COVERTRADE SERVICES
Kebab Shop Insurance
Tailored insurance packages for your kebab takeaway business.
Late Trading Is What Sets This Apart
A kebab shop is usually the last thing open on the street, and that single fact drives most of how it is insured. The trade that arrives after the pubs close is good business, but it comes with damage to the shopfront, disorder at the counter, and the occasional assault of staff.
Insurers rate on closing time for exactly that reason, and it has to be declared. A shop trading until three in the morning is a different risk from one closing at ten, and a policy written on the assumption of the latter is not much use at the former.
Alongside that sit the things every high-heat food shop needs (extraction cleaning as a policy condition, stock deterioration, products liability for allergens) plus two that late-night shops should not skip: glass, and money.
The Cover Includes
Property Insurance
Safeguard your kebab takeaway establishment, including the building, fixtures, and fittings, against risks like fire, theft, vandalism, and natural disasters.
Contents Insurance
Protect valuable assets such as kitchen equipment, furniture, stock, and inventory from damage, theft, or loss.
Public Liability Insurance
Shield your business from third-party claims for bodily injury, property damage, or product-related issues with our public liability coverage, extending to product liability for customer safety.
Business Interruption Insurance
Receive financial support during unexpected events like fires or floods that temporarily halt operations, covering lost income and ongoing expenses until normal business resumes.
Employer's Liability Insurance
Fulfill legal obligations and safeguard your employees against work-related injuries or illnesses with this essential coverage.
How Much Is Kebab Shop Insurance?
Across the takeaways we place, premiums start at around £441 a year. A kebab shop sits above that once it is busy.
Late trading is what tends to push it up. A shop open until three near a run of pubs carries more risk to the building and to the staff than one closing at ten, and the premium follows that more closely than it follows turnover.
The rest is the usual: contents, equipment and stock values, whether you own the premises, how much you deliver, and your claims record.
These are premiums arranged for other takeaways and are not a quote. Call 02382 000820 and we will go to the market for you.
The Doner Grill And What It Runs On
A vertical doner grill is a serious heat source that runs for hours, often unattended between orders, immediately next to an accumulating layer of fat. It is the piece of equipment an underwriter asks about first.
What they want to hear is routine rather than remarkable: that it is turned off and cleaned down properly at close, that the drip tray is emptied rather than left to overflow, and that it is serviced on a schedule. None of that is difficult, and all of it is the difference between a defensible claim and a hard one.
It also throws a lot of grease into the extraction system, which is why the cleaning condition on a kebab shop policy tends to be as strict as on any high-heat kitchen. The grill and the ductwork are the same conversation.
Check These First
What an underwriter will ask a late-night takeaway about.
- Closing time, declared accurately
- Counter screens, CCTV and lone working
- Glass cover and the frontage limit
- Grill clean-down and servicing
- Extraction cleaning certificates
- Safe grade for overnight cash
- Flexible payment options
- Dedicated account managers
- Out-of-hours contact should you need to make a claim or just have a question
- A quick and easy, pain-free service
- An excellent customer experience
Extraction Cleaning Is A Policy Condition
This is the condition that decides more takeaway fire claims than anything else, and it is written into most policies rather than being advice. Insurers typically require the full extraction system (canopy, filters, ductwork and fan) to be professionally deep cleaned at set intervals, commonly every six months for heavy cooking, with a certificate to prove it.
A vertical grill running all evening alongside fryers puts a heavy grease load into the system, so kebab shops are usually held to the shorter intervals rather than the annual ones. Check what your schedule specifies rather than assuming. Shops frying at volume sit in the same bracket, which is what fish and chip shop insurance is built around.
Wiping the canopy yourself does not satisfy it. Keep the certificates, note the next due date somewhere you will see it, and make sure the clean covers the whole duct run rather than just the visible parts. A fire claim where the last certificate is out of date is the hardest kind to argue, because the wording is unambiguous and the paperwork is the evidence.
