A Guide to Business Insurance for Cafés and Coffee Shops

Running a café or coffee shop in the UK can be a lucrative business. After all, these are the go-to places for both locals and visitors looking for food and refreshments in relaxed surroundings. Executives grabbing Americanos on the way to work, groups of friends having a catch up over lattes, creative types setting up office for hours at a time – the customer base is diverse and, more importantly, regular. Public-facing businesses such as this present many risks that need to be catered for with bespoke shop insurance. If you’re considering opening a café or coffee shop in the near future and want to know what cover you’ll need, have a read through this essential insurance guide…

Personal Accident Cover

Every coffee shop and cafe owner’s first priority should always be their customers, but that doesn’t mean you should forget about keeping yourself safe either. Keeping to the highest health and safety codes doesn’t mean you can have eyes and ears everywhere. You never know when a customer will spill a drink, causing you to slip and fall. You can’t always tell when a surface or meal is hot, causing you to burn yourself. Sharp utensils and equipment can often cause unpredictable cuts, or more serious injuries. Even if you’re able to avoid all these potential accidents, you’re still at risk of repetitive strain injuries after preparing dozens of With so much opportunity to harm yourself, arming yourself with Personal Accident Insurance is a no-brainer. Personal Accident Insurance provides a weekly benefit, the value of which is decided by you, to aid financially if you are unable to work following an accident. This can cover the cost of temporary staff while you recover or provide current employees with overtime. Find out more here. 

Business Interruption Insurance

As established above, there are many elements to running a business which are simply out of our control. Is your business prepared to cope with any of the following?

Your cafe or coffee shop has to close because of a fire, flood or other weather-related damage.
A supplier’s premises are suffering meaning they can’t provide you with the ingredients and stock you need that are key to your business, and therefore, you have nothing to sell to your customers.
A malicious attack – whether a robbery or cyber-related limits your ability to trade. For example, a hacker blocks your computer systems, or infiltrates your P-O-S systems.

Business Interruption insurance covers you against loss of income, loss of gross profit and expenses incurred by you to minimise the reduction in gross profit subject to your specific terms and conditions. While you can’t stop these unfortunate occurrences during your operations, you can at least ensure that your business dusts itself off and thrives soon afterwards!

Product Liability Insurance

Food contamination is one of the biggest threats to all food-based businesses – regardless of whether you’re managing a coffee shop, cafe or a supplier. It doesn’t matter where in the supply chain this contamination occurs – if a customer consumes a meal infected with a foodborne illness, you could be held liable for any illnesses caused, and the damages sought. We know it’s not always your fault, but it certainly isn’t the customers, so to avoid paying the price of hospital fees, medical costs and, worst case – costs of being shut down, Product Liability Insurance can cover you for some of the associated costs, minimising the impact on your financials, reputation and business.

Legal Expenses

When running a business, there is always a risk of disputes that end up going through legal channels. Legal expenses covers everything from legal and tax advice through to ensuring that you are financially covered should legal action be taken against you. Legal Expenses Insurance protects you from what can be a costly and stressful experience, providing protection for you, your staff and your business. This can be one expense that doesn’t have to be expensive.

Public Liability Insurance

An integral part of the cover for cafés and coffee shops is public liability insurance. This must-have foundation kicks-in to address the potentially huge costs of dealing with any compensation claims from customers who become ill, are injured or have their property damaged as a result of your business. There are numerous scenarios that could lead to situations like this and it’s impossible to control everything going on in your shop at all times. An employee could spill coffee and scold a customer. A member of the public could slip on a spillage or wonky step and incur a life-changing back injury. With so many what-ifs and an ever-growing compensation culture, it definitely pays to be adequately insured.

Employers’ Liability Insurance

Most coffee shops and cafés tend to require a few members of staff at the very least. All employers, even those with just one part-time member of staff, are required by law to have employers’ liability cover included under their café or coffee shop insurance policy. Employers’ liability insurance protects you from the financial fallout of addressing compensation claims from members of your staff who are injured or become ill as a result of their job. Taking the risk by not having this cover in place leaves you vulnerable to incurring fines and even prosecution. Find out more about how you can protect your cafe with employer liability insurance here.

Buildings Insurance

Without safe and comfortable premises, your café or coffee shop is in jeopardy. Buildings insurance is there to handle the costs of repairing any damages caused by unforeseen circumstances such as flooding, fires and vandalism. Having this peace of mind lets you quickly carry out any essential building work without having to worry about being bankrupted by the bill. Business interruption insurance can be added to your policy if you want to cover any trade losses during periods where you’re unable to operate due to the occurrence of events out of your hands.

Contents and Stock Cover

Business contents and stock insurance is vital in protecting anything kept onsite including furniture, fittings, equipment and supplies/ inventory. If your freezer breaks down and you lose several weeks’ worth of stock or expensive equipment is stolen during a burglary, this element of your business insurance covers the costs of replacing any missing items. This kind of protection can be extended further with various shop insurance add-onsto cover the likes of cash held on the premises and goods in transit. If you provide catering services for example and will be carrying out regular deliveries, the latter add-on is a must-have. It’s all about getting a bespoke business insurance plan tailored perfectly to your unique business requirements. Every enterprise is different, and a quality policy reflects this.

Do you need specialised insurance for a café or coffee shop? Contact The Insurance Octopus to get your business fully protected now.