Food Spoilage Coverage for Restaurants

Obviously, you can’t run a restaurant if you don’t have food. Furthermore, you cannot serve food that has spoiled. That’s against health and sanitation code. Still, you sometimes cannot prevent spoiled food, no matter how hard you try. As a result, your business owners policy (BOP) might be able to step in to help. What’s the benefit of adding food spoilage coverage to your policy?

At the end of the day, restaurant owners should do everything they can to protect their stock. It will help them keep operating well past damaging accidents.

Getting Food Spoilage Coverage

Most businesses can start their insurance package with a BOP. This contains several elements of coverage like:

• Property and possessions coverage
• Liability insurance
• Interruption coverage

You’ll get some of your most critical protection all in one place. However, a BOP likely won’t contain every bit of coverage a restaurant needs.

Since the food is your store's most important asset, the standard elements of a BOP might not provide enough to secure it. So, adding food spoilage coverage to your BOP might help you more easily replace stock. Keep in mind, possessions coverage might help in these cases. However, specific spoilage coverage can often prove more targeted.

How this Coverage Works

Let’s say a severe storm strikes your property. It might cause power outages and damage to the building. Let’s say items in your refrigerator spoil because you cannot keep them cold due to the power outage. Food spoilage coverage might help you pay to replace some or all the lost food.

Another situation where this coverage can help is following food contamination. For example, a fire in the restaurant might contaminate the food with soot and ash that you cannot wash out. As a result, you’ll have to replace it. Your policy might be able to help.

There’s a catch, however, to how coverage works. It will only insure food damaged by covered events. For example, damage caused by a fire likely has coverage. You probably couldn’t prevent the blaze, after all. But, spoilage due to a malfunctioning refrigerator likely won’t have protection. You should have seen to the fridge’s regular maintenance to prevent this damage in the first place.

So, regardless of if you have spoilage protection, see to the protection of your food at all times. Package and store it according to food safety law and standard preservation techniques. Use stock before it has a chance to spoil, and throw out items that have begun to deteriorate.

To inquire about this coverage don’t hesitate to contact your insurance provider at 708.423.2350. They might be able to add it as an endorsement to your BOP.

Also Read: Lessons Learned from Long-Time Restaurant Owners