Business insurance
Restaurant Insurance
One package for the kitchen, the dining room, the stock, the staff and the customers, with the kitchen conditions that decide a fire claim
One policy with the sections a restaurant needs: contents, kitchen equipment and stock, buildings where you own them, business interruption, public and product liability for the food you serve, employers’ liability for the staff, and optional sections such as money, glass, stock deterioration and loss of licence. What you get depends on the insurer.
- Kitchen, fit-out and stock on one policy
- Product liability for the food you serve
- Business interruption while the kitchen is shut
- FCA authorised and regulated
Quick answerRestaurant insurance is a package policy built for a business that cooks and serves food on its premises. It puts the sections a restaurant needs under one policy: the kitchen equipment, fit-out and stock, the building if you own it, the income lost while you cannot trade, and the liabilities to customers, to the public and to staff, including a claim that a meal made someone ill. What the policy expects of the kitchen, the fryers and the extraction is where claims are decided. Tell MyMoneyComparison.com about your business once, and specialist UK hospitality brokers can come back to you with quotes to compare.
This page is about the kitchen and the plate. Public liability on its own is on our public liability insurance page, a takeaway or delivery kitchen on our takeaway insurance page, and a pub or hotel that serves food on our pub insurance and hotel insurance pages. Here we cover what a restaurant package is built from, the conditions on the fryers and the extraction that decide a fire claim, the claim that a meal made someone ill, and the sections worth adding.
At a glance
A Restaurant Policy, Course by Course
The short answers before the detail below.
- A package, not one cover
- Contents, stock, buildings, interruption and the liabilities, each a section with its own sum insured
- The kitchen sets the terms
- Deep-fat frying, extraction cleaning and fire equipment come with conditions. A fire claim is assessed against them
- Three liabilities
- To customers and the public, for the food you serve, and to staff. Employers’ liability is required for almost every business with staff
- Income while shut
- Business interruption pays the lost profit and the ongoing costs while the kitchen is out of action, for a set period
- Stock in the fridges
- Deterioration of stock after a breakdown or power cut is a separate section, not part of contents
- The licence
- Loss of licence cover pays for the fall in value and income if the alcohol licence is lost for reasons outside your control
The basics
What Is Restaurant Insurance?
A package policy for a business that prepares and serves food to customers on its premises. It gathers the sections a restaurant needs under one policy, one renewal and one insurer, and it is written around the risk that sets a restaurant apart from a shop: a kitchen with naked flames, hot oil and a full dining room.
Three things make a restaurant policy its own kind of package.
The kitchen
Fryers, ranges and extraction are where restaurant fires start, and the policy carries conditions on how they are used, cleaned and protected. Meet them and a fire is a claim; miss them and it is a dispute.
The plate
Product liability for the food you serve: a customer who says a meal made them ill, or who had a reaction to an ingredient. Defence costs are often the larger part.
The closed door
A restaurant that cannot open earns nothing and still pays rent and wages. Business interruption is the section that carries it through, for as long as the indemnity period allows.
Cafés and bistros sit on the same policy. The widget above takes either. A kitchen that only cooks for delivery and collection is on our takeaway insurance page, and a chip shop on our fish and chip shop insurance page, because the frying and the hours are rated differently.
How it works
How a Restaurant Policy Is Put Together
You describe the premises, the kitchen, the trade and the staff, the broker chooses the sections and the sums, and the policy sets the kitchen conditions.
Describe the premises and the kitchen
Owned or leased, the construction, the cooking equipment, whether there is deep-fat frying, how the extraction is cleaned, and what fire protection is fitted.
Describe the trade
Turnover, covers, opening hours, whether you serve alcohol and hold a licence, whether you deliver or cater off the premises, and how many staff you employ.
The broker chooses the sections and the sums
Contents, equipment and stock at replacement cost; buildings at rebuild cost where you own them; gross profit and an indemnity period for interruption; liability limits to suit the trade and any contracts.
The policy sets the conditions
On the fryers, the extraction, the fire equipment, the security and, sometimes, the hours. Each is a condition of cover for the section it sits in.
