In the UK today, one of the only ways a business can survive is to ensure that they provide a varied product range and top level, first class service to all their customers.
This means that many businesses are looking to widen the scope of products and services that they sell. For example, farmers are selling an ever expanding range of products, shops offer to get you almost anything you want and this is no different for restaurants, takeaways, sandwich bars, cafes, coffee shops, pubs and wine bars.
In the past a restaurant may have survived by simply offering a service whereby customers visit the premises and consume food and drink whilst they are there. A takeaway would also have purely offered food products to be consumed away from the premises. Pubs may only have provided a limited food service as and when required. Nowadays the astute catering and licensed trade business owner is fighting back by offering a much wider range of products and services.
Most restaurants will now offer a takeaway service and many takeaways will allow customers to consume food in the premises. Further types of diversification for the food industry include outside catering, offering grocery food products, home delivery and the sale of alcohol.
This will usually affect your business insurance, in particular your public, products and employers liability insurance. The key point is that you should always declare the full range of business activities that you undertake to your insurance company via your broker. Most insurers offer bespoke policies for either the restaurant, takeaway or the licensed trade. Whilst on the face of it these policies will all seem similar to the layperson, there are usually subtle differences in the policy wordings. The aim being to offer the correct cover for the type of business being insured.
Whilst there are differences in the policy wordings you should always choose a business insurance policy that is designed for the main activities you undertake. When comparing business insurance quotes or renewal premiums you should always try to speak to someone, whether face to face or over the phone. This may seem simple but there are many websites now where you, the business insurance purchaser, input the relevant insurance details and a computer provides you with a quote. The computer cannot tell that you have an entrepreneurial spirit and offer many different, non traditional, products and services. The problem with these computer generated business insurance quote systems is that you are not receiving any advice. For example, if you take out a restaurant policy you may find that years later when you have a claim for public liability caused by a delivery driver you are not covered because it is excluded. A pub that has a function room attached will also need to declare this as you may have many people in your function room who you cannot keep an eye on. Your insurers need to be aware of this.
You may have no comeback at all because the insurer will say that you chose that particular product in the full knowledge that you were not receiving advice. Speaking to someone is not only easier than filling in a load of boxes on a computer screen; it also helps you because you are receiving business insurance advice from an expert.
This way you will be asked what the business does, whether you deliver, what you sell, if you do outside catering, whether you have a liquor licence, a function suite, a child's play area or whether people sit in your premises to eat.
You will then be sold a suitable insurance policy that covers all of your business activities. A good independent business insurance broker will ensure that your insurance policy has a full list of all the business activities you undertake declared in the policy document. This way there is no problem in the event of a claim later on because your policy is very clear on what you do and what you are covered for.
So, whether you are a pub, wine bar, restaurant or takeaway you will need to speak to an independent business insurance adviser. They will provide you with a competitive insurance quote for the widest cover they can obtain.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
Jack Brown is a professional writer who writes on various finance related topics. For more information on Fish And Chip Shop Insurance or Wholesalers Insurance he suggests you to visit www.businessinsure.co.uk
1 comment:
Really thankful to you for posting this blog, because with the help of this blog we can get more new and latest ideas about restaurant and really thankful to you. Insurance for Pubs, Hotels, Restaurants and Takeaway
Post a Comment