Proper Insurance Coverage For The Small Food Vendor
As a small food vendor, you might not think that you are at as much of a risk as a full-scale food operation. Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. You are, in fact, exposed to the very same risks. Given that you are a smaller operation, making smaller money, you are likely more in danger. Even the slightest of lawsuits could cripple your business, whereas a larger operation might have the money to cover a lawsuit. Proper business insurance coverage is even more important for you, but which coverage do you need and how do you get it?
Same Money By Comparing And Getting Quotes
Believe it or not, food business insurance is actually required by Canadian law for any food vendor. It doesn’t matter if you are full-scale or just a single-cart operator, you are required by Canadian law to get insurance. This is if you want to serve food on a legal level. And, any time you serve food, given the risks, you want to make sure that you are doing it on a legal level. If a customer gets choked on one of your dogs or products, it could turn into a major lawsuit. And, without the proper insurance, the entire situation would be a mess.
That aside, this means that you are going to have to spend money on insurance. Insurance isn’t cheap, especially for the Canadian food vendor. This is why it is pertinent to save when and where you can. Two of the best ways to do this is by bundling and getting multiple quotes. Getting multiple quotes is easy thanks to the Internet. All you have to do is search for local providers, enter your information along with the policies you are looking for, and you’ll be provided with quotes within minutes.
Bundling is a bit different, as it means bundling specific policies together. There is no set rule that says you have to get insurance through the same provider. For instance, you can get workers’ comp through a large, reliable provider like ProfessionalsCoverage, and you can get general liability insurance through a smaller local provider. Nonetheless, if you combine certain policies with the same provider, you’ll save money. Combining workers’ comp with general liability through ProfessionalsCoverage will end up saving you money.
Understanding The Different Policies
Canadian business insurance is no doubt confusing. One of the most confusing things about it is that there are so many policies available. You likely already know that there are tons of providers available, but you might not know that there are tons of policies available as well. Not only do these policies offer different types of protection, but they offer different amounts of protection. All of this is extremely important, as you need more protection of some policies than others. For instance, if you are going to have 3 or 4 employees, you’ll need more workers’ comp insurance than with just one employee.
Understanding these different policies, the amount of them you need, and how they can protect you are more than pertinent to protecting your business to the fullest.
General Liability And Business Owner’s Policy
Out of all the policies that you’ll come across it is the general liability and business owner’s policies that are the most basic. They are the foundation for any comprehensive insurance package. While they might seem simple and basic, they’ll offer some of the most important protection that your business can have. Why? Because they’ll protect you from customer injuries, damaged business property, business interruptions, slip and falls, damaged customer property, and libel or slander suits. What exactly does this mean?
It means that if your cart gets loose and runs into a customer’s car and causes damage, it’ll pay to have the vehicle repaired. It the cart gets loose and hit a customer, causing medical injuries, the policy will pay for the medical-related expenses. It’ll even pay for the court costs in the event that the customer wants to take the case to court in these situations. Some might and as was mentioned above, the slightest lawsuit could end up resulting in thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars that might end up forcing you to close your store.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Going back to employees, if you are going to take on more than one or two food carts, you’ll need workers’ comp insurance. If you are going to have someone there helping you hand out food and take orders, you’ll need to cover them with a workers’ comp policy. In fact, this is something that is required by Canadian business law. Even if it wasn’t, you would not want to skimp on this coverage because it’ll offer you much-needed protection.
If an employee gets hurt on the job, and this happens more than you’d imagine, it’ll cover you. It’ll pay for your employee’s medical expenses, rehab costs, and anything that is needed to get them back to work. Not only this, but it’ll also protect you. It’ll offer you protection in the event that the employee wants to sure. This might sound unfortunate, but there are a lot of employees that do sue in these situations.
Commercial Auto Insurance
It might sound kind of crazy to some, but would you be surprised to hear that your cart is actually considered a commercial vehicle? That’s right, in Canada it is, and if it does get loose and cause injuries or damages, you’ll need commercial auto insurance to protect yourself. This type of coverage will offer physical damage and collision coverage, injuries to other individuals, and repairs due to vandalism or weather. This will be extremely important, given that you’ll end up relying on your cart for daily wages.
Just imagine how much money you’ll lose in one or two days if your cart was inoperable. This is money that you simply can’t stand to lose, especially not in today’s competitive food vending world. Luckily, you won’t have to when you take advantage of this coverage because it’ll cover the repairs to get you back out there.
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Other Types of Food Business Insurance We Provide:
If your business is not mentioned below, have no worries. Our insurance markets can provide liability coverage for the majority of food related industries.