What it covers
What Does Restaurant Insurance Cover?
The premises and what is in them, the income, and the three liabilities, with a set of optional sections written for a kitchen.
| What | Where it stands | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Contents, fit-out and kitchen equipment | Standard | Fire, flood, theft and damage, at replacement cost; a tenant’s improvements where you lease |
| Stock | Standard | Food, drink and dry goods, with a seasonal increase on many policies |
| Buildings | Where you own them | At rebuild cost; where you lease, the landlord usually insures and the lease says so |
| Business interruption | Standard on many packages | Lost gross profit and increased costs after an insured event, for the indemnity period |
| Public and product liability | Standard | Injury or damage to customers and the public, and claims arising from the food you serve |
| Employers’ liability | Required for almost every employer | Injury or illness to employees; chefs, kitchen porters and casual staff included |
| Money, glass and signs | Optional or included | Cash on the premises and in transit; plate glass and shopfront |
| Deterioration of stock | Optional | Stock lost when a fridge or freezer breaks down or the power fails |
| Loss of licence | Optional | Fall in value and lost income if the alcohol licence is withdrawn for reasons outside your control |
| Equipment breakdown and dispute costs | Optional | The fridge that stops, and the dispute with a supplier, an employee or a customer |
The indemnity period is the number to check. Business interruption pays for a set period from the date of the loss, and a kitchen fire, a rebuild and a refit can take longer than a year. Many policies offer a longer period as an option; the premium difference is usually small next to the cost of running out of cover mid-rebuild.
Exclusions
What a Restaurant Policy Will Not Pay For
The usual property exclusions apply, and a kitchen adds conditions that turn a covered fire into an uncovered one.
A fire behind an unmet kitchen condition
Extraction not cleaned as the policy requires, a fryer without the cut-out or the fire blanket the policy names, or oil left heating unattended. The fire is covered; the breach is what the insurer looks at first.
Hygiene fines and allergen claims
A fine over food hygiene or labelling cannot be insured; the cost of defending a prosecution can be, where legal expenses cover is on the policy. A customer’s claim for illness or a reaction is product liability, subject to the policy’s terms on how allergens are handled.
The fridge that simply stops
Mechanical breakdown is not a contents claim. The stock inside is covered only where deterioration of stock is on the policy, and the fridge itself only under equipment breakdown.
Staff outside the record
An injured employee’s claim is paid whether or not they were on the declared wage roll. What an undeclared payroll costs you is an additional premium and, in a bad case, the insurer recovering from you what it paid out.
Deliveries and outside catering
A delivery driver’s vehicle needs its own cover for carrying food for payment, and catering away from the premises is covered only where the policy extends to it.
Wear, tear and gradual damage
A range that wears out, a floor that lifts over years, damp behind the tiles. Sudden and unforeseen is what the policy responds to.
The sections
The Sections a Restaurant Policy Is Built From
Most restaurant packages share a core of contents, stock and the three liabilities, with interruption on many, and what is added depends on whether you own the building, serve alcohol, deliver or cater out.
| Business | What is added | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Small restaurant or café, leased | Contents, stock, interruption, the three liabilities | The landlord insures the building; the lease says what else you must cover |
| Restaurant that owns its building | Buildings added at rebuild cost | Rebuild cost, not market value; a kitchen and extraction raise it |
| Licensed restaurant or bar with food | Loss of licence, money, later hours | Alcohol and late trading are rated; the licence is worth insuring |
| Restaurant that delivers | The policy extended, plus vehicle cover | Food carried for payment needs the right class of use on the van or the rider’s cover |
| Restaurant with outside catering | The policy extended off the premises | Equipment and liability away from the restaurant, declared |
| Group with several sites | One policy across the sites | Often a commercial combined policy; each site declared with its own sums |
Related pages. A larger operation across several sites is on our commercial combined insurance page, the delivery van on our hire and reward insurance page, and the building side of a restaurant in our guide to commercial property insurance for restaurants and cafés.
