Catering businesses are often overlooked when it comes to insuring their assets. However, if you own catering business, you should consider purchasing catering business insurance.
There are several reasons why catering business owners should purchase catering business insurance. Insurance for catering covers the cost of damages caused by fire, theft, vandalism, and other events that could potentially damage your catering equipment. It also protects against lawsuits and legal fees.
If you have employees who work in your kitchen or dining area, they may be covered under workers’ compensation policies. But what happens if one of them is injured on the job? Workers’ comp will not cover injuries sustained while working for another company. If this occurs, then you need catering business liability coverage. This type of policy can protect both you and your staff from being sued after an injury at work.
You must also insure any vehicles used in connection with your catering business. A vehicle is considered part of your “business property” so it also needs to be insured. The types of coverage available include collision, comprehensive, medical payments, uninsured motorist, rental reimbursement, and cargo loss.
You might want to add additional coverage forms depending on how much money you spend on food each year. For example, if you serve $10 million worth of meals per year, you would probably want to buy commercial general liability insurance. CGLs provide protection against claims made due to bodily injury or property damage resulting from accidents involving third parties. They also offer protection against environmental contamination.
In addition to these primary forms of coverage, many optional features cater business owners can choose from. These options include professional services; errors & omissions; directors & officers; liquor liability; management agreement; pollution exclusion; public officials endorsement; unique multi-peril form; umbrella; vendor endorsements; and worker’s compensation.
What does Catering Business Insurance cover?
The following types of events require different levels of catering business insurance:
- Wedding receptions
- Corporate meetings
- Private parties
- Fundraisers
- Holiday celebrations
- Other special occasions
Weddings
If you cater weddings, it’s important to have adequate catering business insurance because many things could go wrong during this type of event. You don’t want to meet yourself without enough coverage when a wedding reception goes awry. Here are some examples of potential problems that could occur at a wedding:
- Your caterer gets sick and cannot attend the ceremony.
- Guests arrive late and disrupt the flow of the celebration.
- Food spoils before guests get served.
- There isn’t enough seating space for everyone.
- Someone spills alcohol on someone else.
Catering businesses should consider purchasing extra coverage for weddings. In fact, most major carriers now charge more than double the rate charged for other events. Some companies even offer separate rates for weddings.
Corporate Meetings
Businesses often hold corporate meetings where people gather together to discuss issues related to the organization. It’s common for attendees to bring snacks and drinks along with them. This way, you will know that your employees aren’t leave hungry after spending hours discussing company matters. When catering to such events, it’s essential to ensure that proper catering business insurance is purchased.
Private Parties
A private party usually involves inviting friends to celebrate an occasion like a birthday, anniversary, graduation, etc. If you plan to host one of these gatherings, you may want to purchase catering business insurance. Most policies allow you to invite up to 100 guests. However, if you exceed this limit, you may have to pay higher premiums.
Fundraising Events
Many charities use fundraising events as fundraisers in order to raise funds for various causes. The problem is that not every charity has experience planning and hosting successful fundraising events. As a result, they sometimes have to hire out the job instead of using their own staff.
When hiring a fundraiser, it’s best to ask about any previous experiences organizing similar events. Also, be aware that certain states prohibit charitable organizations from soliciting donations through direct mail or telemarketing calls. Therefore, it’s advisable to contact local media outlets first.
Holiday Celebrations
It doesn’t take much imagination to realize how busy restaurants become around holidays. Many families decide to spend time together by eating meals at home rather than dining out. Because of this trend, holiday-related food sales increase significantly. Restaurants also see increased demand for special dishes and desserts. For example, Thanksgiving dinner can include turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pudding, green bean casserole, macaroni salad, rolls, butter lettuce salad, and so forth.
As you can imagine, preparing all of those foods takes quite a bit of work. To make sure everything turns out right, chefs need to prepare several days worth of menus ahead of time. They must then store the ingredients properly until required. Finally, when the day comes to serve the meal, there are still many things left to do.
Other special occasions
If you run a restaurant during the Christmas season, you probably already understand what I mean. You might think that you don’t need catering business insurance because you’re only serving food. But, unfortunately, bad weather conditions can cause problems. A storm could damage your roof, which means that water would enter your kitchen. Your oven could malfunction, causing smoke to fill the air. Or maybe someone accidentally sets off fireworks inside your building. These types of incidents could lead to severe injuries or even death. In fact, according to the National Fire Protection Association, fires caused by cooking equipment account for more deaths each year than car accidents.
If you operate a commercial establishment, you should consider purchasing catering business insurance. Not doing so could put your livelihood at risk. After all, who wants to go bankrupt?
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Conclusion
The bottom line is that catering business owners need to ensure that all aspects of their operation are protected. By doing so, they can rest assured knowing that no matter what happens, they won’t lose everything because of something outside their control.
