Food Vendors
Food Trucks, Food Trailers, and Tent Setups
Food vendors are businesses that prepare and serve ready-to-eat meals, snacks, or beverages on-site. This includes food trucks, food trailers, concession trailers, or tent-based operations that serve cooked or assembled food items directly to event attendees.
Examples include:
- BBQ, burgers, tacos, and seafood
- Funnel cakes, kettle corn, or shaved ice
- Fresh-squeezed lemonade, coffee, and specialty beverages
Food Vendor Selection Process
We’re excited to welcome food vendors to our community events! Please review our selection process and timeline below:
- Interest Form Posted – Prior to each event, an interest form will be posted on the City of Orange Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) website and the Explore Orange Facebook page. Food Vendors will not receive an email notification when the form becomes available—it is the Food vendor’s responsibility to check for updates.
- Submit Interest Form – Food Vendors will complete the online form to express their interest in participating. Please note that the submitted interest form applies only to the event advertised.
- Vendor Notification – Once submissions are reviewed, both selected and non-selected vendors will be contacted via email. Non-selected vendors will be offered the option to join a waitlist. (If no response is received from the vendor to join the waitlist, no further contact will be made by the CVB.)
- Registration Deadline – Selected vendors must complete full registration by the provided deadline to confirm participation in the event.
Health Code Compliance Meetings
Following revisions to the State of Texas Health and Safety Code, Orange County has updated its requirements for all temporary food and cottage food vendors.
To be eligible to participate in future Explore Orange events, all food vendors must attend a mandatory meeting once per calendar year to ensure compliance with updated state and county health codes. Cottage food vendors are also encouraged to attend prior to each event to ensure they have all the required and up-to-date information.
Vendors may attend any one of the meetings listed below:
- Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Neighborhood Facility Building Meeting Room
303 N. 8th Street, Orange, TX 77630 - Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Neighborhood Facility Building Meeting Room
303 N. 8th Street, Orange, TX 77630 - Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Neighborhood Facility Building Meeting Room
303 N. 8th Street, Orange, TX 77630 - Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Neighborhood Facility Building Meeting Room
303 N. 8th Street, Orange, TX 77630 - Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Orange County Expo Center
11475 FM1442, Orange, TX 77630 - Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Neighborhood Facility Building Meeting Room
303 N. 8th Street, Orange, TX 77630 - Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 3:00
Orange County Expo Center
11475 FM1442, Orange, TX 77630 - Tuesday, June 30, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Orange County Expo Center
11475 FM1442, Orange, TX 77630 - Thursday, September 24, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Neighborhood Facility Building Meeting Room
303 N. 8th Street, Orange, TX 77630 - Tuesday, November 3, 2026
TBA - Monday, November 30, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Orange County Expo Center
11475 FM1442, Orange, TX 77630
Food vendors are required to attend one of these meetings before participating in an Explore Orange event.
Important: This meeting is required once per calendar year to remain eligible and compliant.
For more information, contact James Scales with the Orange County Environment & Health Code Compliance Department by email at jscales@co.orange.tx.us, by phone at 409-745-1463, or visit the website here: https://www.co.orange.tx.us/departments/EnvironmentalHealthCodeCompliance/FoodService
🚨Please note: attendance is mandatory to be considered for eligibility, but does not guarantee selection for any specific event.