Friday, December 17, 2010

Restaurant Insurance – Part 10 Liquor Liability

This is the final installment of our 10 part series on buying restaurant insurance for NC and SC restaurants. This installment covers the often overlooked but almost always needed protection for liquor liability. Now if your restaurant doesn’t sell any alcohol, then you will not need to purchase this protection. But if you do sell alcohol, then this is a coverage that you can’t afford to do without. Skipping this protection could force you to sell your restaurant and lose most of what you have worked for all of your life. Yeah, it’s that important.

Liquor liability protects your restaurant against 3rd party claims for those injured by an inebriated person who consumed some or all of their alcohol at your restaurant prior to the loss. The loss most often comes in the form of a car accident. Hold on you say, you would never serve someone who is drunk, or let a drunk leave your bar with his car keys in hand. But the liability issue doesn’t work that way. Here’s a real world example. One of our clients had a claim several years ago that cost their insurance company over $750,000 and that was less than 1/3 of the total damages. You see, they had served a customer a couple of drinks with dinner. This customer left their restaurant about 8:30 pm and then visited two bars before finally killing another person in an auto accident around 2 am. This customer was not drunk when he left our client’s restaurant, but because they had served him alcohol, our client was dragged into the lawsuit and forced to defend themselves and ultimately forced to share in the damages.

Hopefully now I have your attention and you understand how important it is to have this protection. Now let’s talk about buying this coverage. There are two ways liquor liability insurance is sold. One is as a standalone policy and the other is ad an add on to your businessowners or package policy for your restaurant. Stand alone policies are generally more expensive and are most often used for true bars and night clubs as opposed to restaurants. If you own a restaurant and your liquor liability is a standalone policy, then this should be an immediate red flag that you need to evaluate your current policy and your insurance agent as you may not be using a true restaurant insurance specialist.

Rates for liquor liability vary widely from one insurance company to the next and also from one program to the next offered by the same company. There are several factors that can drive your liquor liability rate. First of all is the ratio of alcohol sales to food sales. Get this ratio above 30% and you are going to start falling out of the most preferred rate plans. Get above 50% and you may find yourself kicked out of the businessowners add on coverage and be forced to purchase a standalone liquor liability policy. Another factor is the type of alcohol that you sell in your establishment. If you sell only beer and wine and no hard liquor, then you should have a reduced rate. If you are selling no hard liquor at all, then you need to check with your agent to be sure that he or she knows this and that this is reflected in your rate. Past claims will also play a big part in what rate you pay and whether or not you are able to add this protection to your businessowners policy or if you have to purchase a standalone policy. The last factor that can impact your rate is the type of safety training and safety programs that you are running in your restaurant to help prevent a liquor liability claim from happening.

One last tip that should be mentioned relates to bar and grill and tavern type restaurants. Often these types of restaurants are discriminated against in their liquor liability rate and get classified as night clubs. This is often unfair and you should know that there are a few programs out there that recognize this and have special rates for bar and grill type establishments that don’t treat them as night clubs. For more information on the bar and grill liquor liability issue, please read my blog on this topic by clicking here.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurant owners with their insurance needs. We understand the importance of using an insurance specialist for your industry and we work hard to fill that need for our clients. Our specialty with restaurant owners is so broad that we can usually help you with every type of policy that you buy for your business and for your family, including your family auto insurance, your home insurance and your life insurance and retirement planning. We also understand that not all restaurants have the same insurance needs and as such we have developed 5 different restaurant insurance programs so that you aren’t subsidizing add on coverages that you don’t need. 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 taveren insurance program and a special insurance program for catering companies. If we can help you with your restaurant insurance in either North Carolina or South Carolina, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantStore.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found in their entirety at www.RetaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Restaurant Insurance – Part 9 EPLI Coverage

This is part 9 of our 10 part series on how to insure your restaurant. This section deals with an insurance policy that is not well understood and even less often purchased. This is the EPLI insurance policy and EPLI stands for Employment Practices Liability Insurance. This is a coverage that every restaurant owner with employees should consider purchasing.

EPLI coverage nicely fills some gaps in coverage that your business owners policy or your commercial package policy leaves. Specifically these have to do with some intentional actions that you take with your employees for which you may later be found liable and owe for damages. The most common types of EPLI claims are for wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and discrimination. Now you might say to yourself that you don’t need this coverage because you would never do any of those things. But what you must consider is that you might be accused of doing one of these acts. And if so, then you will have to defend yourself and the defense is not a cheap process. So even if you didn’t want to purchase the insurance for the judgment because you think you would never commit one of these acts, consider that you might want to purchase the insurance to pay for your attorney to defend you.

EPLI can be purchased as a separate policy, or in some cases can be added to your existing package or businessowners policy. If you purchase it as an add on, be sure that you understand if the protection has a sublimit of coverage that is lower than your general liability limit and also check in to be sure that defense costs are included. Last of all, if defense is included, be sure to find out if that is unlimited and outside of the policy limit, or if defense costs are counted against your total liability limit.

There is one more thing to consider. Most EPLI policies are claims made based policies, whereas your general liability protection is usually occurrence based. With a claims made policy, you need to report the claim within the policy period so if the claim rears its head after you have cancelled the policy, then you will find yourself without coverage. To protect yourself from this situation, you should laundry list your potential claims at the end of each policy term and submit that list to your insurance carrier.

EPLI protection may seem like a real specialty coverage for just a few but the truth is, with the layoffs that many restaurant owners have had to resort to in the past few years, this is a must have protection. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all of our clients to be informed insurance consumers. We encourage you to call us and ask questions regarding this or any other blog article that we have posted. We specialize in helping restaurant owners buy insurance for their restaurants and we understand that not all restaurants are the same. We don’t want your insurance policy to a square peg jammed into a round hole, so we have created 5 different restaurant insurance programs to help you better select the one that meets your needs. 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 special insurance program for caterers. If you need help with your restaurant insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Restaurant Insurance – Part 8 The Umbrella Policy

This is part 8 of our 10 part series on insuring your restaurant. This article deals with a policy that is only purchased by about 20% of restaurant owners. That is the commercial umbrella policy.

