Business insurance saves the day in case of damaged property or lawsuits. Food-related businesses face unique risks, ranging from compliance challenges, product quality issues, and contamination and spoilage. Therefore, it’s advisable to get various insurance solutions to protect yourself from liabilities, including the packages discussed below.
General Liability
General liability insurance is commonly the first policy purchased by owners of food businesses. It’s a requirement to lease a commercial space, and it covers property damage from events like fires.
The insurance also covers customer injuries incurred in your premises and pays for medical fees, legal costs, and funeral fees in fatal accidents. The policy also covers product liability. A customer who claims that your food caused an illness can cost you a lot in legal fees, medical bills, and reputational costs.
General liability also shields you from costs arising from damage to a customer’s property. For example, a server may accidentally spill soup on a customer’s iPad and leave you liable for repair costs. Additionally, it covers you from defamation and copyright infringement claims resulting from your advertisements.
Equipment Breakdown Insurance
If you run a restaurant, you’re familiar with the frustrations that accompany equipment breakdowns. If you depend on various mechanical and electrical equipment to run your food-related business, equipment breakdown insurance is a smart policy to get.
The insurance covers breakdowns for your mechanical, electrical, refrigeration, and boiler and pressure equipment. What’s more, you get compensation for computers and communication system breakdowns, which is especially important if you take online orders. The policy includes repair costs and loss of revenue due to equipment breakdown.
Workers Compensation
Cuts, burns, and other injuries are common in food-related businesses like bakeries, food trucks, breweries, and fast-food establishments. The heavy lifting involved causes strains and sprains, while wet floors lead to slips and falls. Workers compensation policies compensate workers for medical costs arising from work-related injuries.
The insurance also reduces your financial risks by sparing you from hefty medical and legal fees. While most states require employers to get workers compensation policies, the coverage extent varies between states. It’s advisable to get coverage with high limits to ensure that injuries will not cost you or your employees.
Commercial Auto Insurance
You should get business auto insurance if you have a food truck, deliver food, or regularly transport food and equipment to catering venues. The insurance is also helpful if you regularly send employees for business-related errands. Keep in mind that personal auto policies won’t cover you or your employees when using personal vehicles for work purposes. In this case, the ideal policy is a hired and non-owned auto policy.
A commercial auto policy covers a range of vehicles used in food-related businesses, including food trucks, cargo vans, refrigerated trailers, and pickups. It protects you from property damage, injuries, or deaths resulting from accidents caused by your company’s vehicles.
Business Property
This policy protects your business assets from unfortunate events like theft, fires, and floods. The insurance helps meet ongoing expenses like salaries while your business is non-operational and compensates for the loss in profits. Some policies pay for extra costs caused by unfortunate incidents to facilitate recovery. You can also purchase sewer backup coverage and utility interruption coverage to cover the costs of sewer backups and interruption of gas, water, or electricity.
Employee Dishonesty
Employees can steal cash, food items, and other assets or perform unauthorized funds transfer or forgery. These acts can negatively affect your financial standing and reputation. An employee dishonesty policy will cover fraudulent activities done by former and current permanent employees, seasonal employees, interns, volunteers, and even trustees.
If you run a food-related business, it’s essential to have it protected by insurance. There are various policies to protect yourself, your employees and customers, and your business property. Contact us at Kenneth Rhodes & Associates, Inc., today to learn more about the right policies for your business.