If you’re starting a new business, it’s easy to miss a few of the many obligations you need to meet before your doors open. However, there are some things you definitely need to follow through on. Your insurance coverage is one of them. Food business coverage is different from general business insurance, and proprietors need to properly hedge against foreseeable risks that come from operating such a business. Restaurant insurance types include plenty of formulations that combine coverage, so the right insurer may build a single policy that brings together all the areas of risk you need to insure.
Know the Kinds of Restaurant Coverage
Regardless of niche, restaurants need the same universal small business coverages as other startups:
- General liability insurance
- Commercial property insurance
- Life insurance policies on key personnel
- Workers’ compensation if the company employs people
- Auto insurance if the company owns vehicles
Additionally, depending on the kind of business, you might also need specialized food business coverage that includes these specifics among others:
- Food contamination, both replacement and liability
- Specific peril insurance
- Loss of business insurance
- Dram shop coverage for food businesses that sell liquor
Use Your Insurance Agent as a Resource
Whether you are working with an independent agent who can shop your request for coverage around to get you competing quotes or an official representative of a company you are comfortable trusting to insure your food business, your agent is a resource. Agents retain customers when they can help them get coverage that suits them perfectly at a price that does the same. If you aren’t sure whether you need additional coverage types, being interviewed about your business by a professional is the best way to understand whether all your needs are covered.
In fact, periodic insurance reviews are a general risk management strategy that all businesses should implement to keep their coverage updated as the company changes. Companies that don’t regularly update their insurance run the risk of a disaster costing them more than they can afford, and sometimes the failure to maintain adequate coverage can even invalidate the policies they do hold.
Set Your Mind at Ease and Focus on Your Business
When you work with professionals who have deep experience finding the right policies for food businesses, you can be assured you are getting the help you need to be fully covered. That lets you move past this issue until review time comes around without needing to worry about foreseeable accidents or the outliers you can’t ever tell are coming. Instead, you can focus on making your core business successful so you can build the future you really want.
Small business coverage is easy to maintain when you start off on the right footing. Since restaurant insurance types are just as varied as restaurant types, you want to work with agents who know restaurants and not just a type of restaurant. When it’s hard to tell the difference, just go looking for customer testimonials. Many professionals are so happy to show theirs that they’ll want you to take a look anyway. It’s a reasonable request that can tell you a lot about how much they understand your kind of restaurant.
Get New Coverage as You Grow
The last thing to remember about choosing the right restaurant coverage is that you’ll need to speed up the insurance review process if you plan a major expansion, purchase a new asset, or change your offerings substantially. For example, a restaurant with a delivery driver that adds a mobile food truck will need several kinds of new coverage. Instead of waiting six months or however long for the regular review, get in touch with an agent immediately to make sure you’re ready to move forward with your innovations.