The commercial umbrella policy is a liability policy that adds an extra layer of protection over and above your underlying liability policies, such as your general liability insurance, your workers compensation insurance and your commercial auto insurance. This policy provides a quick, convenient and usually inexpensive way to increase your overall liability protection on all of your underlying policies at once.

The commercial umbrella policy will have underlying limits requirements for your above mentioned underlying liability policies. In some cases it is cheaper to raise the underlying limits of your other policies and in other cases it is cheaper to keep them low and add the umbrella policy. You should take the time to go over this in detail with your agent so that you can make the choice that is best for your restaurant. Once your policy is issued, always check to make sure that all of your underlying policies are listed on the declarations page of your umbrella policy so that you know it is adding additional liability protection to all of your policies.

Most every commercial umbrella policy will have a self insured retention listed on the declarations page of the policy. This self insured retention acts like a deductible but it is a bit trickier than the deductibles that you are used to. Policy forms vary, so check with your agent to see if the self insured retention applies to all claims that are filed against your policy, or just to those where the umbrella policy provides the first dollar of protection. That is possible because of the wording of the umbrella policies, in some cases there may be additional protection provided by the umbrella policy that is not provided by any of the underlying policies.

One last thing to take a look at is whether defense dollars (money paid to attorneys to defend your case) are included in the total policy limit or are outside the limit and therefore unlimited unless noted otherwise. This could dramatically change the outcome for you if most of your claim was defense costs to fight the claim.

The commercial umbrella policy is a unique policy that is not used often by most restaurant owners. But every restaurant owner should take a close look at the umbrella policy to see if it provides protection or benefits that they need to be properly insured.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC we make it a part of our job to help insurance consumers out there become informed consumers. We specialize in insuring restaurants and we have programs to help our restaurant owners with every policy they purchase on their restaurant and for their personal needs. We are truly a one stop shop. We have created special niche programs for 5 different types of restaurants. We have a fine dining restaurant insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food restaurant insurance program, a tavern and bar and grill insurance program and a special program for caterers insurance. If we can help you with your restaurant insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source data for this article can be found in articles at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Restaurant Insurance – Part 7 – Workers Compensation Insurance

Workers compensation insurance is an integral part to any NC restaurant insurance program. But, due to the relatively low cost of this protection for restaurant owners, it is often overlooked. This 7th part in our 10 part series takes a closer look at workers compensation and highlights several key elements of this policy that a restaurant owner needs to understand in order to best protect his business, his workers and his cash flow.

First of all, this discussion will be directed to and focused on North Carolina workers compensation insurance for restaurants. Some of what you may learn here will apply in other states but for the sake of this discussion, we are focusing on NC rules and regulations.

The first question that a restaurant owner might ask would be if he or she even needs to buy work comp insurance for their restaurant. The answer is an unqualified yes. But here are the rules. In NC, you are only required to purchase work comp insurance on your business if you have 3 or more employees. Also, you can choose to include or exclude corporate officers and owners. But here’s the catch. Not being required to purchase the policy is not the same thing as avoiding the exposure. If you don’t purchase the policy, you will still be required to pay all claims. Without the policy you are just deciding to pay all the claims yourself out of your own pocket. This is almost universally a bad idea.

The insurance policy itself is a statutory based policy. This means that the policy follows the NC work comp statutes which spell out what is covered and to what extent. The workers compensation rules and rates in NC are controlled by the NC Rate Bureau. The claims process is handled by the NC Industrial Commission.

Your actual workers compensation costs will be based on your payroll. Each classification of worker will have its own rate. To get your policy started you will estimate what your payroll will be for the year for each different classification that applies to your restaurant. At the end of the policy year, the insurance company will perform an audit of your payroll and an adjustment to the final premium will be made. If you had overestimated your payroll then you would be due a refund and if you had underestimated it, you will owe an additional premium. Under estimating is risky and can leave you with a bad cash flow situation that I call the audit trap. To understand the audit trap better, read my blog here.

Another aspect of your workers compensation policy to consider is that over time, most workers compensation policies are experience rated. This is done when the NC Rate Bureau assigns you an experience modification factor. This factor modifies your rate either up or down, depending on your past loss experience. This is a strong incentive for you to manage your risks and minimize your claims. To learn more about how this works, visit my blog on this by clicking here.

One more point that I would make to restaurant owners who are setting up their workers compensation insurance is that they take the time to consider using a mono line workers compensation company for this policy. Recently we have seen a rise in these companies which write only workers compensation insurance. Often their expertise and specialization allows them to provide better back to work programs as well as more effective loss control programs. They are also more likely to offer a pay as you go program for your billing.

While workers compensation insurance will rarely be the biggest ticket item in a restaurant owner’s insurance program, there are several areas in this policy where the restaurant owner can reduce risk and save money by using the right company and the right agent. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC we specialize in helping restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina. And since not every restaurant is the same and we don’t think you should have to pay for prepackaged coverages you don’t need or miss out on the coverages you do need, so we have created 5 different restaurant insurance programs for our NC and SC clients. We have a fine dining insurance program, a casual dining insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program and a special insurance program for caterers. If we can help you with your insurance needs, please feel free to visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com or call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles which can be found on line at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Restaurant Insurance – Part 6 – Business Auto Insurance

This is the 6th part in a 10 part series on how to insure your restaurant. This article deals with auto insurance for your business and discusses a few of the pitfalls that restaurant owners need to wary of when setting up their restaurant insurance program.

