News - Small Business Insider

What Does Restaurant Insurance Cover?

Posted on July 6, 2017 Written by Administrator

As a busy restaurant owner, you won’t want to sweat the small stuff. You’ll want to buy insurance for your restaurant quickly, as cost effectively as possible and without compromising on the cover. So, how do you achieve that?

The golden rule – as with most purchases – is to shop around. The easiest way to do this may be via using an online specialist who has access to this niche cover who can do all the leg work for you and find the most suitable options for you to choose from.

Alternatively, you can compare business insurance policies yourself. So, what do you need to look for?

Note that most policies offer core cover, then you add on any extra components required. A typical policy may look something like the following – a mixture of core cover plus add-ons:

Buildings insurance – covering the shell of the premises
Contents insurance – this covers the business’s possessions
Fixtures & fittings – you no doubt may have a high specification kitchen which may need its own individual cover within the policy, plus need cover for carpets, flooring etc
Front of premises – such as the shop front
Employee theft – if a member of staff is dishonest, this will help deal with the ramifications
Loss of licence – if you lose your licence due to an insured event as detailed in your policy documents, this will help recoup some of the loss of earnings
Public liability – should a guest or anyone suffer loss, damage or illness due to being on your premises, this will help with court costs and any awards
Employers’ liability – covering any costs associated with an employee suffering loss or damage while going about their day to day role
Business Interruption – should an insured event mean you need to close down for a while (eg a fire), this will help recoup some of the loss of earnings
Stock cover – replaces any stock lost or damaged due to an insured event.

By making sure you have every angle covered when looking for restaurant cover, you can feel confident that your livelihood is adequately protected – and concentrate on cooking great food for your customers!

What Does Business Property Insurance Cover?

Posted on July 6, 2017 Written by Administrator

If you own the premises from which you operate a business you are likely to be concerned about protecting the investment you have made – those very same premises may be threatened by the possibility of fire, flooding, storm damage, impacts, vandalism and theft. Any of these events, of course, might make it so difficult to continue your normal trading that the business itself is seriously jeopardised.

It is also typically likely that if your commercial premises is mortgaged, then as part of your mortgage contract, you will be obliged to have suitable buildings insurance to protect both your and your mortgage provider’s financial interests.

Even if you do not own those premises, but are simply a tenant, however, property insurance may still be something to which you may want to pay close attention – the very least of which may be checking with your landlord that adequate cover is in place to safeguard your principal place of operations as well as understanding what elements of your business assets (such as computers or furnishings) are not covered. That way you can source the necessary business contents insurance cover.

The cover typically included in business property insurance

If you have ever arranged insurance for a property, you may be aware of the principal headings. If you are a home owner, for example, you might already have considered some of the risks to which the building is exposed and the extent to which insurance may safeguard against things going horribly wrong.

Typically, therefore, your business property insurance might provide comfort against the following types of risk:

fire – a peril with potentially disastrous consequences and, at worst, the need to completely rebuild the premises;
flooding – a risk that might render all of your systems, equipment or fixtures inoperable and, therefore, a potentially terminal state of affairs for your business;
impacts – may come from the street, from the skies or from where ever – the effect may be spell the end of your normal trading activities;
vandalism – whether a passing annoyance or damage that threatens your normal working operations, this is a risk that you might want to protect against;
subsidence – when it comes to protecting your business premises, any risk against the underlying possibility of subsidence may be difficult to isolate – some policies, therefore, might cover this risk as standard, whilst others may not. You might want to check, therefore, whether your insurer includes indemnity against such a risk.

Business interruption insurance

You may also want to check that in the event of an insured event rendering your property un-usable (for example, due to fire or flood) whether the cost of alternative commercial premises will be covered until such time your own premises is repaired. This is known as business interruption insurance.

Whatever the inclusions and restrictions concerning your cover on your business premises, you might want to ensure that the principal base of your operations is adequately covered.

Business Insurance For Studios

Posted on July 5, 2017 Written by Administrator

If you are looking for insurance for your studio, one of the first questions you might want to ask is exactly what kind of establishment you are running. Studios may be the place of business for a surprisingly wide range of talents, including:

artists;
photographers;
recording artists;
tattoo parlours;
beauticians;
hairdressers;
and many others.

With such a wide range of possible businesses, therefore, insuring a studio is likely to depend on its nature and size, its purpose, the activities in which you are likely to engage and the materials you might use and keep on the premises.

What might your studio insurance typically cover?

Although the elements of cover are likely to be those which meet your specific needs and circumstances, the following might help you to decide what to include:

if you are the owner of the property in which the studio is situated, you may want to consider the protection offered by insurance that protects the very structure and fabric of the building – buildings insurance;
whether or not you own the building, insurance of its contents is likely to be an important safeguard for the stock that probably forms the key to your business;
this might include equipment and apparatus or the materials used in your studio – artists materials, photographic material, recording tapes and other media, tattooing inks and equipment, beauty products or hair shampoos, to name just a few of the possibilities;
the shop front of your studio or salon may well be your single most important advertisement to clients and potential customers – studio insurance, therefore, might cover the cost of replacing the shop window in the event of accidental damage, attempted theft or vandalism;
with respect to the financial losses you might incur, however, the question of liability may be paramount;
depending on the type of studio you are operating and the services you provide, for example, you might want to consider the type of professional liability insurance required;
if your studio employs other individuals, you might also have a legal obligation to hold adequate employers’ liability insurance;
in any event, however, you may still have a wider, more general duty of care towards not just your customers and staff, but to ordinary members of the public, too;
as a safeguard against public liability claims arising from injuries or other loss or damage suffered by such individuals, you might wish to give serious consideration to the inclusion of adequate public liability insurance in your studio cover.