Dark Kitchen Insurance
Insurance for dark kitchens: delivery only food businesses with no dining room, including single brand kitchens, operators running several virtual brands from one kitchen, and businesses renting a unit in a shared kitchen site.
A Kitchen Without A Restaurant
Dark kitchens are newer than most of the policies written for food businesses, and that shows. A standard restaurant policy expects customers on the premises, a dining room to insure and one menu under one name. A dark kitchen has none of those, but it often cooks more food, for longer hours, from a smaller space than a restaurant of the same turnover.
That is the risk insurers focus on. Intensive cooking, often with fryers and grills running late into the night, in a unit that may be on an industrial estate or in a shared site with other operators either side. The questions are about fire, extraction, who insures the building, and what happens to the business if the kitchen cannot open.
What Dark Kitchen Insurance Covers
Contents and kitchen equipment
Fryers, grills, ovens, extraction, refrigeration and packing stations. In a dark kitchen the equipment is most of what you own, so value it at full replacement cost.
Stock and deterioration of stock
Food, packaging and ingredients for every brand you run, plus loss of chilled and frozen stock when refrigeration fails.
Equipment breakdown
Sudden failure of fryers, combi ovens, walk in chillers and extraction motors. A kitchen that cannot cook cannot trade, and there is no dining room income to fall back on.
Product liability
Illness or injury from the food you send out, including allergic reactions. You may never see the customer, but the claim is still yours.
Public liability
Claims from visitors, delivery riders collecting orders and other occupiers of a shared site. Even without diners, people still come through the door.
Employers' liability
Compulsory with a £5 million minimum. Burns, cuts, slips on greasy floors and manual handling are the common claims in busy kitchens.
Business interruption
Lost gross profit while the kitchen cannot trade after an insured event. For a business built entirely on orders, every day closed is a day of zero income.
Buildings or tenant's improvements
Buildings cover if you own the unit. In a leased or shared site the building is usually insured by the landlord or operator, and you insure the fit out and improvements you paid for.
Where The Cover Stops
Wordings differ between insurers, so treat these as the usual position rather than as universal fact. Where one of them matters to you, it is worth checking on your own schedule before you need to.
Extraction cleaning conditions
Intensive cooking means grease builds up in ductwork quickly. Most insurers set a cleaning interval, often shorter for high volume kitchens, and expect a certificate after a fire. Missing it can put the claim in doubt.
Loss of income from a delivery app outage
Business interruption usually responds to physical damage at your premises. If a delivery platform goes down, or delists you, that loss of orders is generally not covered.
Delivery riders' vehicles
Riders are usually self employed or engaged through the platform and need their own hire and reward motor cover. If you employ your own drivers, that is a separate motor question rather than part of this policy.
Shared site responsibilities
In a shared kitchen site a fire that starts in another unit can still stop you trading. Whether your business interruption responds may depend on the wording, so ask about damage to neighbouring units and denial of access.
Undeclared brands and menus
Insurers rate on what you cook. Adding a fried chicken brand to a kitchen insured as a salad and bowls operation changes the fire risk, and the insurer needs to know.
Unattended cooking and late opening
Many dark kitchens trade until the early hours. Insurers will ask about opening hours, how equipment is shut down at close and whether anyone is on site overnight.
Several Brands, One Fire Risk
A dark kitchen running four virtual brands may be one business to its owner and several menus to its customers, but to an insurer it is one kitchen with one fire risk. What matters is the combination of equipment running and how intensively it is used.
Fryers and chargrills running for twelve hours a day, six or seven days a week, are a heavier risk than the same equipment used for a lunch service. Insurers look for thermostatic cut outs on fryers, a suitable fire suppression system over cooking lines where the scale justifies one, proper extinguishers and fire blankets, staff trained to use them, and extract ductwork cleaned at the interval they set.
Tell your broker about every brand you run and every change of menu. The fire risk sits with the equipment and the cooking method, so a new brand that adds frying to a kitchen that did not fry before is a change the insurer must hear about.
Shared Kitchen Sites And Who Insures What
Many dark kitchens operate from a unit in a shared site run by an operator who provides the building, utilities and sometimes the extraction. That arrangement is convenient and it raises clear insurance questions.
Find out what the operator insures and what your licence or lease requires you to insure. Usually the operator insures the building and shared plant, and you insure your own equipment, stock, fit out and liability. Some agreements also make you responsible for damage you cause to the building or to other operators' units, and that needs to be reflected in your cover.