Business Auto insurance is an easy one to overlook when you are setting up your restaurant and planning your insurance needs. Often the restaurant owner will tell me that he doesn’t have any cars in the company name, so why worry about business auto insurance. This seems reasonable on the surface. But the problem is that you don’t have to own any vehicles to get yourself into a world of hurt with an auto loss for your business.

Here’s the problem. At some point in time, and probably more often than you may at first imagine, someone, be it you or an employee of yours, is going to be out there running errands on behalf of the business. Let’s say your employee is taking a deposit to the bank and runs a red light and severely injures a mother and two children. Now, assume the costs of the injuries from this accident run in excess of $500,000. Well, you didn’t cause the accident so why should you worry? The problem will stem from the fact that it is unlikely that your employee who caused the accident will have high enough insurance limits on his or her personal auto policy to cover these losses. And since the errand was run on behalf of your restaurant, your corporation or partnership or LLC or whatever entity owns your restaurant can be held liable for the excess losses that are not covered by your employee’s personal auto insurance policy. And in this case, if your employee has only $100,000 of auto insurance bodily injury protection and no real assets to speak of, then your business is now the deep pocket in this event and that puts you on the hot seat.

So what do you do about this? The solution is wonderfully simple and also inexpensive. What you need is a business auto insurance coverage called nonowned auto coverage. If you do have a business auto policy because you have vehicles titled in the company name, then you can add this coverage to that policy. The cost is usually under $100 per year. While you are at it, you may as well add hired auto coverage as well since the cost of this coverage is also very low. In fact you may already have this coverage. To find out, take out your business auto policy and check the symbol showing beside the liability section. If you see a symbol 1, or a symbol 9, then you already have nonowned coverage. If you don’t have a business auto policy already, then most restaurant business owners policies will allow you to add both hired and nonowned auto insurance to that policy. If neither of these is possible, then you can simply purchase a standalone hired and nonowned auto policy, usually for under $250 per year.

There is also a second problem that occurs very often with restaurant owners. Often I see that the restaurant owner chooses to re-title all of the family cars in the name of the restaurant. While this is often a good tax strategy, it leaves the restaurant owner vulnerable to a coverage gap that I call the DOC trap. Basically this is a situation where all of the insurance protection is written in the name of the corporation or LLC and the individual family members don’t have a personal auto insurance policy with their names listed on the policy as named insureds. If you find yourself in this situation, and then you have an at fault accident, then the protected entity is the owner of the car, in this case the corporation. After the insurance company pays the claim on behalf of the corporation, they then own the claim as it were. This means that the insurance company has the right to subrogate this claim against you, the individual. With no personal auto policy in your name anywhere, you have nowhere to turn for your protection and now you are forced to pay this clam out of your pocket. The solution to this problem is to add DOC or (Drives Other Car) coverage to your commercial auto policy in the name of the restaurant. This endorsement will name each person who needs the coverage extended to them. The cost generally runs under $200 per person per year but without it you are out there riding without a spare so to speak. To learn more details about the DOC trap, visit my blog here.

There are so many different things that a restaurant owner has to worry about, just to keep the doors open. The last thing you need is a policy with holes in it that you only find out about after a loss. Take the proactive step of finding an agent who specializes in writing NC restaurant insurance. It’s just not worth the risk to do otherwise.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance needs. We understand your business and we speak your language. That’s because I have owned 4 different restaurants myself in the past. We understand that not all restaurants are the same on they don’t all need the same coverages. To help prevent you from buying a package of coverages that includes things you don’t need, or one that leaves out important coverages you do need, we have developed 5 different restaurant insurance programs. We have a fine dining insurance program, a special insurance program for casual dining restaurants, one for fast food restaurants, a unique bar and grill and tavern insurance program and a caterers insurance program. If we can help you with your restaurant questions, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this article can be found in articles located at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Restaurant Insurance – Part 5 Mechanical Breakdown

This is the fifth part in our 10 part series on North Carolina restaurant insurance. This section will deal with mechanical breakdown, what this means for you the restaurant owner and how and why you should consider this protection form when setting up your NC restaurant insurance program.

First of all, an explanation. What is mechanical breakdown coverage and when would you need it. Let’s use an example. Assume it’s the middle of July and temperatures have been hovering in the mid 90’s for weeks. One morning you come in to your restaurant and find it is 85 degrees inside. You call your landlord and he calls a technician to look at the air conditioning systems located on the roof of your restaurant. As it turns out, both units have failed and it will be a week before parts can be found and the units replaced. And yeah, no one is going to eat at your establishment until this problem is solved. Who can eat in 85 degree heat? What you have here is a classic case of a mechanical breakdown that is going to cost you money in terms of cash flow, lost sales, and possibly spoiled supplies.

Your standard restaurant insurance policy is not going to cover these losses. The only way to get this type of loss covered is to purchase mechanical breakdown coverage. This is added as an endorsement to your standard restaurant package or restaurant businessowners insurance policy. This is the kind of extra coverage that is often overlooked by agents who don’t specialize in insuring restaurants. If you are buying your insurance from an agent who isn’t a specialist in restaurants, then you might be taking risks you don’t even know about.

Now it is important to understand that in our example, the repair costs to the air conditioner will not be covered under the mechanical breakdown protection. (for a discussion on how you might get burned for the costs of maintaining your landlord’s air conditioners on the roof, please click here.) This endorsement is for the consequential losses that are caused by the failure of a piece of equipment. Also, don’t restrict your thinking just to air conditioners. This can also apply to coolers, freezers and other types of equipment, the loss of which would take your business down completely or partially for some time frame.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance needs. We understand that your business is unique and your insurance needs are complex and varied and for that you need a restaurant insurance specialist like us. We also know that not all restaurants are created equally and that they have different needs. That is why we have developed 5 uniquely different restaurant insurance programs to help you get just what you need and not have to buy coverages that don’t apply to your situation. 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 special insurance program for caterers. If you would like help with your restaurant insurance, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Restaurant Insurance Part 4 of 10 – Spoilage Coverage

This 4th part in a 10 part series deals with spoilage coverage and what you need to know when purchasing it. As you will see, there are a couple pitfalls here that you will want to avoid.

