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Insurance for restaurants

Insurance for your restaurant business usually comes as one package of liability and property cover. It’s built for food-led venues where meals are cooked to order and served at the table.

That takes in owner-run restaurants, units in a small chain, curry houses, pizzerias with a wood-fired oven, gastro and licensed restaurants, and the neighbourhood bistro. Counter-service cafes and coffee shops carry different risks, and cafe and coffee shop insurance is the closer match for them.

Quotezone keeps the first step simple. You fill in one short form about your restaurant, and UK insurance providers on our panel can then contact you with quotes to compare.

Choosing cover for your restaurant

Start with the legal minimum. Once you have employees, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement in Great Britain, unless you employ only certain close family members (GOV.UK). The law in Northern Ireland also requires it (nibusinessinfo.co.uk). Food business registration and, if you sell alcohol, licences sit alongside it.

A typical package then adds public and product liability, cover for the building or your fit-out, kitchen equipment, stock and business interruption. Public liability isn’t generally required by law, but a landlord or a client you cater for may ask to see a certificate.

Your lease and any catering contracts can set a minimum public liability limit, so check them before you choose one. Read the exclusions as well. A policy may restrict fire claims if extraction ducts were not cleaned as often as the insurer requires, or if a fryer was left unattended.

Have your number of covers, turnover, staff numbers and cooking methods to hand before you start. Those are the details insurers usually ask for first.

What does restaurant business insurance cover?

A restaurant policy is normally built around public and product liability, employers’ liability, the building or fit-out, kitchen equipment, stock and business interruption.

The Association of British Insurers says business insurance can help protect against everyday risks such as mistakes, stock or premises damage and legal costs. The sections below take each one in turn.

Public liability

Public liability can pay compensation and legal costs if a diner, supplier or passer-by is injured, or their property is damaged, because of your business. A guest slipping on spilled wine between tables is a typical example. Quotezone’s public liability insurance page explains how limits work.

Product liability for the food you serve

Product liability can respond when a dish you served is blamed for illness or injury. That could be food poisoning, a foreign object in a meal, or a reaction to an allergen that wasn’t declared.

Employers’ liability

This covers claims from staff hurt or made ill by their work, such as a chef’s burn or a back injury from lifting deliveries. You can read more about employers’ liability insurance.

Buildings, fit-out and kitchen equipment

If you own the building, or your lease makes you insure it, buildings cover pays to repair or rebuild it after damage such as a fire. Tenants often insure only their fit-out: the dining room, bar counter and kitchen.

Ranges, combination ovens, extraction canopies and walk-in cold rooms are usually insured as contents. For more on premises cover, see commercial property insurance.

Stock, including food spoiled in a breakdown

Stock cover protects the food and drink on your premises, from frozen meat to the wine list. Deterioration of stock, usually an optional extra, can pay for chilled or frozen food lost when a cold room fails or the power goes off.

Business interruption and other sections

Business interruption can replace lost gross profit while you can’t trade after insured damage. A kitchen fire could close a restaurant for weeks, even if the dining room is untouched.

Other sections to consider include legal expenses, glass and signage, outdoor furniture, money in tills and safes, and personal accident cover.

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Rules restaurants must meet, and what insurers ask about

Insurers may ask about compliance, as it can show how well a kitchen is run. These are the main rules, and where each one applies.

• Register with your local council as a food business at least 28 days before you start trading in England, Wales or Northern Ireland (FSA guidance on GOV.UK).
• In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, food hygiene ratings run from 5 (very good) down to 0 (urgent improvement necessary) (FSA).
• For dishes served loose in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you must give allergen information for any of the 14 regulated allergens. Giving it in writing works, and so does telling customers in person if a clear sign explains how to ask (FSA allergen guidance).
• To sell alcohol in England or Wales, the venue needs a premises licence, and you or a member of staff must hold a personal licence to sell alcohol.
• A fire risk assessment is a legal duty for whoever is responsible for the premises, and it needs regular review. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules (GOV.UK).
• Slips and trips are the single most common cause of major injury in UK workplaces. In catering, kitchen assistants, chefs and waiting staff are the most affected (HSE).

Restaurants with a bar, and pubs that serve food

A restaurant with a drinks licence can usually insure its bar under the same policy, as long as you declare it. Where drinking, late opening or live music drive the business more than food, pub and restaurant insurance is the closer fit.

How much does restaurant insurance cost?

There’s no standard price, because insurers can rate each restaurant differently, based on how it cooks, trades and is staffed. Comparing quotes based on your own details is the way to see a real figure.

These details shape a restaurant quote:

• how many covers you seat, and your annual turnover
• the number of chefs, kitchen porters and front-of-house staff
• cooking methods, such as deep fat frying, chargrills, open flames or a wood-fired oven
• how often a specialist cleans your extraction system, and whether you keep the records
• whether you serve alcohol, and how late you stay open
• a takeaway or delivery service run alongside table service
• pavement tables, a terrace or a beer garden
• whether you own the building or insure only the fit-out
• the postcode, and any claims made in recent years

Worked example: a wood-fired Italian and a lunchtime bistro

Picture two restaurants on one high street. The first is a 40-cover Italian with a wood-fired pizza oven, a fryer, a drinks licence and four pavement tables. It opens until 11pm with eight staff.

The second is a 20-cover bistro serving lunches and early suppers. It cooks on an electric oven and induction hobs, has no fryer and employs three people.

Both need employers’ liability and would usually buy public and product liability. The Italian’s insurer is likely to ask more about fire, because of the open flame and greasy extraction ducts, and about its bar and outdoor tables.

The bistro has a smaller fire risk, but a few days’ closure would hit its lunch trade hard. Stock and business interruption cover carry more weight for it. These are illustrations, not quotes.

What insurance does a restaurant legally need?

Employers’ liability is the main insurance the law requires of a restaurant, and only once it employs staff. In Great Britain, GOV.UK sets a minimum limit of £5 million from an authorised insurer. Employers in Northern Ireland must also be insured for at least £5 million (nibusinessinfo.co.uk).

In Great Britain, each day without proper cover can bring a £2,500 fine. Failing to display the certificate, or to show it to an inspector, can cost a further £1,000 (GOV.UK).

Public liability isn’t generally a legal requirement (nibusinessinfo.co.uk). It’s still the section that can pay when a diner is hurt and you’re found liable. Without it, your business may have to meet that cost itself.

Does restaurant insurance cover food poisoning claims?

It can, if your policy includes product liability. The cover may pay compensation and legal costs if a customer shows your food made them ill. What is covered depends on the wording, so check the exclusions.

Insurers may expect you to follow food safety law. Keeping allergen records and following the FSA’s allergen guidance for food businesses gives you evidence of what was served if a claim is made.

You might also need

If your team delivers orders, food delivery insurance adds hire and reward cover for drivers on top of their motor policy, which a restaurant policy doesn’t. If your package leaves out staff cover, you can compare employers’ liability cover on its own.

Hotels with a restaurant are usually insured under hotel insurance.

Get quotes for your restaurant

With Quotezone, one short form about your restaurant is all it takes. Providers on the panel can reply with prices, so you can line up cover, limits and excess before you choose.

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