Atlanta has a ton of great restaurants and tons of delicious food. If you’re an enterprising restauranteur in the Atlanta area, you’ve probably found that having a restaurant takes a lot of hard work and dedication. So, how do you go about protecting your restaurant? It’s important to make sure that your beloved restaurant is covered by the right insurance. But what coverages should you consider? We’ll go over some of the coverages you can consider for your restaurant.
7 insurance coverages to consider for your restaurant
These are some of the important coverages to consider as part of your restaurant insurance plan, but remember that each business is different. You need to make sure your insurance is customized to fit your business and protect you against the risks you face.
1. General liability.
General liability insurance is a very important coverage for any business. It can help protect you against claims of bodily injury and property damage. It can also help you cover your legal expenses if you get sued by a visitor or customer. Basically, if someone were to get hurt on your premises, general liability could help you pay for their medical bills. It’s kind of like your “slip and fall” coverage. General liability can also protect you against claims of “personal injury”.
Ex. One of your customers trips over an uneven section of pavement in your parking lot. They break their arm and hit their head, so they need medical attention.
2. Workers’ compensation.
Your employees are a valuable asset to your business, but what if one of them gets hurt on the job? Workers’ compensation can help cover a portion of the wages they lose while unable to work, and it can help cover their medical bills. That way they can get the treatment they need to recover and get better following their accident.
Ex. One of your waitresses slips in the kitchen and takes a bad fall, breaking a wrist.
3. Property insurance.
It’s also important to make sure the structure of the building itself is protected. Business property insurance can protect your business against losses like fire and lightning.
Ex. There’s a fire that starts overnight after your restaurant has closed. The entire place burns to the ground.
4. Business interruption insurance.
Business interruption insurance can consist of business income coverage and extra expense coverage. Business income coverage can help reimburse your business for income you’d lose if you have to close your doors temporarily due to a covered loss – like a fire.
Ex. There’s a fire and you have to close while the building is repaired, so you lose a lot of income. Business income insurance can help cover that income.
5. Spoilage coverage.
Spoilage insurance can help you out of a pickle if your refrigeration/freezing equipment has a mechanical or electrical problem or a power outage that causes them to stop working. If your freezer isn’t working, the inventory and ingredients you have stored there would probably spoil and become unsafe to serve. Spoilage insurance can help you replace the perishable stock that you’ve lost due to the loss of power.
Ex. There’s a major power outage at your restaurant. You come to work in the morning and find that your freezers haven’t been working all night. Spoilage insurance can help you replace your perishable stock.
6. Liquor liability.
If you serve alcohol, it’s important to make sure that you’re covered for the extra risks that arise from having “adult beverages” at your restaurant. Liquor liability can help you if a patron of your restaurant consumes alcohol that your business served them, then goes on to cause bodily injury or property damage to a third party because you could be held liable. Make sure you check what’s covered and not covered by your liquor liability insurance. (You may be able to add this coverage to your general liability policy, so you might want to explore that option.)
Ex. A patron of your restaurant has alcohol. They leave, get into their car, and hit a pedestrian that’s trying to cross the street.
7. Crime coverage/Employee dishonesty insurance.
You might also want to consider crime coverage to protect your business against robbery and burglary. Make sure you consider your crime policy carefully and get the coverages you need for your restaurant.
Your restaurant also might need employee dishonesty insurance, which can help you if one of your employees steals money from your business.
Ex. One of your new employees steals a lot of your restaurant’s hard-earned income.
Is your restaurant eligible for a BOP (Business Owner’s Policy)?
You might also want to find out if your business is eligible for a Business Owner’s Policy. A BOP combines general liability insurance, property insurance, and usually business interruption insurance into one policy so that you can get the coverages you need. This can be a good option because it’s usually less expensive to get these coverages as a BOP than to get them all individually. However, if you go the BOP route, it’s important to make sure you have all the coverages you need. You may need to purchase certain types of insurance as separate policies.
What other restaurant insurance coverages should you consider?
The above coverages aren’t the only ones that you can consider to protect your business. There are others that can protect you against other risks you face.
- Money and securities
- Equipment breakdown
- Hired and nonowned auto insurance
- Umbrella insurance
- Cyber insurance
- Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI)
So, if you’re joining the ranks of the many restaurant owners in the Atlanta area, you might want to consider the above coverages for your business. Our team of insurance professionals can help you get the coverage you need to protect your restaurant. You can get started with your Atlanta restaurant insurance quotes by filling out our online quote form, giving us a call, or messaging us on LiveChat.