Spoilage protection is coverage that almost every restaurant owner should consider purchasing. Of course, like all insurance coverages, you should consider the need and weigh that against the costs, but in most cases spoilage protection is fairly inexpensive and could be a real help if you lose your cooler, especially if it goes out at a time when it is full of prepped work for a large function. But as I mentioned, there are a few pitfalls to avoid when purchasing this coverage.

Spoilage protection is coverage that is typically added to your businessowners policy. And while that is a great convenience, it leads to our first pitfall – coverage limits. Take a few minutes to calculate your worst case scenario with a loss of the use of your cooler and make sure you know how much money you stand to lose if this happens at the absolute worst time. Now, make sure that you have at least that much spoilage coverage on your policy. You see, with add on coverages like this, often times the insurance company that designed the program simply has a flat amount of protection, say $5000 or $10,000 worth that comes with the spoilage coverage. But it is very important that you take the time to evaluate what you need here and then make sure that you can add that amount of spoilage coverage to your policy.

So what is the other pitfall? Well, this one is a bit more insidious and will take more research on your part. You should take a moment to read over the policy wording on your spoilage coverage to understand what requirements are being put on you in order for the protection to trigger in the event of a claim. Many of these spoilage endorsement forms require that you have a refrigeration maintenance agreement in place and that your refrigeration units are inspected at defined regular intervals. Failure to do so could make this coverage void so you see how important it is to know what you are dealing with in this area.

All of this points out just how important it is for you, as a restaurant owner, to purchase your insurance from an agent that specializes in restaurant insurance. There are just too many small print items that can come back to bite you.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, restaurants are our specialty. We insure many different types of restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina. We know that there are many different kinds of restaurants, each very different from the other and each with widely different needs in terms of risk management, marketing and protection. This is why we have created 5 uniquely different restaurant insurance programs. We have a fine dining insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance programand a special insurance program for caterers. If we can help you with your insurance needs or simply answer a question for you, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this blog can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Restaurant Insurance Basics – Part 3 of 10 – Business Income Insurance

Part 3 in our 10 part series discusses Business Income insurance and how to use it to correctly protect your loss of income after insured disasters.

Business Income, sometimes referred to as business interruption insurance is often overlooked when the restaurant owner sets up his or her restaurant insurance program. This is because with most businessowners policies, this coverage is now included automatically. This is of course a great convenience for those who might overlook this protection in the first place. But this automatic protection does not remove the need for you to take the time to understand this coverage and make sure that it will respond in the way you expect after a large loss.

Before this coverage was simplified and added into the businessowners policy coverage, it was sold separately under the name business interruption coverage. If you still have a package policy as opposed to the businessowners form, then you will probably need to add this coverage by endorsement. Either way, there are several different elements to this protection and you should understand each clearly.

Before I tackle the different elements of business income protection, it is important to note that business income coverage is a consequential loss form. That means, the losses that you incur which are to be covered by this part of your insurance policy have to be the consequence of an insured peril in the first place. For instance, if a fire burns your building down, then the fire loss is covered by the businessowners policy and so therefore, the business income coverage will apply. If, on the other hand, you have a flood loss to your restaurant, then that type of loss is not covered by the businessowners policy so you will not have protection for your lost income.

To understand these elements of this protection, I will focus on the most common form of policy, the businessowners policy. Bear in mind that these are generalities and you should discuss your specific form with your agent if you have difficulty understanding it. First of all, business income is usually defined as net profit or loss before income taxes that would have been earned or incurred if no physical loss or damage had occurred. So, we are talking about lost profits here. But what else should be considered? Well, the form usually also includes normal continuing operating expenses. These are expenses that will continue on even when you are shut down and out of business. They might include rent, electricity, water etcetera and most importantly payroll. If you can’t pay your employees while you are shut down, you might lose them. Often though, the coverage for payroll can be limited in both time and scope. Many common forms only include payroll for 60 days past the date of the physical loss that triggered the business income coverage. In addition, most forms exclude payroll for owners, executives, department managers and employees under contract. Also, you should check your policy form carefully to see if any of the following are included or excluded in the definition of payroll: employee benefits, fica payments you pay, union dues you pay, and workers compensation premiums you pay.

One additional element of this protection deals with extra expense. Extra expenses are those that you must bear in order to get your restaurant back in business more quickly. You may have to expedite shipments or rent another location to get in business while your old one is repaired. You should put together a firm and clear disaster plan for what you would do if your restaurant is destroyed by fire and then be sure that your business income protection will respond in a way that works well for your plan.

I think that the business income section of your policy is a place that points out just how important it is for you to deal with an agent and company that specializes in insuring restaurants. There is too much to lose here and you can’t fix it very easily after the big loss has occurred. Take the time to make sure you have hired the professionals that you need to make sure you don’t lose your livelihood in an accident that is compounded by poor disaster and risk management planning.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance consumers become better informed buyers. Insuring and helping restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina is our specialty. We even have ways to help you gain and keep more customers. For one example of that type of program, visit our partners page. We also know that not all restaurants are the same. That’s why we have created 5 different restaurant insurance programs so that you can choose a program more tailored to your needs. We have a fine dining insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program and a special insurance program for caterers. If you need help or advice for your NC restaurant or your SC restaurant, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com. Don’t trust your livelihood to an agent that doesn’t specialize in restaurants. There is just no need to take that risk.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Restaurant Insurance Basics – Part 2 of 10 – Liability Insurance

This is the second in a 10 part series on the how to’s of insuring your restaurant. In this article we discuss liability insurance, what it is and what issues you should consider when purchasing your liability insurance.

