Types of Cafe Insurance

Published: 8 August 2013

There are a number of different types of insurance which cafe owners can benefit from.

Whilst there is no specific 'cafe insurance' policy, there are packages made up of the different policy options.

In this guide we'll run through each of the different options and look at what they cover, how much they cost and whether or not you need them.

To start with let's take a look at the most common forms of insurance that are held by cafes around Australia.

Now let's take a look at each of these in more detail.

This is the most common form of insurance for a cafe, and for any business in general.

Public liability will cover you in the event that someone suffers property damage or personal injury as a result of your business.

This could be anything from a slip and fall injury suffered on your premises, to one or more people falling ill due to food poisoning at your cafe.

It will also cover costs if someone was to suffer a burn injury as a result of a hot coffee spill, which is something that has resulted in court action in the past.

You invest plenty of money into your contents and stock, as well as the fitout of your cafe, so you need to make sure it's protected financially.

Fire & perils, also known as property damage cover, will cover the contents of your cafe from a variety of risks including fire, lightening, storm, explosion and depending on the policy, flood.

More than most other forms of cover, the actually cover provided under this section can vary by a large amount depending on the insurance company you choose to go with.

For any cafe which operates from leased premises, glass cover will almost always be a mandatory requirement as part of the lease agreement.

Although you may not own the windows and glassed areas of your premises, under your lease agreement you will still be liable for their repair or replacement.

Glass cover will cover the costs of replacing broken glass within your premises. This includes windows and glass displays, but not handheld items such as cups or other glassware.

Small glass items such as drinking glasses, photo frames, vases etc would generally be covered under the property damage section rather than the glass section.

Cafes are cash businesses, especially if you are doing more takeaway coffees as opposed to sit-down meals.

It's important to insure against the theft of money either from your premises or whilst taking the days takings down to the bank.

The money section of your cafe insurance package can protect you from this risk.

The breakdown of machinery or electronic equipment could see your cafe grinding to an expensive halt.

We recommend speaking to a qualified insurance broker to learn more about this cover and whether or not it's appropriate for your cafe.

If an unexpected event such as fire resulted in major damage to your premises and your cafe was unable to operate until repairs had been made, you could find yourself losing some serious revenue.

Business interruption insurance can protect this revenue for a period of time until your cafe is able to reopen.

As with machinery breakdown, and all other forms of insurance for that matter, we recommend speaking with a broker for more information and to see if the cover is right for you.

If you keep large quantities of stock in a freezer or refrigeration unit, there is a real risk that you could lose this stock due to a failure of the unit.

By including the deterioration of stock option in your business insurance you can insure against such losses caused by failure of the refrigeration unit itself or the power supply to the unit.

It's very important to keep in mind that all insurance companies have slightly different wordings for their policies.

In this guide we have attempted to provide a generic description of each type of cover, but the fact is that some policies will provide greater cover than we have detailed, whilst some will provide lesser cover.

That's why it's important to deal with an insurance broker who not only knows small business, but preferably who also knows cafes and the specific risks that they face.

For more information on the various type of cafe insurance please complete our online quote request or get in contact with us.

Australia Wide Service

We can assist cafe owners and operators throughout Australia.

Wherever your cafe is located, our team can assist you via your preferred contact method.

Expert Service & Advice

Our network of insurance advisers and brokers specialise in small business.

They know the risks that cafe owners face, and they know how to get the right insurance in place for you and your business.

Personal Protection

We understand that whilst it's important to protect your business, you also have to protect yourself.

That's why our team also consists of a personal risk specialist who can help you with cover including income protection and life insurance.

New Cafe Specialists

One of our areas of expertise is helping new cafes and first-time owners.

Business insurance can be daunting if this is your first business, but our team can help you through the process to make it as easy as possible.

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Want to know how much insurance is going to cost your business?

Simply get in contact with us or complete our online quote request to receive quotes on your cafe insurance needs.