Bellevue Restaurant Insurance

People opening a restaurant have a lot to think about. They’ve been perfecting their culinary craft for years, maybe even decades, and now they have to pick a theme, a style of food, and a menu that stays true to their training but is appealing to them at the same time. They have to think about how to utilize the space in their new facility, how to decorate, what type of messaging to put out into the community, and who their intended audience will be. They have to hire and train sous chefs, busboys, waiters and hosts, and they have to make sure that their finances are straight and up to date. Oh, and they have to think about restaurant insurance.

What is restaurant liability insurance, anyway? It’s not exactly the same as a typical business insurance policy. Restaurant owners encounter a whole different class of risks from other business owners, mostly because the tasks undertaken in the restaurant business are so diverse. Restaurants might be using delivery drivers as their main form of business, or they might be serving sushi on an assembly line. But if the delivery driver gets into an accident, or the assembly line stops functioning correctly, both restaurant owners could be in trouble if their restaurant business insurance doesn’t fully cover their liability.

That’s why business insurance for a restaurant has to be comprehensive. Most policies begin with business property insurance and business general liability insurance. This protects restaurant owners from typical liability issues that nearly all businesses face, particularly ones that offer an externally facing service to customers. Once restaurants are covered in that area, restaurant insurance quotes usually become more diverse and branch out into areas that suit your restaurant, coffee shop or bar’s needs.

A crucial area of insurance for many establishments is liquor liability coverage. Many states have laws on the books that blame restaurants or bars if a customer is overserved alcohol and goes on to commit a crime, cause property damage, or injure someone else. Therefore, restaurants must find a way to mitigate the risk that comes with serving alcohol. That’s what liquor liability insurance is for. Restaurant insurance average cost can jump way up if the restaurant serves alcohol and needs this type of insurance. That’s part of the reason why many restaurants choose not to apply for liquor licenses or serve alcohol at all.

Most restaurants also purchase food contamination coverage, especially restaurants that adhere to the food-to-table model or places where the audience varies tremendously from day to day. Equipment breakdown coverage is essential for many restaurant owners, who have expensive kitchen items like stoves or smokers that the establishment cannot function without. A restaurant insurance quote will factor in all of these circumstances and suggest areas of coverage that you might not have even thought of, or assumed you were covered for already. Restaurants who own their own vehicles that are used for deliveries or catering events might want to look into commercial auto insurance, especially if those vehicles are owned by the restaurant itself and not individual employees.

Looking up questions online like “how much does restaurant insurance cost” is bound to leave you with an unsatisfactory answer. Restaurant owners need to speak with a qualified insurance agent in order to fully comprehend the range of options available to them, and the potential consequences if a liability area is not fully covered. Contact us at our website to get a restaurant insurance online quote, or give us a call to speak about your options. Insurance should be the last thing that restaurant owners in Michigan worry about, so let us do all the work!