Generally speaking your liability insurance will be a part of your package policy that also includes property insurance. For help on property insurance issues for your restaurant, check out part 1 of this series by clicking here.

Your liability insurance for your restaurant is generally divided into two kinds of protection. They are premises liability and products liability. Premises liability insurance provides protection for your restaurant for damages caused by accidents for which you can be held liable that happen on your premises. The easiest example of a premises liability claim would be a customer who slips on a wet floor and is injured as a result. Products liability insurance provides protection for your restaurant for injuries or property damages caused by the products that you make and sell; the food in your restaurant. A common example of a products liability claim would be a broken tooth when a customer bites down on some foreign matter in their entrée.

The liability section of your restaurant insurance policy should provide you with both premises and products liability. When you look at the limits of coverage provided by these different liability coverages you will usually see a per occurrence limit and a general aggregate limit. The per occurrence limit is the most that the insurance company will pay on your behalf for any one occurrence of that type. The general aggregate limit is the most that your insurance policy will pay in any one policy year. So, each claim that you have in a policy year will reduce the amount left on your general aggregate limit. Pay very close attention to these limits and make sure that you are comfortable with the limits on your policy. Generally I would advise you to purchase the highest liability limits that you can afford. The reason is that liability exposures, unlike property exposures, are unlimited. For example, if you own your restaurant building and it burns down, you know how much you will lose and what it will take to rebuild it. But with liability claims, you really can’t predict in advance how high the damages will go. For that reason the most prudent approach is to purchase the highest coverage limits that are available.

Liability insurance is rated based on a factor that helps anticipate your exposure to risk. Some seem like better predictors than others to me. Most common these days is to tie the liability rate to the property insurance costs, using a sliding scale or a flat amount for the different levels of liability coverage. This approach is most common in the businessowners policy form and is more about simplification than anything else. Other policy forms will have a rate per $1000 of gross sales to calculate your liability insurance premium. These types of formats will often require an audit at the end of the policy term to determine your actual gross sales for that time period. If you overestimated your gross sales, then you would be due a refund, if you underestimated them, then you would owe more money. If you have this type of policy form, be sure to read my blog on avoiding the audit trap.

Take the time to really think about your liability insurance limits and make sure that your policy is set up correctly so that it will respond the way you want it to in the event of an accident. If you are not using an agent who specializes in insuring restaurants, you should seriously consider doing so. Ask your agent if he or she insures at least 25 restaurants and if the answer is no, you may want to consider using an expert to protect your largest investment and your livelihood.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance consumers become better informed buyers. Insuring and helping restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina is our specialty. We even have ways to help you gain and keep more customers. For one example of that type of program, visit our partners page. We also know that not all restaurants are the same. That’s why we have created 5 different restaurant insurance programs so that you can choose a program more tailored to your needs. We have a fine dining insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program and a special insurance program for caterers. If you need help or advice for your NC restaurant or your SC restaurant, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com. Don’t trust your livelihood to an agent that doesn’t specialize in restaurants. There is just no need to take that risk.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Restaurant Insurance Basics - Part 1 Property Insurance

This article is the first in a 10 part series that will cover the basics of insuring your restaurant. Our goal here is to give you a bird’s eye view of the options and issues that you, as the restaurant owner, should consider as you go about evaluating your current insurance coverage or as you tackle the job of insuring your restaurant for the first time. Part 1 covers the property insurance needs that you will have.

Let’s start by touching on basics of the property that you need to insure. Some of this is obvious and some of it less so. The most obvious items here are the building, if you own it or are responsible for insuring it, and the contents in the building such as tools, equipment, inventory, dishes, tables etc. There are also a few less obvious property items to insure. The first of these would apply to restaurants who don’t need building coverage but who have invested in fixtures and remodeling that is permanently attached to the building. For these items you need tenant’s betterments and improvements coverage. Bear in mind that this coverage is added at the building insurance rate but will only apply to items that you actually did pay to install. If your lease requires you to insure the air conditioners on the roof but you didn’t actually pay to install them in the first place, your tenant’s improvements and betterments coverage will not help you out if they are hit by lightning and destroyed.

This brings me to another issue that is often overlooked by restaurant owners. It is very important that you take the time to read your lease carefully to see just what you are agreeing to in terms of insurance requirements. You may be required to insure things that don’t belong to you and this may force some extra work and research on your part as you set up your property insurance coverage. For more detailed help on this, read my blog about leases and their impact on restaurant owners’ insurance policies.

One of the sub categories of property coverage deals with the valuation of the items that you are covering. In general, there are 2 choices of valuations, actual cash value and replacement cost. Actual cash value is defines as replacement cost coverage minus depreciation. Replacement cost coverage is the cost that it will take to replace that item with a new one at the time of loss. Most policies are written on a replacement cost basis and in general that is what I would recommend. But there are some situations, for instance with older buildings, when you may want to consider using actual cash value as your valuation method. For more detailed information on this situation, read my blog here.

The valuation decision is an important one in that it will help you decide how much insurance to buy for the building and contents and betterments. You should always insure for the full value (either replacement value of actual cash value) of the item or items you are insuring. That is because most policy will have a coinsurance clause. Coinsurance is the tool that insurance companies use to make sure all of the policyholders carry full value. The reason that is important to them is that most losses are partial losses and some people would prefer to reduce their insurance costs by insuring for only part of the value of their assets. If this were to happen, then those who insure for full value would be heavily subsidizing those that purchased partial insurance. To remedy this problem, most all property insurance policies have a coinsurance clause. This clause imposes a penalty at the time of loss on those who did not carry full value insurance. The coinsurance clause is a bit complicated but important to understand so please read my blog about coinsurance here.