Who it is for
Restaurants, Cafés, Bistros and the Places in Between
Any business that cooks and serves food to customers on its premises: the neighbourhood restaurant, the café with a kitchen, the bistro, the wine bar with a menu, the gastropub, the fine-dining room, and the one that does all of that and delivers as well.
The question is what happens in the kitchen. A café that reheats and toasts is rated differently from a restaurant with a range of fryers and a charcoal grill, and both differently from a kitchen that only cooks for delivery. Deep-fat frying, open flames, late hours and alcohol are what move a hospitality policy, and the broker places the business according to which of them apply. Describing the kitchen honestly is the first job of a quote.
Leased premises
Your kitchen, their building
The landlord insures the structure and the lease says what you must insure: usually your fit-out, the equipment, the stock, the glass and the liabilities. Some leases require you to hold specific covers and to show the certificate.
Owned premises
Your kitchen, your building
Buildings are added at rebuild cost, which for a restaurant includes the kitchen, the extraction and the fit-out. A figure set from the purchase price or the market value is the common mistake, and underinsurance reduces a claim.
Neighbours on the menu. A pub whose trade is mostly drink is on our pub insurance page, a hotel with a restaurant on our hotel insurance page, and a takeaway on our takeaway insurance page. The dividing line is what the insurer rates the business as, and a broker will say which.
The choice
One Restaurant Package vs Separate Policies for Each Risk
A restaurant can insure each risk on its own or take the sections together. The kitchen fire is where the difference shows.
| One package | Separate policies | |
|---|---|---|
| The policies | One policy, one renewal, one insurer | Several, each with its own renewal and terms |
| The kitchen conditions | Set once, across the property and interruption sections | Set separately, and can differ between insurers |
| A fire in the kitchen | Contents, buildings and interruption claimed from one insurer | Two or three insurers, each looking at the others |
| Business interruption | Written to the same sums and events as the property sections | Has to be matched to another insurer’s property cover |
| The liabilities | Public, product and employers’ together | Public liability alone is common; product liability easy to miss |
| Adding a section | Money, glass, licence or stock deterioration added mid-term | A new policy each time |
| The premium | Usually one figure, with sections priced together | Several premiums; sometimes cheaper on one section, rarely across all |
| When it suits | A restaurant of any size with a kitchen to protect | A very small café needing liability only, or a business already inside a wider policy |
Public liability alone is not restaurant insurance. It covers a customer who slips on the floor, and on many policies the food as well, but not the kitchen, the stock or the lost trade. What a liability-only policy does and does not do is on our public liability insurance page.
Cost
What Sets a Restaurant Premium
The kitchen, the sums insured, the turnover and the hours, the premises and the claims record. We do not print average premiums.
Why the kitchen comes first
Deep-fat frying, open flames and extraction that is not cleaned are where restaurant fires start, and an insurer rates the kitchen before it looks at the dining room. Fire suppression over the range, a cleaning contract for the ducting and thermostat cut-outs on the fryers all move the price.
Why the sums and the hours matter
Contents, stock and gross profit are what is insured, and the premium follows them. Late trading and alcohol raise the liability side; delivery adds a vehicle and a rider to the picture.
What the quote is rated on
In roughly this order
- The kitchenFrying, flames, extraction, fire protectionBase
- The sumsContents, stock, buildings, gross profit, indemnity periodRate
- The tradeTurnover, wages, covers, hours, alcohol, deliveryRate
- The premisesConstruction, location, security, flood historyRate
- Claims recordRecent losses, and how they happenedAdjust
The kitchen
Declared honestly, a fryer is priced as a fryer. A kitchen described as lighter than it is, is a fire claim disputed later.
The sums
Replacement cost for the equipment, rebuild cost for the building, gross profit for the interruption. A sum set low is a premium saved and a claim reduced.
The record
A kitchen fire on the record is rated for years. Losses that were not the kitchen’s fault, a flood or a break-in, are worth explaining to the broker.
