-
Brandon Thompson - CEO - Commercial and Personal Insurance Agent -
Kirk Reisner - CFO - Commercial Insurance Agent -
Jenessa Figinsky Commercial Account manager Springfield, MO -
Tyler Hunter - Licensed Producing Agent, Oak Grove, MO
What Is Restaurant Insurance?
Restaurant insurance is a combination of coverages designed to help protect a food service business from financial losses involving property damage, customer injuries, employee injuries, and interruptions to operations. It can cover everything from your building and kitchen equipment to liability claims arising from the food you serve.
There isn’t one policy that covers every restaurant risk. Many restaurants start with a business owners policy (BOP), which combines commercial property, general liability, and business income coverage. Depending on your operation, you may also need workers’ compensation, liquor liability, commercial auto, equipment breakdown, and food spoilage coverage. The right combination depends on how you prepare, serve, and deliver food, whether you sell alcohol, and the equipment and employees your business relies on.
What Types of Restaurants and Food Businesses Do We Insure?
MBG Insurance helps a wide range of restaurants and food businesses find insurance in Missouri and Arkansas. Whether you operate a mobile kitchen, a neighborhood gathering place, or a fine dining restaurant, we can help explore coverage options for your business.
Businesses we can help include:
- Food trucks and food trailers
- Cafés and coffee shops
- Bakeries, doughnut shops, and dessert shops
- Delis, sandwich shops, and quick-service restaurants
- Pizzerias and takeout restaurants
- Diners and family restaurants
- Barbecue restaurants and steakhouses
- Casual dining and fine dining restaurants
- Caterers and mobile food vendors
- Restaurants serving beer, wine, and spirits, with options for eligible businesses where alcohol represents up to 40% of total sales
Eligibility varies by insurance company, menu, cooking methods, alcohol sales, delivery services, and other business details. Our team helps identify carriers and coverage options that fit your operation.
What Insurance Coverages Does a Restaurant Need?
Restaurants need insurance for more than their building and kitchen equipment. Customer injuries, food-related illness claims, employee accidents, delivery exposures, and unexpected closures can all affect your business. Depending on your operation, these are the key coverages to consider:
- General Liability: Helps protect your business against covered claims involving customer injuries, damage to someone else’s property, and food-related illness. A customer slipping on a wet floor is one common example.
- Commercial Property: Helps cover your building, if you own it, along with kitchen equipment, furniture, inventory, and other business property against covered losses such as fire or theft.
- Business Income and Extra Expense: Can help replace lost business income and pay certain continuing or additional expenses when a covered property loss interrupts your operations. Coverage depends on the policy’s triggers, limits, and restoration period.
- Workers’ Compensation: Helps pay medical expenses and a portion of lost wages when an employee suffers a covered work-related injury or illness, such as a kitchen burn or slip.
- Liquor Liability: Helps protect restaurants against covered claims arising from serving or selling alcohol. Restaurants that serve alcohol should review this coverage even when alcohol represents a small portion of sales.
- Equipment Breakdown: Helps cover certain sudden mechanical or electrical breakdowns involving covered equipment, such as refrigeration systems or other kitchen machinery. Standard property insurance generally does not cover these breakdowns.
- Food Spoilage: Can help pay for perishable inventory lost because of covered events, such as refrigeration failure or a qualifying power interruption. Equipment breakdown coverage alone may not include all spoilage exposures.
- Commercial Auto: Covers vehicles used in your business, such as a catering van or delivery vehicle. Food trucks also need coverage that addresses their attached equipment and food service operations.
- Hired and Non-Owned Auto Liability: Helps protect the restaurant against covered auto liability claims involving rented vehicles or employees using their own vehicles for business errands or deliveries. Delivery use must be disclosed and accepted by the carrier.
- Commercial Umbrella: Provides additional liability limits above certain underlying policies for covered claims. Review which policies it extends over, including liquor liability if applicable.
- Employment Practices Liability: Helps address covered employment-related claims, such as allegations of discrimination, harassment, or wrongful termination.
- Cyber Insurance: Can help with covered expenses and liability involving data breaches, compromised customer information, and certain cyber incidents.
Many restaurants begin with a business owners policy (BOP) that combines general liability, commercial property, and business income coverage. Other protections may require endorsements or separate policies. MBG Insurance helps you review these options based on your menu, equipment, employees, alcohol sales, and delivery or catering services.
Does Your Restaurant Need Liquor Liability Insurance?
If your restaurant sells or serves beer, wine, or spirits, liquor liability insurance is an important coverage to consider—even if alcohol makes up only a small percentage of your sales. It can help pay defense costs and covered damages when your business faces allegations that its alcohol service contributed to an injury or property damage.
Standard general liability insurance typically excludes liquor liability for businesses that sell or serve alcohol. The host liquor coverage that may be included in a general liability policy generally does not address a restaurant’s ongoing alcohol sales. Liquor liability usually needs to be added by endorsement or purchased separately.
MBG Insurance offers options for eligible restaurants in Missouri and Arkansas with alcohol sales of up to 40% of total sales. We help review your alcohol sales, serving practices, and coverage limits, along with any liquor liability requirements in your lease or contracts. Let us know about happy hours, catering, or off-site alcohol service so we can help address those exposures.
Does Restaurant Insurance Cover Equipment Breakdowns and Food Spoilage?
