Restaurant Insurance

No single insurer or broker is best for every restaurant, and anyone who names one before asking about your kitchen is guessing. What separates a broker who can place a restaurant properly is whether they rate the extraction system and fire risk honestly rather than hoping it goes unnoticed, whether they insure the fit out and kitchen equipment at replacement cost rather than the figure from your last renewal, whether products liability includes defence costs, and whether they will take a claims history to underwriters instead of declining at the door. CoverTrade is an independent FCA authorised broker, we place restaurants across the hospitality market rather than through one insurer, and we would rather ask about your extraction cleaning certificate early than discover it at a claim. Call 02382 000820 and we will tell you plainly whether we are the right fit.

A restaurant is rated on its kitchen more than on its dining room, and that is where a generalist quote usually goes wrong. Deep fat frying, flambe work, charcoal and solid fuel each change the fire rating, the extraction cleaning interval and sometimes whether an insurer will write it at all. Add a licence, late hours, delivery drivers or a substantial fit out and the risk moves again. The practical test is whether a broker asks about extraction cleaning intervals and the certificate before they quote. If they do not, the quote is built on an assumption, and assumptions are what get tested at a claim.

Restaurants are written by hospitality and licensed trade insurers rather than by the general small business market, largely through brokers. The rating turns on the kitchen and its fire risk, turnover and covers, tenure, the value of the fit out, licensed hours and claims history, which is more than a short online form can carry. As an independent broker we approach that market on your behalf and set out who quoted and where the wordings differ, so you are comparing cover rather than only price.

Yes, that is the job. On restaurants the differences that decide a claim are rarely the premium: whether the extraction system is covered as part of the kitchen or excluded from it, whether products liability carries defence costs, whether stock is insured at cost and at peak, the business interruption indemnity period, and what conditions the policy attaches around extraction cleaning, electrical testing and the fire risk assessment. Two policies a hundred pounds apart can behave very differently, and the gap only shows at a claim.

CoverTrade is a UK independent commercial insurance broker based in Romsey, Hampshire, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and we arrange cover for restaurants, bistros, cafes and licensed dining across the UK. You can reach us on 02382 000820 or at hello@covertrade.co.uk. We will ask about your covers, turnover, tenure, what you cook and how the extraction is maintained before quoting anything, because a figure given without those is not worth having.

Employers' liability is the only business cover required by law, and it applies as soon as you become an employer, subject to limited exemptions. Motor insurance is separately compulsory for any vehicle you use on the road. Beyond that, a restaurant needs public and products liability, because you invite the public in and serve food; restaurant building and contents insurance for the premises, fit out and kitchen equipment; stock cover including chilled and frozen food with deterioration cover; and business interruption to replace lost profit if you cannot trade. Most restaurants also add money, glass and legal expenses. If you deliver, that needs cover too, and it is not included as standard.

A restaurant insurance package normally combines buildings if you own the premises, contents and trade fixtures including the kitchen, stock, public and products liability, employers' liability, and business interruption. The parts specific to this trade are the commercial kitchen and its extraction system, food stock deterioration if refrigeration fails, and products liability that responds to food poisoning allegations including defence costs. Restaurant insurance coverage that omits the extraction system or treats the kitchen as ordinary contents is the most common gap we see.

Most restaurants we place pay between £553 and £1,179 a year, with the middle of our restaurant book at £649 and the largest a little under £1,450. It rises with the size of the operation. A larger licensed restaurant with a late licence, a substantial fit out and delivery drivers will sit well above that. What moves you within the range is your turnover and wages, the number of covers, whether you own or lease the premises, the value of the fit out and kitchen equipment, whether you have a licence and how late you trade, whether you deliver, and your claims history over the last five years. Fire risk from the kitchen is the single biggest driver, which is why insurers ask about the extraction cleaning certificate before almost anything else. These are ball park figures rather than a quote, so tell us your covers, turnover and tenure and we will give you a real one.

Legally, employers' liability once you have staff, and motor insurance for any delivery vehicles used for business. Contractually, your landlord will require public liability, commonly £5 million, and buildings cover will be required by a lease or mortgage. Beyond insurance, insurers will expect a documented fire risk assessment, an annually cleaned and certificated kitchen extraction system, a five yearly electrical installation condition report, and portable appliance testing. Those are conditions of cover as much as good practice, and a claim can be affected if they are not met.

Products liability is the section that responds to illness or injury caused by food you have served, including food poisoning allegations, and it covers legal defence costs as well as damages. That matters, because defending an allegation is often the larger cost even where the claim fails. It normally sits alongside public liability. Any restaurant should treat it as essential rather than optional, and it is included as standard on the policies we arrange.

Yes, as contents, but with conditions attached that matter. Insurers will require the extraction canopy and ductwork to be professionally cleaned and certificated, usually at least annually and more often where you cook with heavy frying. Keep the certificates, because a kitchen fire claim will be assessed against them. Mechanical or electrical breakdown of an appliance is not usually covered by contents cover, so a fridge that simply stops working is a maintenance issue rather than a claim unless you have added breakdown cover.

Yes. Indian restaurant insurance, Chinese restaurant insurance and pizza restaurant insurance are all placed regularly, and the cuisine matters to the underwriter because the cooking method does. Tandoor ovens, heavy wok cooking and wood fired pizza ovens each carry a different fire profile to a conventional kitchen, and they need declaring accurately rather than being described as a generic restaurant. Insurers who understand the trade rate these properly instead of loading the premium for the unknown.

We do, and a new venture is not a barrier. There is no claims history to assess, so insurers look instead at your relevant experience, projected turnover, the fit out value and the fire protection and security at the premises. Cover can normally be arranged to start on the day you need it, including before opening while the fit out is in progress, which is worth arranging because contract works and stock arriving on site are exposed well before you serve a customer.

Yes. Bar and restaurant insurance is arranged on the same package where a venue does both, and the rating follows the split between food and wet income along with your licensed hours. Tell us roughly how the turnover divides, because a restaurant with a small bar for diners is a different risk to a venue that trades as a bar late into the evening, and the two are underwritten differently.

It is usually the most valuable part of the policy and the most commonly underbought. A kitchen fire closes a restaurant for months, and the loss is not the equipment, it is the trade. Business interruption replaces lost gross profit over the indemnity period you choose, and twelve months is often too short once you account for reinstatement, refitting and rebuilding custom after reopening. Twenty four months is a more realistic figure for a restaurant that relies on a local following.

Yes. Insurance for a small restaurant is arranged the same way as for a larger one, scaled to your turnover, covers and sums insured. Smaller operators are often the ones most exposed to underinsurance, because fit out and kitchen equipment are declared at what they cost years ago rather than what replacing them would cost now. It is worth reviewing those figures at renewal rather than rolling them forward.