Cafe Insurance

What Insurance Do I Need for my Cafe?*

Some of the major types of business insurance covers available to café and coffee shop owners 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 cafes*

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

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

For example, if a cafe 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 cafes with a business insurance pack are Public Liability Insurance and Product Liability Insurance.

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

For example, food 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 cafes varies depending on the cover options café owners select.

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

Loss or Damage to food stock for cafes

A major storm, power outage or even small fire could leave your cafe with costly damaged or worthless food stock such as meats, vegetables, seafood , eggs, milk and pastries.

Help reduce the loss or damage to 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 food 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 cafes*

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

Plant & Equipment Insurance for cafes  *

Plant & Equipment Insurance may provide cover for owners of cafes that operate equipment such as fridges, coffee machines, dishwashers, ovens, food processors, griddles and toasters.

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

Cyber Insurance for cafes  *

Your cafe 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 cafe going.

Why do cafes need product and public liability insurance?*

Public Liability Insurance coverage is essential for all café owners.

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 cafe business activities.

Protections offered to café owners by public liability insurance in Australia generally include:

• Injury to other persons due to your cafe activities –Where a café’s  business activity causes harm to a third-party person. For example, a client is injured when they trip and fall in your café, or a waiter accidentally spills coffee on a child and they are badly burnt.
• Damage to others property due to your cafe activities – Where a cafe business activity causes damages to a third- party’s property. For example, a waiter accidentally spills coffee on a clients laptop and it is damaged, or a cafe kitchen hand accidently causes damage to a supplier’s van when unloading.
• Harm to other persons or other persons property due to your cafe business’s products – Where a cafe business’s products and goods supplied causes harm to a third party -person or a third- party’s property. For example, the ham in the toasty a cafe has sold a client is spoiled and causes a client to fall badly ill.

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

A cafe’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 cafe with protection for slip-and-trip accidents, serious illness caused by food sold to clients.