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4 Hot Button Insurance Issues for Restaurants

October 17, 2017

Does your restaurant have the right insurance policies in place? There are at least four types of insurance that all food service employers should implement in their businesses.

How can your restaurant mitigate risk, discover efficiencies and lower costs? Evaluating current insurance policies is a good place to start. There are four types of insurance all restaurant owners should invest in if they haven’t already...Read on.

4 Types of insurance you need for your restaurant

Worker’s compensation- In the food service industry, employees face a lot of potential hazards and risks. Every day poses a risk for food service employees—anything from suffering grease burns, slipping on wet floors to throwing out their backs from lifting heavy equipment. Food service businesses can turn to their workers’ compensation policies to mitigate these risks and to safeguard against the high cost of on-the job injuries.

Health insurance- Health insurance is a critical component of any business, no matter the size. Employer-sponsored health insurance is a valuable employee recruitment and retention tool and provides a sense of security for workers. You don’t want to run into situations where employees are coming to work sick because they don’t have the option to stay home.

The Affordable Care Act requires that all businesses with more than 50 employees offer some sort of health insurance plan. However, many small and medium-sized restaurants are exempt because they have significantly smaller staff—if this is the case with your restaurant, consider the critical recruiting and retention benefits attached to offering health insurance to employees and work with your broker to see if there is room in your budget.

Cyber liability- It’s a good idea for any independent dining establishment or taverns to invest in cyber liability or cyber risk insurance. Why? Restaurants are the single most targeted business when it comes to cyber-attack and data breach. These small business insurance plans can help restaurants pay for the expenses associated with recovering from a data breach. Data breaches tend to be expensive - $188 per record on average according to the Ponemon Institute.

Cyber liability insurance policies are designed to finance a variety of key damage control efforts like cyber extortion expenses, legal expenses, costs for notifying affected parties, credit monitoring services, and perhaps a marketing or PR campaign.

Liquor liability- Most states require that any establishment holding a liquor license must carry liquor liability as part of their insurance package. This helps protect you in the event of any alcohol-related incidents or accidents.

Use a trusted insurance agent when buying insurance for your restaurant, they can help you navigate the local and state laws pertaining to how much insurance you need and how much more you’ll want. It is better to be over prepared in such a high-risk industry!

Our Hospitality Services Team is always available to answer your questions.

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