All fast food and takeaway restaurants need specialised takeaway liability insurance. This type of cover protects against all sorts of common restaurant mishaps. Some insurance, such as employer liability insurance and public liability insurance is required by law in the UK. Far from a burden however, restaurant and cafe owners should be grateful for the requirement, because without a fast food insurance policy they could risk bankruptcy almost on a daily basis. In addition to required insurance, there are other more comprehensive policies available to protect your property. These should be added to your standard policy to make sure that your property is protected in a variety of situations.

What could go wrong?
It is easy to get a false sense of security when working in an establishment every day. It seems safe enough to merely cook food and serve it to your loyal customers. It may seem very little different than serving food to your family at home, but it is very different.
While the big chains can withstand a few horror stories, a small local cafe or takeaway restaurant establishment can be destroyed by a major accident. That is one of the reasons it is so important to have good takeaway liability insurance.

Takeaway Restaurant Horror Tales

• A deli employee puts dish detergent in a squeeze bottle normally used for oil and vinegar salad dressing. Another employee sees the bottle and puts it on the food prep station. By the time complaints started to come in the dish soap had been used up on dozens of sandwiches. While dish detergent is not highly toxic, many of the cleaners used in restaurant kitchens are.

• A takeout employee is cutting cabbage in a (faulty) commercial cabbage shredder, and injures a finger.The employee is taken to hospital and expensive surgery is required. Not only did insurance cover the repair of the severed finger, but it also paid for the legal action initiated by the employee. It is important to note that neither the employee nor the restaurant owner could have paid for the expensive microsurgery the employee received without restaurant insurance, this type of action, dependant on the severity could have bankrupted the small establishment.

• Late in the shift, an unsupervised staff of foreign cooks decide to prepare meat they have bought in the fast food restaurant kitchen for their own use. The following night there were several reported incidents of e-coli, rushing dozens of people to hospitals in the area. One unfortunately fatal. Investigation showed that the kitchen counters and many of the utensils were contaminated with e-coli. The fast food restaurant was obviously found liable.

• A disgruntled employee starts a fire in a small cafe, which results in the loss of not only the cafe/fast food operation, but also significant damage to a neighbouring business.

• Late one evening, an armed robber entered a small fast food restaurant and demanded money. One of the other employees came out of the kitchen and was subjected to a knife attack by the robber. Employer liability insurance covered the employee’s medical expenses.

Without cover for your fast food or cafe insurance business could be lost overnight with the smallest of incident. It is very important to get the right fast food insurance to cover every possible problem, even the coverage not required by law. Having a good insurance policy not only protects you, it protects your clients, and your employees. Check out our related article on the risk of owning a takeaway restaurant. It is important to note that good insurance is no substitute for a diligent effort to prevent accidents and avoid hidden dangers and risks. If the worst should happen though, it is an asset to be covered by takeaway liability insurance.

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