The kitchen
Fryers, Ducting and the Warranties in the Kitchen
A restaurant policy carries conditions on the kitchen that are conditions of cover. Four come up on nearly every policy.
The extraction is cleaned, and you can prove it
The canopy, filters and ducting cleaned by a specialist at the interval the policy sets, more often where there is heavy frying, with the certificate kept. A kitchen fire claim is assessed against those certificates before anything else.
The fryers have what the policy names
Thermostat cut-outs, lids, a fire blanket within reach and, on some policies, a suppression system over the range. Oil is not left heating unattended, and the fryers are switched off at close.
The fire equipment is there and serviced
Extinguishers of the type the policy lists, serviced on the schedule it sets, and on many policies a fire risk assessment kept up to date. Combustible waste kept away from the building overnight is a common addition.
The security and the money
Locks of the standard the policy names, an alarm where one is declared, and a limit on cash left on the premises overnight, with the rest banked or in a safe of the rated type.
Quote checklist
The Restaurant Quote: Figures the Broker Needs
The premises, the kitchen, the sums, the trade and the staff.
The premises
Owned or leased, the construction, the age, the floors you occupy, and what the lease requires you to insure.
The kitchen
The cooking equipment, whether there is deep-fat frying or open flame, how and how often the extraction is cleaned, and what fire protection is fitted.
The sums
Replacement cost of the fit-out, equipment and stock; rebuild cost if you own the building; annual gross profit and the indemnity period you want.
The trade
Turnover, covers, opening hours, whether you serve alcohol and hold a licence, and whether you deliver or cater out.
The staff
How many, full-time and casual, the annual wage roll, and whether any are under a set age.
The claims record
Losses over recent years and how each happened, plus anything the previous insurer required after them.
The lease is worth having to hand. It says what the landlord insures and what you must, and sometimes names a liability limit. The building side of a restaurant is in our guide to commercial property insurance for restaurants and cafés.
Comparing
Reading a Restaurant Quote Section by Section
The premium and the contents sum are the first two numbers on any comparison. The kitchen conditions and the indemnity period are what decide whether a claim is paid, and for how long.
On the kitchen
- The extraction cleaning interval and what proof the policy wants
- What the fryers must have fitted, and whether suppression is required
- Whether a fire risk assessment is a condition
On the sums
- Whether contents and equipment are on a replacement basis
- The indemnity period on business interruption, and whether a longer one is offered
- Whether stock carries a seasonal increase
On the liabilities
- Whether product liability covers the food, including allergen claims
- The public liability limit, and whether a landlord or contract asks for more
- Whether casual and agency staff are inside employers’ liability
In your own plans
- Serving alcohol or trading later this year, and what that does to the terms
- Starting delivery, and the vehicle or rider cover that goes with it
- A refit or new equipment that changes the sums
Two things catch restaurants out. An extraction cleaning interval the kitchen never met, and an indemnity period that ran out before the refit finished. Neither shows on a premium comparison. The standard terms are in our plain English jargon guide, and the liability side on its own is on our public liability insurance page.
Cutting costs
Where a Restaurant Premium Can Give
The levers are the kitchen, the sums, the security and the records. We publish no savings figures.
Fit suppression over the range
A suppression system over the cooking line is what some insurers ask for on heavy frying and what many rate better for. It also keeps the fire small.
Keep the cleaning certificates
A ducting contract with a specialist, on the interval the policy sets, with the certificates filed. Declared, it is rated; kept, it is the claim paid.
Set the sums from the figures, not from habit
Replacement cost for the kit, gross profit from the accounts, an indemnity period that matches a rebuild. A sum too high is premium wasted; too low is a claim reduced.
Secure the premises and the cash
Alarms, rated locks and a safe are rated, and cash banked daily keeps the money section small. Bins away from the building overnight is what the fire section wants.
Declare the staff properly
The wage roll sets the employers’ liability premium. A payroll that grows without the policy knowing is an additional premium at the next declaration, or a recovery after a claim.
Explain the record
A loss that was not the kitchen’s fault is worth setting out to the broker, with what was done afterwards. A record with the circumstances is rated better than a record of numbers.
