Terry's Restaurant Insurance Blog
Restaurant Insurance – What Does Facebook Have To Do With Your Rates?
Most savvy restaurant owners know that it is no longer enough just to have a web page. You need to have a mobile version of that page and for sure you had better have a place on Facebook. In fact, most people under age 25 are more likely to do a Facebook search for your restaurant than they are to search on Google. And the Facebook platform really allows restaurants to keep an open, flowing and connected form of communication with their clientele. But very few restaurant owners have taken even a moment to consider how their Facebook site might affect their insurance rates.
Let me start by saying that if you are leaving your restaurant insurance with the same company year after year and never shopping your restaurant insurance policies in the marketplace, then it may take much longer for the ensuing discussion to apply to your restaurant insurance policy. While it is true that some insurance companies will do reviews of restaurants prior to renewing their existing policies, this renewal review process is much lighter duty in general and affects a small percentage of restaurants in any given year. But what about the day you decide to switch agents or switch companies either for better service or a better product or just to save money? Well, when that day comes you don’t want your Facebook page to bite you in the butt.
Restaurant insurance pricing, just like most every other commercial insurance policy is pretty fluid. Sure, the companies will file their base rates on their product with the state authority. In North Carolina, rates are filed with the NC Insurance Commissioner’s Office. But they also file a list of schedule credits, which are just credits that they can choose or not choose to apply to their policies. In truth, very few restaurants are paying the full filed rates on their policies; most enjoy some level of scheduled credits that reduce their rate by some percentage from the base rate. And most important of all for the restaurant owner, is that the application of these credits is based on the underwriter’s comfort with how you are running your dining establishment.
In the old days, before the internet, all an underwriter had to go on was the application submitted by the agent, and perhaps a photo or two. But then came the internet and the underwriters started verifying the application information with the information found on the restaurant website. All of that worked pretty well and could actually work in the restaurant owner’s favor. Then came Facebook. And let’s face it, Facebook is a social media platform and the key word here is social. So many restaurants use their Facebook page as a way to show how much fun it is to visit their place of business. But it is important for the restaurant owner to understand that insurance underwriters are visiting there as well.
If you, as the restaurant owner, are not actively involved in operating your Facebook page, then you may be leaving yourself vulnerable to higher insurance rates on your restaurant insurance policy. Now, it may be worth it to show people dancing on the tables or having a big time at your establishment, if it brings in more business. But there may be a future hidden cost in your insurance policy that you are not counting on. My advice is to maintain your Facebook page in a way that won’t scare off a stodgy underwriter’s personality. If that makes the page to banal for your tastes and ambitions, then just be sure to recognize that you may see higher restaurant insurance rates in the future.
Clinard Insurance Group, Inc, is an independent insurance agency located in Winston Salem, NC. We specialize in insuring all types of restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina. Since not every restaurant has the same insurance needs, we have created 5 distinct restaurant insurance packages. We have a fast food restaurant insurance program, a bar and grill insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, an insurance program for fine dining restaurants and even a specialized insurance program for caterering companies. If we can help you with your restaurant insurance questions, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557, or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.
Restaurant Insurance – Your Business Is A Niche Within a Niche
In my last blog I addressed the fact that as a restaurant owner, you owe it to yourself and your business to do a bit of research to be sure that you are dealing with a specialist. And the beauty of that is that you will often be able to hire that specialist for less money that you will spend if you let an agent who doesn’t specialize in restaurant insurance do the work for you. This week, I want to look at specialization in a more drilled down fashion. In this case I want to take a look at the specialization of the restaurant insurance policy or program itself.
It is clear to even the most casual observer that not all restaurants are created equal. In fact, that’s what so many of us love about eating out, we have many different choices to suit out time constraints, our moods, or even the level of impression we want to make on our dining partners. And as a restaurant owner, you work hard to play to your niche market, to give them exactly what they are looking for when they visit your establishment. So it should go with your restaurant insurance policy.
One trend in insurance over the years has been to consolidate all of the different types of coverages and protections into one big, packaged up, policy. This has made selling the policy a bit easier for the less sophisticated agent, I mean when you throw in everything but the kitchen sink, what’s not to like? But the truth is that there are costs associated with all of these add on coverages, and if you need them, then this package concept is great, you are spreading the costs of what you need across many different businesses that are purchasing protections in the package that they don’t need and will never use. But, look at it from the other direction and you don’t want to be the business that is buying things you don’t need and as such, subsidizing other businesses that do need those coverages.