Restaurant insurance can cover equipment breakdowns and food spoilage, but these protections are not automatically included in every policy. Standard commercial property insurance may cover equipment damaged by a fire or another covered event, while a sudden mechanical or electrical failure generally requires equipment breakdown coverage.
Equipment breakdown coverage can help pay to repair or replace covered equipment, such as walk-in coolers, freezers, and certain cooking equipment, after a qualifying breakdown. It generally does not cover routine maintenance, wear and tear, or equipment simply reaching the end of its useful life.
Food spoilage coverage can help replace perishable food and ingredients lost because of a covered refrigeration breakdown, contamination, or temperature change. The causes covered vary by policy. For example, an overnight cooler failure could leave you with both an equipment repair bill and thousands of dollars in spoiled inventory—two expenses that may require separate coverage provisions.
Power outages deserve special attention. An outage originating away from your restaurant may require utility services coverage or another endorsement. If the incident also forces you to close, business income coverage must respond to that specific cause for lost income to be covered.
MBG Insurance helps restaurant owners review equipment breakdown, spoilage, utility interruption, and business income coverage together, with limits that reflect the equipment and inventory your operation depends on.
How Can Business Income Coverage Help After a Covered Loss?
Business income coverage can help your restaurant meet financial obligations when a covered property loss forces you to temporarily close or reduce operations. For example, if a covered kitchen fire shuts down your restaurant during repairs, this coverage can help replace lost net income and pay continuing expenses, such as rent and certain payroll costs.
Extra expense coverage can help pay necessary additional costs to keep operating or reopen sooner, such as renting temporary equipment or using an alternative kitchen, when covered by your policy.
Business income insurance does not cover every interruption. A slow sales period or a closure without a covered cause generally does not qualify. Equipment breakdowns, food spoilage, and off-site utility outages may require specific coverage or endorsements for the resulting income loss to be covered.
The amount paid depends on your policy’s terms, limits, waiting period, and period of restoration. MBG Insurance helps restaurant owners review these details using their revenue, ongoing expenses, and potential recovery time so coverage reflects what it could take to get back to business.
How Much Does Restaurant Insurance Cost in Missouri and Arkansas?
Restaurant insurance costs depend on the type of food business you operate, its size, and the coverage you need. A small café, a food truck, and a fine dining restaurant have different exposures, so a single average price may not accurately reflect your business.
Factors that can affect your premium include:
- Annual sales and payroll: The size of your operation and number of employees help determine pricing for several coverages.
- Menu and cooking methods: Deep frying, open flames, and other cooking processes affect fire exposures.
- Building and location: Construction, age, condition, fire protection, and the value of your equipment influence property insurance costs.
- Alcohol sales: The percentage of sales from alcohol and your serving practices can affect liquor liability pricing and eligibility.
- Delivery, catering, and vehicles: These services introduce exposures that may require additional coverage.
- Claims history: Previous losses can affect pricing and available options.
- Coverage limits and deductibles: Your selections affect both your premium and what you may pay after a loss.
MBG Insurance works with Travelers, Auto-Owners, The Hartford, Progressive Commercial, and SECURA to explore options for eligible food businesses in Missouri and Arkansas. Available carriers and coverages depend on your operation. We help you compare price alongside coverage limits, deductibles, and exclusions so you understand what you’re buying.
How Do I Get a Restaurant Insurance Quote?
Submit Your Quote Request
Fill out our short online quote form or call one of our offices directly. Have your annual revenue, number of employees, and a list of your services ready. The more detail you give us, the more accurate your quote will be.
We Shop The Market
Your MBG advisor shops your account across multiple top-rated insurance carriers. You'll receive a comparison of options — coverage levels, limits, and pricing — within 24–48 hours. We explain what each policy covers and what it doesn't.
Get Covered & Get Your COI
Choose your coverage, complete payment, and receive your certificate of insurance — often the same day. We can issue COIs directly to general contractors, property managers, or licensing boards on your behalf.
Frequently Asked Questions About Restaurant Insurance
Helpful Articles from the InsuranceNerds!
"Kirk and the Crew at Millennium have gone above and beyond to help me find the right insurance for my rental properties. They always take the time to explain the options of each company they bring to the table. I highly recommend MBG Insurance for all your insurance needs."
JW Delong
"Can't say enough good things about Tyler and MBG Insurance. I reached out to 4 insurance brokers, he was by far the quickest and most knowledgeable about the industry. Also gave me recommendations and discounts that I was not aware of. In the end I was able to lower my insurance premium by 17%."
Derek Lee
Why Choose MBG Insurance for Your Restaurant?
Your insurance should reflect how your restaurant operates—from the equipment in your kitchen to the food and drinks you serve. MBG Insurance helps restaurant owners across Missouri and Arkansas understand their exposures and choose coverage that fits their business and budget.
As an independent insurance agency, we work with Travelers, Auto-Owners, The Hartford, Progressive Commercial, and SECURA. We compare options from carriers that fit your operation, whether you run a food truck, café, family restaurant, or fine dining establishment. We also have options for eligible restaurants with alcohol sales of up to 40% of total sales.
Our team helps you look beyond the premium to review coverage limits, deductibles, exclusions, and protections such as equipment breakdown, food spoilage, and business income. With offices in Springfield, Oak Grove, and Bentonville, we’re available to help with policy questions, certificates of insurance, and coverage changes as your restaurant grows.
