Restaurant Insurance 101
Whether you just opened a bistro at a local strip mall or you own and maintain half a dozen restaurants in your tri-state area, you seek quality restaurant insurance to protect your assets and keep your operation in the black. This article can introduce you to some basic concepts, common types of insurance you will likely need, and shopping tips — as well as suggest a superior resource for pulling together restaurant insurance quotes.
Components of Restaurant Insurance Coverages
General liability protection — Get this in case someone falls on your walkway, gets food poisoning, or otherwise gets hurt and aims to pin the blame on your eatery.
Property insurance — This protects your building, equipment and supplies in case of a natural disaster, fire, flood, sprinkler-related damage, riot or other covered peril.
Workers compensation — If you have 4+ workers, the law requires you to have workers compensation insurance. You may also want to grab some unemployment insurance as well to protect you if you are forced to lay off line cooks or sous-chefs to make ends meet.
Liquor insurance — If you serve alcohol, you are probably required by state law to carry a liquor insurance. This can protect you if, for instance, a customer gets inebriated at your establishment and goes out and drives into a tree.
Depending on your arrangement with your lender and other factors, you may need health and life insurance on top of all these coverages.
Additional Restaurant Insurance Coverages — Extras You Might Want
Do you keep lots of food in your fridges and freezers? What if something happened to that food — spoilage or contamination, for instance? Food contamination insurance covers this kind of loss — hopefully enough to keep your eatery in the black as you recover. Business interruption insurance remunerates you if something knocks your eatery out of commission e.g. natural disaster, forced temporary closure, etc). Additional coverages to consider include earthquake protection if you live in Southern California or flood protection if you live near a river delta.
Shopping Tips for Restaurateurs
First and foremost, don’t do this all by yourself. It’s trouble enough to run a profitable restaurant — you don’t need to become an expert on insurance on top of all of that. Find a reputable and battle-proven insurance agent to guide you. And speak with professionals in the industry to make sure that you are doing what you can to maximize your policy and minimize your risks.
Shopping for Restaurant Insurance Quotes through NetQuote
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