Stock, Freezers And A Quiet Power Cut
Frozen and chilled stock is a claim takeaways make regularly, and it rarely involves anything dramatic: a freezer fails overnight, or the power goes off while the shop is shut, and everything has to be thrown out. Stock deterioration cover, sometimes called refrigerated stock or frozen food cover, is the section that pays for it.
It is worth asking for specifically rather than assuming contents cover responds, because many policies treat it as an optional extension. Check the sum insured against what your freezers actually hold at their fullest, and read the conditions. Some require the equipment to be under a maintenance contract or below a certain age, which is exactly the sort of clause that turns a straightforward claim into an argument.
Delivery Drivers And Hire And Reward
Plenty of kebab shops deliver, and the exposure moves off your premises the moment a driver leaves. Somewhere your shop policy does not follow.
Carrying goods for payment needs hire and reward cover on the vehicle. An ordinary social, domestic and pleasure policy does not extend to it, and neither does standard business use. Driving without it is an offence rather than simply an uninsured loss, and it is the driver who is prosecuted.
If drivers use their own mopeds or cars, you need to see their certificate and check it says hire and reward. A surprising number do not, and the driver often does not know. Vehicles you own yourself need it just the same. Either way, your public liability does not cover a road accident, and your products liability should extend to food once it has left the shop.
What We Need To Quote
Annual turnover and the split between counter and delivery, your opening hours, the rebuild cost if you own the building and the value of contents, equipment and stock, how many staff you employ, whether you deliver and with whose vehicles, your closing time and whether staff are ever alone late, your extraction cleaning arrangements, and any claims in the last five years.
Protect Your Kebab Shop
So why wait? Protect your kebab shop today with CoverTrade's comprehensive insurance coverage. Contact us now to schedule a consultation with one of our expert advisors.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
- Mixed use property insuranceIf you own the building and there is a flat above the shop.
- Fish and chip shop insuranceIf the fryers do more of the work than the grill does.
Common questions
How much is kebab shop insurance?+
Across the takeaways we place, premiums start at around £441 a year, and a kebab shop sits above that once it is busy. Late trading is what tends to push it up: a shop open until three in the morning near a run of pubs presents a different risk from one closing at ten, both for the building and for the staff. Turnover, contents and stock values, whether you own the premises and your claims record do the rest.
Does trading late at night affect my insurance?+
Yes, more than most owners expect, and it must be declared. Insurers rate on closing time because the last hours of a late-night food shop carry a concentration of alcohol-related incidents: damage to the shopfront and glass, disorder at the counter, and assault of staff. Expect questions about counter screens, CCTV, how many staff are on after midnight and whether anyone is ever alone. A policy written on the assumption you close at ten is not the policy you want at three.
What insurance does a kebab shop need?+
Public and products liability, the second covering food-related illness and allergen claims. Employers' liability once you employ anyone. Contents and equipment including the vertical grill, fryers, extraction and refrigeration. Stock including frozen stock. Glass, which for a late-night shopfront is not a trivial section. Business interruption. Money. Buildings if you own the premises. And hire and reward motor cover if you deliver.
Is glass cover worth having on a takeaway?+
For a late-night shop, yes. Shopfront glass is expensive to replace, it tends to break out of hours, and a broken front means boarding up, lost trade and an insecure building until it is fixed. Glass cover usually includes emergency boarding and replacement of the glass itself, and some policies extend to signage and internal glass. Check whether it is included or an extension, and whether the limit reflects what your frontage would actually cost.
How is the vertical doner grill treated?+
As a significant heat source that runs for hours at a time, often unattended between orders, next to a build-up of fat. Insurers will want to know it is switched off and cleaned down properly at close, that the drip tray is emptied, and that it is serviced. It also contributes heavily to the grease load in your extraction, which is why cleaning intervals matter as much here as in any high-heat kitchen.
What happens if my extraction cleaning certificate is out of date?+
A fire claim becomes very difficult. Most policies make professional deep cleaning of the whole extraction system a condition rather than a recommendation, and an insurer can decline where the condition was not met. Keep the certificates, make sure the clean covers the full duct run, and diarise the next one before it lapses.
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