already have a number you won’t need to renew your registration with us again. Your number is now permanent.
You must keep a record of the confirmation email with your number when you are trading at any event or market in the local area. Event organisers will request your number to help them register their event with us.

Other information

Changes to your business

When you register with us your temporary food premises or TFP number is your business’ individual number.

If you sell your business or something significantly changes with your business, you or the new owner of the business will need to complete and lodge the temporary food stall application again.

Food safety requirements

If you are selling high-risk food types or potentially hazardous food, your temporary food premises requires a food safety supervisor. If you don’t have a supervisor already, you must obtain a food safety supervisor certificate through an approved and registered training organisation.

Charity organisations do not require a food safety supervisor.

If you live in the City of Sydney's local area you cannot prepare food at home unless you have consent to carry out food manufacturing in your residential property. This can be done with a complying development certificate or consent from a development application.

The kitchen in your residential property must comply with all requirements of Australian Standard AS4674.

If you wish to prepare food before the event you must rent or use a commercial kitchen that has recently had a satisfactory health inspection.

Your temporary food stall application must provide evidence of a current satisfactory food safety inspection for all off-site food preparation and storage associated with your stall. The City of Sydney, another council or the NSW Food Authority can carry out the inspection for you.

The food safety inspection report must be lodged with your temporary food stall application.

Your food stall must practise safe food handling, comply with our fact sheet on temporary food stall operation requirements, the Food Act 2003 and the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

Temporary food stall operation requirementsPDF · 65.77 KB · Last modified 26 August 2020

New laws for food businesses

From 8 December 2023, businesses handling unpackaged, potentially hazardous foods must:

employ a qualified onsite food safety supervisor
train all food handlers in safety and hygiene
demonstrate food safety.

Businesses that slice, weigh, repack, reheat, or hot-hold food they didn't make must also have a qualified onsite food safety supervisor and trained food handlers.

The standards apply to retail, hospitality, school canteens, childcare centres, delis and more. The NSW Authority offers resources and free online training to support the regulations. Use a quick quiz to find out which Food Safety Management Tools apply to your business.

School canteens, childcare centres, supermarkets, coffee vendors selling food and boarding schools need to follow the food safety standard from Sunday 8 December 2024.

For more information, visit the NSW Food Authority website.