So you’ve set up a restaurant. You know what’s going on the menu, what the dining room looks like, and the prices of each dish. But you are missing one key piece: insurance. Insurance is your security blanket: if things go wrong you need insurance to help you get back on track and start making profits again. That being said, let’s take a look at the five key types of insurances you need to set up your restaurant: the general Business Owner’s Policy, Liquor, Workers’ Compensation, Employee Theft, and Food Spoilage.
BOP Insurance
Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) takes many insurance policies necessary to a normal business owner and combines them into one simple policy. Some of the coverages within BOP Insurance include:
- Property Insurance: Property Insurance protects your restaurant in the event of a fire or a similar event. Some policies cover natural disasters or similar unforeseen events, but not all, so be sure to check the details of your policy.
- Liability Protection: Covers your restaurant’s legal responsibility for causing harm to others. If someone hurts themselves by slipping on your floor or finding some other way to injure themselves, you’re covered.
- Business Interruption Insurance: Covers the loss of income from a fire or other catastrophe that halts usual business operations.
Liquor Insurance
If your restaurant intends to serve alcohol, be sure to have liquor insurance as well. Liquor insurance protects you from what your customers do after they consumed your beverages. For example, if a patron has one too many glasses of wine and gets behind the wheel of his or her car and hurts someone or something, you may be held liable for their intoxication and actions. Protect yourself with Liquor Insurance.
Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ Compensation Insurance protects you if a worker hurts him or herself while on the job and cannot work because of it. If a chef burns herself while on the line and cannot cook for a few months he is entitled to workers’ compensation, and if you do not have an insurance policy you will be paying for her to not cook for you. Workers’ compensation insurance allows you to pay your working employees without having to worry about the ones that are out of action, and improves company morale since your employees know you care for them when they are unable to do their job.
Employee Theft
No one wants to consider this situation, but sometimes a perceived friend can do great damage to your business. An employee stealing money or property from a restaurant is not unheard of, and happens more often than one would like to think. The restaurant industry is one of the last bastions of paying and tipping with cash, which makes employee theft so easy. Protect yourself with Employee Theft Insurance, which protects you in this horrible situation.
Food Spoilage
Obviously as a restaurant owner you are working with food, and as you know, all food spoils. Purchasing food that spoils, due to a mechanical failure, refrigeration failure, or some other failure, can be a huge economic loss to a restaurant owner, as it is pure inventory that goes completely unsold. Food Spoilage insurance allows you to recoup your losses when your food goes bad.
So those are the five main types of insurance any restaurant owner needs. Obviously every restaurant is different and may require some other type of insurance as well. To get a full understanding of what insurance policies could help your restaurant, talk to the experts at TJ Woods Insurance Agency. Every staff member has years of experience in the insurance world and can help with any restaurant insurance questions you may have.