The last consideration that this article will cover regarding your restaurant insurance property coverage is your deductible. Your deductible is the amount of money that you will spend in the event of a loss, before the insurance money kicks in. Since insurance is best used for large, catastrophic losses, it is generally felt that you should carry the highest deductible you can comfortably pay without a huge disruption to your cash flow. Always evaluate the deductible you choose against the savings it provides on your insurance policy costs. You can evaluate it by considering how many years you would have to go without a loss to break even on the additional deductible costs versus the amount you are saving by moving up to that deductible level. But remember, when it comes to restaurant insurance, your deductible will apply to each and every loss all over again. This is not like health insurance which generally has a per year deductible.

Taking the time to evaluate all of your property exposures and carrying full value replacement cost protection on them will pay off in spades should you ever experience a property loss to your restaurant. Understanding your lease requirements and evaluating your deductible value will help you make sure you have the appropriate coverage and can afford the policy and the loss should it happen. In part 2 of this series we will take the time to study liability insurance and its implications for the restaurant owner.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help insurance consumers become better informed buyers. We specialize in helping restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance. We understand that not all restaurants are the same so we have designed 5 different restaurant insurance programs so that you can have a program more tailored to your needs. We have a fine dining insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program and a special insurance program for caterers. If you need help or advice for your NC restaurant or your SC restaurant, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com. Don’t trust your livelihood to an agent that doesn’t specialize in restaurants. There is just no need to take that risk.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Keeping It Clean In The Restaurant

We all see the signs in the bathrooms of restaurants stating the rules for employees washing their hands on each trip to the lavatory. But there are some other places in restaurants where the washing and cleaning doesn’t always get the top priority. And it is making your clients sick. Take a moment to read over some of my pet peeves when visiting restaurants regarding cleanliness and be honest with yourself. Are you paying attention to these details? If not, this may explain why some of your customers only visit once.

Let’s face it, people have different tolerances for cleanliness in restaurants but if you are overlooking some of these areas that I will discuss below, you may be running off a certain percentage of your repeat customer business and the fixes for these are cheap and easy.

Bear in mind that if you are a restaurant that serves food that is sometimes eaten by your customers without utensils, then this problem gets magnified. That means breads, rolls, French fries and so on. You get the idea. If I’m eating with my hands, then I don’t want to touch anything that I perceive to be dirty while I am visiting your restaurant. And this perception can sometimes have little to do with the actual bacteria count. So consider that your restaurant needs to not only be clean, but also to look and feel clean.

Are your tables clean? A tablecloth certainly helps this problem because it removes the tactile feeling of filth. So often I enter a restaurant and the busboy takes a pretty filthy rag and makes a cursory wipe at the table just before or even after I sit down. Done right, this procedure can assure me that you are doing all that you can to allow me to eat in a sanitary environment. But if the rag is dirty, stained or otherwise looks inept at the job, or if the job is done in a cursory way, then you are emphasizing to me that this establishment doesn’t put a high priority on keeping things clean. Take the time to train your staff and give them the tools to make this a show of effort on your part to prove your dedication to sanitation in your restaurant. Also, it goes without saying that if I am sitting at a table that is in any way sticky, I’m losing my appetite. So show us your care and then make sure that the table really is clean.

Are your menus clean? So many restaurants don’t pay close attention to their menus but this is the face of your restaurant to your patrons. If your menus are sticky or greasy or otherwise feel that they have been handled by too many other hands (and they have) then reminding me of it by letting me see or feel the grunge is a big turn off. Take the time to regularly clean your menus as they are a very important first impression.

How about your salt and pepper shakers? These are handled by almost every patron that eats in your restaurant. They are a haven for germs and bacteria and I remember this almost every time I reach for one and feel that it is sticky or just feels dirty to the touch. Take the time to clean these regularly to protect your clients and to keep their impression of your restaurant favorable.

These are just a few of my pet peeves and I am giving you an outsiders view of things you may forget about or take for granted and you rush around to deal with the daily pressures of running your restaurant. But they leave impressions on a certain percentage of your diners and you should take the time to establish policies that will not only protect your customers but will put your restaurant in the best light in their minds As a side note, you also have a lot to worry about trying to keep up with food borne illness issues to keep your customers safe. To keep up with what is going on in that arena, be sure to keep an eye on the blog at http://blog.usfoodsafety.com/.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance policy. We not only want to help restaurants cut their insurance costs, we also work hard to help them generate more customers and make more money. We understand that not every restaurant is the same and so we have developed specialized programs for different types of restaurants to help you get the coverage you need at a price that will surprise you. We have a fine dining insurance program, a casual dining insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program and a caterer insurance program. If you would like help with your restaurant insurance, please visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com or call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

The source information for this article was taken from articles which can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Restaurant Insurance – Have You Read Your Lease?

Not every restaurant owner owns his or her building. And not every lease is the same. But if you have not taken the time to make sure that your lease requirements match up with your restaurant insurance policy, then you may be leaving yourself open to an uncovered claim and as a result, potential downtime or a huge hit to your cash flow.

Consider the case of James, the owner of a small family restaurant. James signed his lease with his landlord but did not really study it carefully. One of the stipulations in his lease was that he was responsible for all repairs to the heating and air conditioning units on the roof. Two years into the lease, lightning strikes the roof units and destroys them. The cost to replace them is $24,000.

Here’s the problem. James has a businessowners policy which covers the contents of his restaurant - so everything not attached to the building. In addition, James did think ahead and had his agent add coverage for betterments and improvements to this policy. This betterments coverage is for items that are part of the building, which the tenant added – could be paint on the walls or even attached booths for the diners. The problem for James is that he didn’t add the rooftop air conditioning units to the building so technically they don’t fall under the tenants betterments and improvements coverage.

So how could James have protected himself? Well, for those air conditioning units he would need to add building coverage to his policy. The problem is, there is a coinsurance clause on the building coverage that would reduce his claim payment. (For more help with coinsurance clauses, read my blog about it by clicking here.) The answer is that James should have added an Agreed Value Building coverage endorsement to his policy to cover the HVAC equipment. This Agreed Value form should be written with no coinsurance penalty.

