Butchers Insurance

What Insurance Do I Need as a Butcher?*

Some of the major types of business insurance covers available to butchers in Australia are explained below and include:

• Business Insurance Pack
• Public Liability Insurance
• Commercial Motor insurance
• Plant and Equipment Insurance
• Cyber Insurance

Business insurance pack for butchers*

Butchers may be able to combine multiple covers in a single business insurance pack policy.

By ‘packaging’ their business insurance into a ‘business pack’ butchers can potentially cover many of the risks their business faces in the one policy.

For example, if a butcher has a commercial premises, a business insurance pack may provide cover for buildings and contents if they are accidentally damaged by a defined event, such as fire, storm, impact damage, accidental damage, vandalism, or malicious damage.

Other typical inclusions for butchers with a business insurance pack are Public Liability Insurance and Product Liability Insurance.

Optional inclusions for butchers with a business insurance pack are General Property, Contents, Machinery Breakdown , Plant and Stock, Theft , Glass, Money, Business Interruption and Marine Cover.

For example, meat spoilage may be covered in the event of machinery breakdown, and loss of profits may be covered under business interruption if caused by a defined event.

Coverage under a business insurance pack for butchers varies depending on the cover options butchers select.

Multiple butcher shop locations may be able to be covered on the one business insurance pack policy.

Loss or Damage to meat stock for butcher shops

A major storm, power outage or even small fire could leave your butcher shop with costly damaged or worthless stock of meat.

Help reduce the loss or damage to meat stock by taking the stock cover option as part of your combined business insurance pack.

Smart Business Insurance pro tip: What is the most amount of meat you stock  at any one time? Cover this amount. It’s often at peak times business that major accidents occur.

Contact a Smart Business Insurance broker for more information.

Commercial motor insurance for self-employed butchers*

Commercial motor insurance should be considered for butchers that drive their vehicle to pick up and deliver meat. Light trucks, vans and Utes may be covered.

Plant & Equipment Insurance for butcher shops  *

Plant & Equipment Insurance may provide cover for owners of butcher shops that operate equipment such as fridges , meat grinders, bone saws , meat bandsaws,  meat mincers, meat mixers, and sausage stuffers.

Cover may provide butchers with protection for theft, damage, consequential loss, liability, and machinery breakdown.

Cyber Insurance for butcher shops  *

Your butcher shop credit card processing system is a target for hackers as is your online store if you have one.

If you are hacked and incur a data breach you may incur significant tech bills, be open to be sued by frustrated customers, and may be subject to thousands of dollars in government fines.

Help reduce the impact of damages from data hacking with cyber insurance – and keep your butcher shop going.

Why do butchers need product and public liability insurance?*

Public Liability Insurance coverage is essential for all self-employed butchers.

In Australia, public liability insurance also typically includes product liability insurance.

People and property on site may be hurt or damaged due to accidents involving your butcher shop business activities. .

Protections offered to self-employed butchers by public liability insurance in Australia generally include:

• Injury to other persons due to your butcher shop activities –Where a butcher business activity causes harm to a third-party person. For example, a client is injured when they trip and fall in your butcher shop
• Damage to others property due to your butcher shop activities – Where a butcher business activity causes damages to a third- party’s property. For example, a butcher may accidently cause damage to a supplier’s van when unloading
• Harm to other persons or other persons property due to your butcher shop business’s products – Where a butcher business’s products and goods supplied causes harm to a third party -person or a third- party’s property. For example, the meat a butcher has sold is spoiled and causes a client to fall badly ill.

Public liability insurance coverage may protect butchers from claims that arise when others allege they are negligent.

A butcher’s public liability policy may provide a defence against the ensuing lawsuit when needed and may pay the damages sought by the injured party.

Public Liability Insurance may provide butchers with protection for slip-and-trip accidents, serious illness caused by meat sold to clients.