Glossary
The Words on a Restaurant Policy
The terms that come up most on a restaurant package.
- Package policy
- One policy with several sections, each with its own sum insured and terms, under one renewal.
- Contents and fit-out
- The furniture, fittings, kitchen equipment and, where you lease, the improvements you made to the premises.
- Business interruption
- Cover for lost gross profit and increased costs while you cannot trade after an insured event.
- Indemnity period
- How long business interruption pays for, from the date of the loss. Set it to the time a rebuild and refit would take.
- Product liability
- Cover for claims that the food or drink you served caused illness, injury or a reaction.
- Public liability
- Cover for injury or damage to customers, visitors and the public on or around the premises.
- Employers’ liability
- Cover for injury or illness to staff. Required for almost every business with staff, including casual staff; the exceptions are a company employing only its owner and a business employing only close family.
- Deterioration of stock
- Cover for stock lost when a fridge or freezer breaks down or the power fails. A separate section.
- Loss of licence
- Cover for the fall in value and lost income if the alcohol licence is withdrawn for reasons outside your control.
- Extraction warranty
- The policy condition on how often the canopy, filters and ducting are cleaned by a specialist, and the proof kept.
- Rebuild cost
- What it would cost to rebuild the premises, including the kitchen and fit-out. The buildings sum insured, not the market value.
- Underinsurance
- A sum insured set below the true value. Many policies reduce every claim in proportion where it is found.
Anything not listed here is covered in our plain English jargon guide.
Why MyMoneyComparison.com
What MyMoneyComparison.com Does for a Restaurant
MyMoneyComparison.com is an FCA-authorised UK comparison service that introduces businesses to specialist commercial brokers. We do not sell insurance and we do not give advice: the broker you choose arranges the policy. Using us is free.
One form, whole restaurant
Describe the business once, instead of repeating the kitchen and the sums to each broker.
Advice given
We are an introducer, not a broker. We do not sell policies or recommend one insurer or product over another. Read our editorial policy.
Authorised and regulated
MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd appears on the FCA register under FRN 916241.
Incorporated
A UK company since 2013. FCA authorisation is separate and later; the register carries its date.
FAQs
Restaurant Insurance FAQs
Answers on the kitchen conditions, food liability, business interruption, stock, the lease, staff and delivery.
What is restaurant insurance?
A package policy for a business that cooks and serves food on its premises. It gathers the sections a restaurant needs under one policy: contents, kitchen equipment and stock, buildings where you own them, business interruption, and the liabilities to customers, for the food you serve, and to staff, with optional sections such as money, glass, stock deterioration and loss of licence.
Do I have to have restaurant insurance?
No single policy is required. Employers’ liability is required for almost every business with staff, including casual staff, the exceptions being a company that employs only its owner and a business that employs only close family, and a lease or a landlord often requires specific covers and a certificate. The rest is a matter of what the business can afford to lose: the kitchen, the stock and the trade while the doors are shut are the usual answer.
Does it cover a customer who says my food made them ill?
Under product liability, yes, on many restaurant policies as standard: the claim, the defence costs and any settlement, subject to the policy’s terms on how food and allergens are handled and recorded. A fine over hygiene or labelling cannot be insured, though the cost of defending a prosecution can be under legal expenses cover. Whether allergen claims are inside the product section is worth checking on each quote.
What are the kitchen conditions?
Terms the policy makes conditions of cover: the extraction canopy, filters and ducting cleaned by a specialist at a set interval with the certificates kept; thermostat cut-outs and a fire blanket on the fryers, and on some policies suppression over the range; extinguishers serviced on a schedule; combustible waste away from the building overnight. A kitchen fire claim is assessed against them first.
How often does the extraction have to be cleaned?
At the interval the policy sets, which depends on how heavily the kitchen fries and how many hours it cooks; heavy frying means more often. The cleaning has to be done by a specialist, and the certificate kept, because that is what the insurer asks for after a fire. The interval is one of the terms worth comparing between quotes.