Then think about what happens if another unit has a fire. Your kitchen may be undamaged but closed for weeks while the site is repaired. Whether your business interruption pays in that situation depends on the wording, and it is worth asking specifically about denial of access and damage in the vicinity.
Allergens When You Never Meet The Customer
In a restaurant a server can answer a question about allergens. In a dark kitchen the only information the customer sees is what is on the delivery app, so the menu descriptions and allergen information on every platform must be accurate and kept up to date.
Cross contamination is a particular risk in a kitchen producing several brands with different ingredients side by side. Separate preparation areas or clear processes for allergen orders, labelled packaging, and a record of what goes into each dish are the evidence an insurer relies on to defend a claim.
How To Choose Insurance For A Dark Kitchen
Dark kitchens are a newer type of business, and not every insurer or broker treats them differently from a takeaway or a restaurant. We are an FCA regulated broker and will not claim to be the best choice. These are the things that decide whether a dark kitchen policy fits, which you can use to compare any broker, including us.
Do they ask what every brand cooks?
The fire rating follows the cooking. A broker who insures the business under one menu description when you run four brands may be describing the wrong kitchen.
Do they understand shared kitchen sites?
Ask how the policy handles a fire in a neighbouring unit and damage you might cause to the operator's building. These are the questions that matter in a shared site.
Is business interruption set for a delivery only business?
With no dining room or walk in trade, the kitchen is the only source of income. The sum insured and indemnity period should reflect that.
Are extraction and suppression requirements clear up front?
You should know before you buy what cleaning interval and fire safety measures the insurer requires, so you can comply from day one.
Have they been straight about what is not covered?
Platform outages and riders' vehicles are outside a kitchen policy. A broker who says so is more useful than one who leaves you to find out.
Factually, here is what we do. We ask about every brand and cooking method and put them on the proposal, we check how the policy treats shared sites and neighbouring damage, we set business interruption with you on the income the kitchen actually earns, and we tell you at the start what extraction and fire safety conditions apply. We are a broker, so your risk goes to several insurers rather than one.
What Moves The Price
Every policy is priced on the business behind it. These are the things that move the premium:
- What you cook, and whether you deep fat fry or chargrill
- Opening hours and how intensively the kitchen is used
- Turnover across all brands
- Value of equipment, fit out and stock
- Whether the unit is standalone or in a shared site
- Fire suppression and extraction cleaning arrangements
- Claims record over the last five years
We are a broker, so we take it to several insurers rather than quoting one. Call 02382 000820 for a quote.
What We Need To Quote
- Address of the kitchen, and whether it is standalone or in a shared site
- Every brand you run and what each one cooks
- Opening hours and days
- Turnover across all brands
- Value of equipment, fit out and stock
- Number of staff and the wageroll
- Any claims in the last five years
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
- Chicken and burger shop insuranceThe menus many dark kitchens run, and the frying conditions that come with them.
- Restaurant insuranceIf you run a dining room alongside the delivery kitchen.
- Kitchen extract cleaningWhy the extraction cleaning certificate matters after a fire.
- Talk to a brokerTell us what you cook and where, and we will tell you what needs covering.
Common questions
What insurance does a dark kitchen need?+
Employers' liability is compulsory if you employ anyone, with a £5 million minimum. Most dark kitchens also need product liability for the food they send out, public liability, cover for equipment and stock, equipment breakdown and business interruption. If you rent in a shared site, check what your agreement requires you to insure.
Who insures dark kitchens and delivery only restaurants?+
A number of insurers that write food and hospitality risks will cover dark kitchens, but they rate them on the cooking, the hours and the setting rather than as a standard restaurant. We place dark kitchens with several insurers and compare them on how they handle multiple brands, shared sites and business interruption.
Is a dark kitchen insured like a takeaway?+
In some ways, because the cooking is often similar. But a dark kitchen typically has no customer counter, runs several brands and may be in a shared unit or industrial estate, all of which change how an insurer looks at it. It should be described as what it is on the proposal.
Am I covered if a delivery app stops sending me orders?+
Generally not. Business interruption usually responds to physical damage at your premises, such as a fire or flood, not to a platform outage or a decision by the platform to delist you.
Do I need to tell my insurer about each virtual brand?+
Yes. Insurers rate the kitchen on what is cooked and how. A new brand that adds deep fat frying or chargrilling changes the fire risk, and an undeclared change can affect a claim.
Who insures the building in a shared kitchen site?+
Usually the site operator insures the building and shared plant, and you insure your own equipment, stock, fit out and liability. Read your licence or lease, because some agreements make you responsible for damage you cause to the building or to other units.
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