There’s one more area of concern in James’ claim that needs to be addressed. Without the air conditioning units he is going to be in trouble keeping his restaurant open. He needs mechanical breakdown coverage to protect him from the loss of earnings he will suffer while he is waiting on his HVAC system to be repaired. To read my blog about mechanical breakdown coverage, click here. To see a short video about mechanical breakdown coverage, click here.

This real world example shows how important it is to take the time to review your lease and make sure that your restaurant insurance policy seamlessly integrates with that lease. When choosing a restaurant insurance policy it is very important that you select an agent that specializes in restaurant insurance. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we do just that. We write insurance for over 100 restaurants all across NC and SC. We understand that each restaurant is different and that they don’t all need the exact same coverages. For that reason we have developed 5 different restaurant insurance programs to help you find the program that best suits your needs. We have a Fine Dining Restaurant Insurance Program, a Casual Dining Restaurant Insurance Program, A Bar and Grill Insurance Program, A Fast Food Restaurant Insurance Program and a Catering Insurance Program. Visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com or call us toll free at 877-687-7557 and find out how we can help you find the coverage you want and a price that will astound you.

The source information for this blog was taken from blog articles which can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Business Income Insurance for Restaurants

Running your restaurant business involves risk of course and you can look around you and see the things you need to insure in case of a large loss like a fire. Dishes, equipment, furniture, supplies, all of these seem obvious. But there are also some hidden, less obvious things for which you should insure. This article will help you understand one of the tools for covering these hidden assets and liabilities – The Business Income Insurance Form.

These days, most restaurant owners have a package policy called a businessowners insurance policy as the centerpiece of their insurance program. This policy can cover the building, your contents, any improvements and betterments that you have made to the building as well as more esoteric items like employee theft and employment practices liability insurance. One of the coverages that is often included in this packaged policy is Business Income Insurance.

Business Income insurance coverage is triggered when you have a covered loss that is large enough to close down your operations for some period of time. During this time of shut down, you will have ongoing expenses that will continue even though you are not bringing in revenue. This can vary from rent to monthly fees on equipment leases and marketing products as well the profits that you lose by being out of business. In addition, there are also extra expenses that you will incur in order to try and expedite the process of getting back into business more quickly. These can be temporary rental of a new location, overnight shipping costs etc.

Sadly, few restaurant owners take the time to understand before a loss is how this built in Business Income coverage will affect their employees. Policies vary of course but the most common language in North Carolina business owners policies for restaurants will allow you to continue to pay for employee payroll as long as you can put these people to work in some capacity, even if that is helping you get back in business quicker. If keeping your employees available to you after you have been out of business for 4 or 5 months is important, then you should tailor your Business Income protection to make sure that ongoing payroll expense is included. In some cases this may mean that the businessowners policy is not the right form and you may need a true commercial package policy that will allow a more customized business income plan.

Last of all, I would be remiss in this discuss if I didn’t mention to you the importance of putting together a disaster plan before the disaster strikes. Take the time to think about what types of things could put you out of business temporarily and how you would deal with that particular situation from a non insurance standpoint. Take the time review what is available to you in terms of disaster recovery plans and do a bit of pre-disaster study of some of the companies out there that specialize in restaurant disaster recovery and restoration programs.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurants across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance programs. We go a step further with our Partners Page which helps our clients find new customers from our customer base. We understand that not all restaurants are the same and they don’t all need a one size fits all insurance plan. For that reason we have established 5 different restaurant insurance programs; the fine dining insurance program, the casual dining restaurant insurance program, the fast food insurance program, the bar and grill insurance program and a specialized program for caterers. If we can help you with your NC or your SC restaurant insurance needs, please visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com or call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles which can be found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Restaurant Insurance – Employee Theft, The Silent Profit Killer

As the owner of a restaurant you have many things to worry about. Where are the clients coming from? Am I putting out the best product I can? Does my targeted demographic fit my marketing plan? Where do I find quality employees? And on and on it goes. But I find that very few restaurant owners take the time to study carefully how to prevent and protect their business from employee theft.

Employee theft takes on many faces, from free meals while the boss isn’t looking to taking home food for family members and giving out free food to friends. These are annoying and a drain on profits, but each restaurant owner has the responsibility to make sure that each employee understands the rules and the guidelines and that these rules are followed without exception. There are many resources to help you prevent employee theft and spot employee theft and I will tackle this in more detail in a future blog. This blog is about setting up a last line of defense that will protect your restaurant from destruction should you have a serious and determined thief on your payroll.

Most restaurant insurance programs have an option to include a minimum amount of protection on the businessowners policy for employee dishonesty coverage. This is an excellent way to build in last resort protection for your restaurant. But don’t just gloss over this add on coverage. Take the time to think carefully about what you stand to lose and how you would deal with it. In most cases, you can purchase high limits of coverage here. My insurance agency was attacked in the late 1990’s by one of our employees who made away with over $10,000 before we caught here. I have a neighbor who lost $300,000 over a very short time frame when one of his employees found a quick and easy way to steal from him and his partners. The point here is that if you might need higher limits, be willing to buy them. At the very least, think carefully through the process.

Another thing to consider with employee dishonesty coverage on your restaurant insurance policy is that in most cases the company will not pay off unless you prosecute the thief. For some employers this is a hard thing to instigate so don’t buy the coverage if you aren’t going to be able to go through what you have to do to make the claim legitimate. Also, your deductible will also apply but bear in mind that in most cases if the insurance company decides to prosecute and if they are able to collect any money from your employee, then your deductible will be reimbursed first.

At Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurant owners all across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance needs. It doesn’t matter if your restaurant is in a metropolitan area like Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte or Greensboro, or if you are located in a small town like Kernersville or Oxford NC, we have the knowledge and the tools to help you keep your restaurant insurance costs low. And we go a step further by implementing our Partners Program to help drive new customers to your establishment to help you grow your top line revenue as well. In addition, we know that not all restaurants are the same so we have developed specialized programs for the different types of restaurants out there. We have a Fine Dining Restaurant insurance program, a Casual Dining Restaurant insurance program, a Fast Food Restaurant insurance program, a Bar and Grill insurance program, and a Caterer insurance program. For more help with your NC or your SC restaurant, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this article can be found in its entirety http://www.restaurantinsuranceguy.com/

Monday, July 26, 2010

Have You Done A Sound Check In Your Restaurant Lately?

The opportunity to enjoy an intimate conversation in many restaurants is diminishing. Part of this is due to construction of the interior space, partly it is caused by how the interior is decorated and arranged and in some cases it is intentional. Either way, as a restaurant owner you should take the time to evaluate and do a sound check in your own restaurant to be sure that the noise levels on a busy night are what you and your target audience are hoping for.

So if you own a restaurant that caters to a crowd that is looking for a noisy and energetic place to eat, most of what I will tell you here will not matter. But if your clientele has disposable income and wants a place to enjoy a meal and conversation with their friends and family, your job of making sure the noise levels are appropriate will have a huge impact on whether or not you can turn them into repeat diners.

The first step is to try and test the noise levels for yourself on a busy night. Just sit at a few of the tables with one of your managers or employees and quickly check how easy it is to hear each other. Do this in several different places in your restaurant as there will be big differences in the noise levels at different spots in your restaurant. Now keep in mind that there are many reasons why this subjective measurement can be difficult. Here’s a great blog on the pitfalls of measuring your restaurant’s sound levels subjectively.

Once you know where the louder and quieter places are, perhaps you can train your hostess to try and be more perceptive about the clientele and put them in the most appropriate seats at noisy times. Is anyone in the party wearing a hearing aid? Is it a large party or a party of 2? What age is the customer? All of these factors could help you make this decision.

Think about what is creating the noise levels in your restaurant. Hard surfaces will reflect noise and drive up the overall din. How much is the noise of your kitchen contributing? What about music? Is the music simply driving up the overall noise level as people attempt to talk over it? Perhaps background music is important and valuable at some times of day and should just be turned off at others.

Hanging tapestries or other items on the walls will reduce the reverberant noise in your restaurant. Likewise, tablecloths and carpets will also reduce noise. And watch out for sky lights as their domes can create white noise spots where it is difficult to understand conversations even when no one else is in the restaurant.

Every restaurant is different and each might have a different goal regarding music and noise levels. But what is important is that you take the time to monitor the noise levels at different times of day and night and make sure that your restaurant is providing the atmosphere that you want for your patrons.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in insurance for restaurants in North Carolina and South Carolina. We have helped hundreds of restaurant owners with their restaurant insurance from Charlotte area restaurants to Raleigh restaurants and many small towns in between. We also work hard to increase our restaurant clients’ revenue with our Partners Program. If you would like help with your restaurant insurance, please feel free to call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this article can be found at www.restaurantinsuranceguy.com.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Restaurant Insurance Guy Tip – Manage Those Reviews

Most of my blog postings here are designed to help you navigate the ins and outs of your restaurant insurance program. And inherent in that plan is the concept of managing risks. But there is one risk out there that insurance cannot manage for you and you need to take proactive steps to protect yourself right away. If done right, this form of risk management can turn a big risk into a huge reward.

I’m talking about Google reviews. You should know by now that your customers and even your competitors can hurt or help you with the reviews of your restaurant that they post on Google. So you must begin the management process by making it a point to read those reviews regularly. You must know what your clients are saying about you and you must address the negatives in the way you manage your restaurant.

The quickest way to see your reviews is to type in the name of your restaurant , followed by your city name and state in a Google search. Then find the Google maps page link and read the reviews. If no reviews are posted, then you are working with a blank slate. That’s a good thing. Think of Google reviews as search engine gold. The more of these that you have, the higher your ranking with Google and the easier it will be for your clients to find you amid all the internet clutter of competing restaurants.

Now, the next step is to stuff the review box full of positive reviews. You might be tempted to open up a bunch of different Google accounts and do your own reviews. Don’t fall for this. When Google catches you at this game the punishment will be severe and quick. You will probably see your search engine rank drop off the face of the map pretty quickly. Rather, put in place a way to ask for these reviews from your clients that love you, your friends and family and your customers who tell you something good about your restaurant. Make sure that all of your employees have a system for asking for these reviews from customers who tell them how much they enjoyed your restaurant. Once you have set up this plan you need to make sure everyone is on the same page for getting it implemented and you must follow up to check to see that the reviews are being posted.

Now you probably think of your current insurance agent as the guy who sells you a policy and hopefully gives you advice about what policies you should buy. But is your agent taking the time to help you understand what you need to know to survive and prosper in the new digital age? What is your agent doing for you to directly increase revenue and sales opportunities? If you like the information in this blog, you may want to check out another feature that we offer to our clients at no charge at all. This is a coupon posting page on our web site called the Clinard Insurance Partners Program.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping all different types of restaurants with their restaurant insurance policies. We work hard to help them become informed insurance consumers and we also know that not every restaurant is the same. We don’t want you to be put into a restaurant insurance program that lacks the special coverage your type of restaurant needs, or one that forces you to purchase coverages you will never need. To that end, we have developed 5 distinctly different restaurant insurance programs: A Fine Dining Restaurant Insurance Program, A Casual Dining Restaurant Insurance Program, A Fast Food Restaurant Insurance Program, a specialized insurance program for Bar and Grill and Taverns, and finally a Caterer Insurance Program. If you need help with your restaurant insurance questions, or if you feel that your agent isn’t working hard to help you develop more top line revenue, then please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on line at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at our restaurant insurance blog at www.restaurantinsuranceguy.com.