12th April 2022
Restaurant Insurance: What Do I Need To Consider?
Commercial restaurant insurance policies can protect your restaurant from the costs of claims arising from losses, damage or accidents that take place in your business or as a result of its activities. Here's what you need to know about this type of insurance cover.
What Is Restaurant Insurance?
Restaurant insurance covers property, equipment, and injury to customers or to other third parties not covered under your general liability or employer's insurance.
The Types of Restaurant Insurance
If you've already searched for restaurant insurance, you may have noticed there's a wide range of cover types and costs. Insurance is calculated based on the risks posed by a particular business, so not every restaurant needs the same type of insurance.
If you are wondering what insurance does a restaurant need, here's an overview of the types of policies available and what they cover.
Let's start with employer's liability insurance. Restaurant owners are legally required to take out this type of insurance to comply with their duty of care. Employer's liability insurance offers protection in the event that restaurant employees are injured at work, or their personal belongings are damaged. This extends to temporary and casual workers.
Next is public liability insurance. Every restaurant needs this type of cover to help with any claims resulting from damage or injury to customers (including allegations of food poisoning, which may not be covered by standard policies not designed with eateries in mind). Some situations where you'd want to have this type of insurance include:
- An employee spills water on the floor and a customer slips and falls, injuring themselves.
- A customer becomes ill or has an allergic reaction linked to the food you've served (some food types are deemed higher risk than others - such as shellfish, nuts, sushi and rare/partially cooked meat).
- An employee spills a beverage on a customer and this causes burns or damages their clothing.
Contents insurance covers the costs of replacing restaurant equipment in the event of accidental damage, theft, fire, or flooding. You may also want to consider taking out stock insurance, which covers the loss, damage, or theft of ingredients, produce, prepared food, and essential materials you keep in stock.
Buildings insurance is similar to contents insurance, except that the coverage applies to the restaurant building structure. This would cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding the structure, as well as its fixtures and fittings if they are damaged by fire, flooding, etc.
Business interruption insurance can compensate for the loss of earnings or profit your restaurant may experience if its operations are temporarily interrupted (3). Covid lockdowns are a painful recent example of this but, for instance, you may also need to relocate if there's severe flooding in the street where your restaurant is located, or if your main supplier's premises are involved in a fire and you can't operate without their goods.
What Should You Consider When Choosing Your Insurance?
Your business requirements are unique to your circumstances, so it's important to choose an insurance policy tailored to your needs. Before deciding on a policy, you want to have a clear picture of the risk factors that could affect your business, taking into account the restaurant's location, size, equipment, and staff numbers.
Working with a specialist insurance broker like ManningUK can help you determine what's the most beneficial insurance package for your restaurant and for your budget. Call us today to find out more.
Sources:
https://www.gov.uk/employers-liability-insurance https://www.gocompare.com/business-insurance/public-liability-insurance/
https://www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/choosing-the-right-insurance/business-insurance/business-interruption-insurance/
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