What is business interruption and how long does it pay?
The section that pays the gross profit you lose and the extra costs you incur while the restaurant cannot trade after an insured event, such as a kitchen fire or a flood. It pays for the indemnity period set on the policy, from the date of the loss. A rebuild and a refit can take longer than a year, and many policies offer a longer period as an option.
Does it cover the stock in the fridges if the power fails?
Only where deterioration of stock is on the policy, as a separate section with its own sum. It covers stock lost when a fridge or freezer breaks down or the electricity fails. The fridge itself is covered for breakdown only where equipment breakdown is added; a fridge that simply stops is otherwise maintenance, not a claim.
Do I need buildings cover if I lease the premises?
Usually not: the landlord insures the structure and the lease says so. You insure your fit-out, the improvements you made, the equipment, the stock and the liabilities, and the lease may require particular covers and limits and ask to see the certificate. Where you own the building, it is insured at rebuild cost, including the kitchen and extraction, not at market value.
Does it cover employees, including casual staff?
Employers’ liability covers injury or illness to staff, and casual, part-time and agency staff working under your control are inside it. The employee’s claim is paid whether or not they were on the declared wage roll; an undeclared payroll costs you an additional premium and, in a bad case, the insurer recovering what it paid. It is required for almost every business with staff.
What about delivery and outside catering?
A delivery driver or rider carrying food for payment needs the right class of use on their own vehicle or rider policy; the restaurant policy does not provide it. Catering away from the premises is covered only where the policy is extended to it, with the equipment and the liability declared. A kitchen that only cooks for delivery is on our takeaway insurance page.
What is loss of licence cover?
Cover for the fall in the value of the business and the income lost if the alcohol licence is withdrawn or not renewed for reasons outside your control. It does not cover a licence lost through your own conduct. It sits on many restaurant packages as an option for a business whose trade depends on serving drink.
How much cover do I need for the contents and the building?
Contents, fit-out and equipment at what it would cost to replace them new; stock at cost, with a seasonal increase where you carry more at busy times; the building at rebuild cost including the kitchen and extraction. Many policies reduce every claim in proportion where a sum is set below the true value, so the figures are worth getting right.
Will better fire protection lower the premium?
Often. Suppression over the cooking line, a ducting cleaning contract with certificates, serviced extinguishers and a current fire risk assessment are rated by many insurers, and some ask for them before quoting a heavy-frying kitchen. What each insurer offers for them is a question for the broker, and none of it is universal.
What does the broker want to see for a restaurant quote?
The premises and the lease; the kitchen, its equipment, frying and extraction cleaning; the sums for contents, stock, buildings and gross profit; turnover, covers, hours, alcohol and delivery; the staff and the wage roll; and the claims record with the circumstances of each loss. The business type starts the form; the kitchen detail is what the broker places to.
Why does this page not show restaurant insurance prices?
Because no figure would be true for you. A restaurant is priced on its kitchen, its sums, its trade and hours, its premises and its claims record, in combinations no average captures. If we publish data of our own one day, it will carry a sample size and a date.
Ready when you are
Get Your Restaurant Quoted
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- Kitchen, stock, interruption and the liabilities on one policy
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About this page
This page is about the kitchen and the plate: what a restaurant package is built from, the kitchen conditions that decide a fire claim, and the claim that a meal made someone ill. The liability side on its own is on our public liability insurance page, and a delivery-only kitchen on our takeaway insurance page. It is general information rather than advice. Policies and leases differ, so read your own documents and put the questions raised here to your insurer or broker.
How we approached this page
- Published UK hospitality insurer and specialist broker pages, for the package sections, the extraction and frying conditions, product liability, interruption and pricing points described throughout
- UK guidance for employers and food businesses, for the employers’ liability requirement and the line between an insurable claim and an uninsurable fine
- The Financial Conduct Authority register, for checking a firm
No premium figures and no savings claims appear here. The main thing this page adds is the kitchen-condition and indemnity-period detail that comparison tables leave out.
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