No matter what type of hospitality business you own, having the right business insurance for your cafe or restaurant is vital – a lack of it could mean the end of your business.
No two businesses are the same, which is why it’s important to have your insurance professionally customised to suit your specific requirements.
Before speaking to a professional though, how do you know which types of business insurance you need to be thinking about and what you may need?
Looking at the potential risks of your daily business operations is a great place to start.
Cooking
You may have never thought of cooking as s risk, but it can be.
There are chefs and kitchen hands rushing around, along with hotplates, flames and boiling liquids – this area is virtually a recipe for disaster.
Onsite cooking with deep fryers or open flame wok-cooking are two of the most common risks within the hospitality industry. In fact, some insurers even impose exclusions or restrictions if you deep fry or cook with an open flame.
What type of insurance would cover an injury sustained from cooking? Workers Compensation.
Machinery breakdown
Even the most well-maintained piece of machinery or equipment can break down. And no matter the cause, when it does breakdown, it highly impacts your business. This is why it’s important to have the right cover, such as Machinery Breakdown cover in place.
This type of cover will also cover refrigerated and frozen foods that may have spoiled too.
Food poisoning – Liability
You can take all the necessary precautions possible to ensure food is delicious, healthy and fresh, but this doesn’t remove the possibility of it making a customer sick (or least a customer stating it made them sick). With this in mind, it’s really important to have Public Liability cover in place.
This type of cover will also protect you from a range of other possible scenarios, such as a customer slipping and falling in your restaurant and injuring themselves.
Fire
No matter the business, fire is always a risk. In the hospitality industry however, a fire in the kitchen is far more likely.
Not only could this injure a staff member, resulting in a Workers Compensation claim, but it could also shut down your business for some time whilst repairs are being made. There are many other events that could temporarily shut down your business too, such as a storm or flood.
During this time, rent and other operating expenses still need to be paid. How are you going to pay it when your business isn’t running? This is where Business Interruption insurance comes to the rescue.
Theft and Employee Dishonesty
Unfortunately, dishonest employees do exist. But you can cover this risk with fraud or employee dishonesty cover and theft is included in this type of cover too.
For example, if you lose money, contents or stock from theft, attempted theft, or armed hold-up or threatened assault, theft insurance would cover this.
We think things like this will never happen to us, but unfortunately, they do.
Think there are no risks in your hospitality business? Think again.
Talk to a professional Perth Insurance Broker to make sure you’re covered for these risks and more, today.
Contact Grace in Joondalup to find out more or book an appointment.