This is why, beyond needing an agent who specializes in restaurants, you need one with a program that specializes in your specific type of restaurant. If you are running a fast food restaurant, you may not need a built in $25,000 limit for fine arts coverage that a fine dining restaurant might need. And if you are running a catering operation, will you need $25,000 of built in employee dishonesty protection that might be something a restaurant that handles lots of cash receipts might need? The examples here are seemingly limitless but the important point is that you should watch your policy carefully for add on coverages that you might never need but that you are paying for in your package. Likewise, you want to be sure as well that the types of protections that you do need are available and available in the limits that you need. A built in $5000 of spoilage coverage might be far too much for one restaurant and not near enough for another.
Take the time to look at the add in coverages that are on your current restaurant insurance policy and make sure you understand how each of them works, and be sure that the limit of coverage is the right amount for you.
At Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC, we are a restaurant insurance specialist. We insure many different kinds of restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina. If we can help you with your restaurant insurance questions, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com. Remember, we have specialized insurance programs for 5 different kinds of restaurants. Check the list below and click on the links to see our specific niche within a niche restaurant insurance programs.
Fine Dining Restaurant Insurance
Casual Dining Restaurant Insurance
Fast Food Restaurant Insurance
Restaurant Insurance – Before You Buy, Qualify Your Agent
Restaurant insurance is a complex and wildly variant contract. Each restaurant has its own quirks and operational differences from the kinds of food that may be offered to how it is prepared to how it is served. And all of these variables make insuring a restaurant a complex and highly interactive process when it is done correctly. These factors point out the need for a specialist.
Restaurants are not cookie cutter businesses. They vary widely in scope and design and they have some really unique risk factors that, if overlooked, could prove catastrophic to the business itself. So, as a restaurant owner, whether you like it or not, you are going to need to have some working knowledge of the insurance industry. Now for someone starting a new restaurant, the path of least resistance would be to call up the insurance agent who handles your car insurance or your homeowners insurance and ask for a quote on your restaurant. And here’s the scary part: This agent could give you a quote and most likely write you a policy. Why is that scary? Well, let me highlight that with an example. Imagine if you had a rare disease and your family practice doctor would or could take a crack at trying to heal you instead of sending you to a specialist who understands that rare disease. Now that’s a scary thought isn’t it? Well, not protecting your restaurant business by hiring a specialist should be just as scary a proposition.
Doctors will give referrals to specialists, but unfortunately for you, most insurance agents wouldn’t dream of referring on business of which they are not well qualified to insure. They don’t want to give up the commission. So how do you, as a restaurant owner, protect yourself from this risk? Well, start by asking your agent how many restaurants he or she currently insures. If they give you a number under 10 you should be worried, as they can’t have accumulated the combined experience and wisdom needed to understand your business if they just insure a handful of similar businesses. A better number would be more than 100 though. You see, unlike the patient with the rare disease, these agents’ lack of knowledge might never be exposed unless and until there is a large loss. So even they may not know what potential problems are lurking there for their current clients.
Do your research online. Take a look at their website. Do they seem to specialize in restaurants or do they look more like a generalist? Have they been blogging about restaurant insurance issues? Do they o present themselves to the public as a specialist that can really help you uncover the root issues that you may have with your insurance program?
Restaurants are a unique and interesting niche out there for insurance agents. As a result, there are many who do specialize in helping restaurants manage their risks in the most effective ways. You can find them without having to do hours and hours of research and in this case Google can be your friend. Take a moment to check up on your current agent and make sure that you are dealing with a specialist. It won’t cost you more to hire the best to help you and in fact the irony is that, unlike most professions, with insurance you can hire the specialist for your business and pay less at the same time. It’s a real win win for restaurant owners and you can take advantage of this situation with less than an hour’s worth of research.
At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC we are one of those agencies with a specialty in restaurant insurance. We insure more than 50 different restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina. We know that each restaurant is different from the others and so we have developed 5 different restaurant insurance programs to help make a better custom fit for our clients. We have a bar and grill and tavern insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fine dining restaurant insurance program, a dynamite insurance package for fast food restaurants and even a specialized insurance program for caterers. If we can help you with restaurant insurance questions, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.
Restaurant Insurance – Your Promotions And Your Insurance Policy
In the restaurant business, the name of the game is getting customers to enter your doors and open their wallets. Restaurant owners are very savvy in this regard and there are many creative approaches to promoting used by different owners to increase their business and their profile in the community. One of the great things about running a restaurant, is the freedom that you have, as a business owner, to dream up and implement promotions for your establishment. But when you are coming up with ideas, don’t forget to consider the insurance angle.
