Compare insurance for bakers and bakeries

Insurance for bakers, from high street to home kitchen

Insurance for your bakery combines liability cover with protection for ovens, equipment and stock. It’s for businesses that make and sell baked goods: high-street and craft bakeries, wholesale bakers, patisseries and cake shops.

Home bakers and cake makers can buy it too, and there’s a section for them below. If baking is a sideline to a cafe or a restaurant, cafe insurance or restaurant insurance will usually fit better.

Quotezone asks about your bakery in one short form. Our panel of UK insurance providers can then get back to you with quotes, so you can weigh them up side by side.

Before you buy: bakery cover in brief

Employers’ liability is the main cover the law requires of a bakery, from the day you employ anyone outside GOV.UK’s list of exempt family members (GOV.UK). That applies in Great Britain, and Northern Ireland employers must hold it too (nibusinessinfo.co.uk).

Bakery employers also have a legal duty to control flour dust under the COSHH regulations (HSE). Insurers may ask about it, as dust-related asthma can lead to employers’ liability claims.

Common choices on top are public and products liability, ovens and equipment, stock and business interruption. Products liability matters if you supply cafes, shops or wedding clients, as they may ask for proof of cover.

Watch for exclusions. Wholesale supply you haven’t declared may not be covered, and a home insurer may refuse claims for baking kit or stock used in a business. When you’re ready, compare quotes in one short form.

What does bakers’ insurance cover?

A bakery policy usually combines products and public liability, employers’ liability, equipment, stock, premises cover and business interruption. Choose the sections that match what you bake, where you bake it and who buys it.

Products liability for what you sell

Products liability can cover claims that your bread, cakes or pastries caused illness or injury. Examples include a reaction to nuts that were not declared, food poisoning, or a piece of packaging baked into a loaf.

It also matters for goods you supply wholesale to cafes and shops, as a claim against them can be passed back to you.

Public liability

Public liability can cover customers and visitors in your shop, and people you meet on delivery. A customer tripping over a bread tray left by the door is the kind of incident it is for. See the public liability insurance page for how cover limits work.

Employers’ liability

Employers’ liability covers staff injured or made ill at work, from burns on a hot rack oven to occupational asthma. The employers’ liability insurance page has the detail.

Ovens, mixers and other equipment

Contents cover usually protects deck and rack ovens, provers, spiral mixers, dough brakes, sheeters, slicers and display cabinets. Cake makers can include decorating tools and turntables. Breakdown cover for an oven or mixer is usually an optional extra.

Stock and ingredients

Stock cover protects flour, ingredients and finished goods. Bread may last only a day or two, and celebration cakes are made to order. Tell your insurer about busy periods such as Christmas or wedding season.

Premises, business interruption and legal costs

Bakers who own their premises, or whose lease puts the building on them, can add buildings cover for damage to the structure. Commercial property insurance explains premises cover in more detail.

Business interruption can pay lost profit if an insured event, such as an oven fire, stops production. Legal expenses cover can help with costs such as a dispute with a supplier or an employment tribunal.

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Do bakers need liability insurance?

Of the covers on a bakery policy, only employers’ liability is a legal requirement, and only once you have staff.

In England, Scotland and Wales you need at least £5 million of cover from an authorised insurer. In Great Britain, going without can bring a fine of £2,500 a day (GOV.UK). Northern Ireland also requires at least £5 million of cover (nibusinessinfo.co.uk).

Public and products liability aren’t generally required by law (nibusinessinfo.co.uk), but they are the covers that can pay if a customer is harmed and you’re held responsible. Bakers work with several of the 14 regulated allergens, including cereals containing gluten, eggs, milk and nuts.

Food you wrap and sell on your own premises needs a label listing every ingredient, with allergens emphasised. Loose goods on the counter need allergen details too, either printed or given by staff when a notice shows customers how to ask (FSA allergen guidance).

Health and safety risks insurers ask bakers about

Production baking has its own workplace risks, set out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Some of them link to a part of your policy.

• Flour dust and enzymes such as amylase are the second most common cause of occupational asthma, and they can also cause dermatitis (HSE). Staff illness claims can fall under employers’ liability.
• Flour dust has workplace exposure limits of 10 mg/m³ over 8 hours and 30 mg/m³ over 15 minutes. As an asthmagen, exposure must be kept as low as reasonably practicable (HSE).
• HSE’s food manufacturing guidance lists the main causes of injury with bakery products. They include manual handling, slips on wet floors, machinery such as dough brakes and mixers, and contact with hot equipment (HSE).
• HSE gives flour, sugar and dried milk as examples of explosible food dusts. Under DSEAR, workplaces that handle substances able to cause fire or explosion must assess and protect against the risk (HSE).

Insurers may ask what controls you have, such as extraction, low-dust working and machine guards. Up-to-date records make those questions easier to answer.

How much does bakery insurance cost?

It depends on what you bake, how much and who you sell to, so there is no typical figure. A home baker and a wholesale bakery face very different risks and can pay very different premiums.

Bakery quotes are shaped by:

• turnover, and whether you sell to the public, wholesale or both
• how many bakers, drivers and counter staff you employ
• oven type and fuel, for example gas deck ovens or electric rack ovens
• the value of mixers, provers, slicers and display cabinets
• stock levels, shelf life and how far ahead you bake
• a shop counter, or production only
• a home kitchen or commercial premises
• night and early-morning working, security when the premises are empty, and past claims

Delivery vans are normally insured separately, under a van policy rather than the bakery policy.

Worked example: a craft bakery and a home cake maker

Take two imagined businesses. A high-street craft bakery employs two bakers and fires up a gas deck oven at 4am. As well as its shop counter, it supplies bread to six local cafes each morning.

A home baker makes celebration cakes in their own kitchen and takes orders through social media. They deliver most cakes themselves and have no staff.

The craft bakery needs employers’ liability by law, and its insurer is likely to ask about flour dust and the oven. Wholesale supply widens its products liability, and stock and business interruption carry more weight.

The home baker would usually look at products and public liability for the cakes they sell. They may also need to check that their home and car insurance allow business use. These are illustrations only; your quotes depend on your details.

Insurance for home bakers and cake makers

Home bakers, cake makers and decorators, and bakers who sell at markets can all ask for business insurance quotes. The core covers are products and public liability, with optional cover for equipment and stock kept at home.

Products liability matters even at small volumes. A single celebration cake can be eaten by dozens of guests, so one allergen mistake can reach all of them.

You must still register as a food business, whether you trade from home, from a market stall or only online (FSA on GOV.UK). In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, registration is due at least 28 days before trading starts.

Tell your home insurer that you run a business from home. A standard home policy may not cover business equipment, stock or customers who collect orders, and an undeclared business could affect a claim.

Cafes, farm shops and delis that stock your cakes may ask to see a liability certificate. If you drive orders to customers, check that your car insurance includes business use.

Decorators who set up wedding cakes at venues may want public liability that applies away from home. Personal accident cover is an option if an injury would stop you baking.

Can I insure a home baking business?

Yes, in many cases. Some insurers offer policies for bakers working from home, built around products and public liability, with optional cover for equipment and stock. Cover and eligibility vary by insurer.

You may be asked to declare that you work from a domestic kitchen, roughly how many orders you take, and whether you sell at markets or online.

You might also need

If you deliver bread and cakes in your own van, van insurance covers the vehicle on the road. Home bakers can compare home insurance and ask each insurer whether it accepts business use at home.

Get quotes for your bakery

Quotezone takes the details of your bakery, or your home baking business, in one short form. Quotes can then come to you from UK providers on our panel.

Compare bakery insurance quotes