There is really no limit, beyond what you can dream up, to what you can offer your clients to get them in the door spending money with you. I suppose if you can get it by the health department, you could have dwarf bowling, or keg midgets or even goat dancing contests if you thought it would help you increase sales. But don’t make the mistake of planning these promotions without considering the impact they may have on your restaurant insurance program. You don’t want to find out at renewal, or worse yet, after a large loss or accident, that what you were doing conflicts with your insurance plan or causes the insurance company to regard you as a higher risk.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the more common promotions and how they might affect your restaurant insurance policy. One of the most common is drink promotions. There are happy hours, ladies nights, half price drink nights and drink specials. Each of these can be a successful way to increase your sales but it is important to keep an eye on the ratio of liquor sales to food sales. There is a tipping point, beyond which your restaurant begins to look more like a bar to the insurance company and this can drive up the price of your liquor liability insurance or worse yet, can cause you to fall out of a preferred restaurant program, into one for higher risk establishments at a significant increase in premiums. That may be ok if you gain enough revenue to overcome the additional insurance costs, but you shouldn’t go into a promotion flying blind on the insurance impact.
Another revenue enhancer that we see establishments trying is adding delivery services for their customers. There are auto insurance and some workers compensation implications here that should be considered before you make these changes to your restaurant. These include impacts on your protection and coverage as well as on your rates.
We also see restaurants staying open a bit later and essentially turning their establishment into a bar after they stop serving food. Often they add a dance floor and DJ or have other live entertainment. These changes will all have large impacts on your restaurant insurance program and it is best if you bring in your agent for consultation and advice on the front end of these decisions. If you move forward without notifying your agent, you will lose the opportunity to factor in these changes in your overall return on investment for this plan, and you may find yourself in a position where you could even have trouble obtaining insurance protection at any price.
Restaurant insurance is a unique and tricky kind of policy and there is no doubt that you need a restaurant insurance specialist helping you with your insurance program. If you have the right agent and can form a partnership with your agent in helping you plan for the insurance impact of any major changes or promotions that you plan to implement, you will have a better big picture view on the true costs of your promotion or changes.
At Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in restaurants and we understand them. I have owned 4 restaurants in my lifetime so I know what restaurant owners struggle with day to day. I also know that not every restaurant has the same insurance needs so I developed 5 specialized insurance programs for the 5 broad categories of restaurants. I have a specialized program for catering companies, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program, a fast food restaurant insurance program, a fine dining restaurant insurance program and a casual dining restaurant insurance program. If you need help with your restaurant insurance, please feel free to call me, at 877-687-7557 or visit my web page online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.
Restaurant Insurance – Equipment Breakdown Coverage Revisited
In the past I have blogged about equipment breakdown coverage for restaurants and I have discussed one of the more obvious reasons for needing it – breakdown of heating or air conditioning systems. However, with rapid technological changes in the restaurant industry, there are new areas of concern that give new weight to the value of carefully considering adding this protection to your restaurant insurance policy.
Specifically, I want you to think of the new technologies that you may have added to your restaurant in the past 5 years that you now rely on for smooth day to day operations. Which of these could you do without for an extended period of time? How much would it cost you to replace lost income due to the breakdown of this equipment? For instance, many restaurants now use sophisticated, computer based cash registers that integrate with point of sale software systems. What losses would you face if this system broke down? Could you stay open?
Another area of consideration for your equipment breakdown coverage is your commercial grade sound system if you have one, or your inventory scanner system or even your time clock and payroll system that might be run from your computerized register. If these systems go down, your restaurant could be crippled and the lost revenue while you struggle to get your systems running again could be substantial.
All of these new electronic systems are at risk for power surges and electrical arcing. Unbudgeted losses from breakdown of these systems can be significant enough that for some restaurants equipment breakdown coverage should no longer be considered an optional coverage but rather a critical one. Take a moment to check your restaurant insurance policy and see if you have equipment breakdown coverage. After the systems break, it will be too late to go back then and add the coverage.
Restaurants are a unique kind of business and they present unique insurance challenges. If you own a restaurant then you should take the time to seek out an insurance agent who specializes in restaurant insurance. Don’t trust your protection to a generalist. You will likely save money and be better protected if you find an agent who understands restaurants and insures dozens or even hundreds of them.
Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC is an independent insurance agency that specializes in restaurant insurance. We write insurance for more than one hundred restaurants in North Carolina and South Carolina. Our understanding of how each restaurant is different from the others has led us to create 5 distinct restaurant insurance programs. We have a fine dining restaurant insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food restaurant insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program and a specialized insurance program for catering companies. If we can help you with your restaurant insurance needs, or if you simply need a professional second opinion on any restaurant insurance issues, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.