Restaurant Insurance – UL 300 System Part 2

In part one of this two part series we discussed ways to identify if your current system is a UL 300 system or not. If you have discovered that you are using an older system, then what should you do about it? Well our advice is to replace your old system with a new one that is UL 300 approved.

Before we get to the replacement question, here is a list of situations where most local governments will require the use of a UL 300 system.

Use of vegetable based oils in frying.

Any addition or change or any appliance from the original installation.

Any change to the hood or duct system.

The suppression system can no longer be maintained as required for 6 month maintenance due to the lack of available replacement parts or the servicing company refusing to service the out of date unit.

In addition, it is important to note that all dry chemical units are non-compliant as are the following wet chemical units unless modifications have been made:

Ansul R-102, all sizes 1988- 1995,

Ansul Steel tanks (red in color), all sizes 1988 – 2001,

Kidde Aqua Blue, all sizes 1988 – 1995,

Range Guard, all sizes 1977 – 1995.

Many of these UL 300 wet units can be upgraded, but the difference in cost between a new one and a retrofitted one is rarely more than 15% so most restaurants opt for the new system.

One last note about changing your system: If you do so, please remove any dry chemical fire extinguisher from the kitchen area as their interaction with the UL 300 liquid agents will serve to spread the fire rather than extinguish it. NFPA 10 requires that only K rate fire extinguishers be kept in your kitchen area.

In part 1 of this blog I mentioned that you there are ways to have someone else pay for the cost of replacing your old, noncompliant system with a newer UL 300 system. So how does that work? It’s simple really. There are many insurance companies out there that understand the value of the UL 300 system and as such will provide huge discounts for restaurants utilizing this newer system. We have seen these discounts more than pay for the upgrade of systems in our work. If your agent isn’t currently giving you the full discounts for your UL 300 system, you should choose an insurance company that values this safety feature and is willing to cut your insurance costs because you have it installed.

Clinard Insurance Group, Inc., is an independent insurance agency, located in Winston Salem, NC. We specialize in helping all kinds of restaurants all across NC and SC. If you need help with your restaurant insurance questions, or if you would like to see how much money you can save with our specialized restaurant insurance programs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com. We have several specialized insurance programs for the different types of restaurants out there so we should be able to find a solution that best suits your needs. Our special programs include our fine dining insurance package, our casual dining insurance package, our fast food insurance package, our bar and grill insurance package and our special insurance program for caterers.

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

Restaurant Insurance – UL 300 System And Your Restaurant – Part 1

Older fire suppression systems for restaurants may no longer be enough to extinguish restaurant fires today. That is because of new cooking media and newer cooking methodologies that can generate higher temperatures and lower flash points. This 2 part series will look at the new UL300 standards and help you understand what you have now and what you may want in the future.

So what is UL300? UL 300 is the standard for testing of fire extinguishing systems for protection of restaurant cooking areas. Underwriters Laboratories, Inc, referred to as UL, is an independent, not for profit product safety testing and certification organization. How do you know if your current system is UL 300? According to Underwriters Laboratories, the only way to know is to check that the model number on your fire suppression system is UL 300 compliant. If so, then you must verify that all components have been installed as specified by the manufacturer’s manual.

The best place to start is to look for the UL300 label on the systems extinguishing chemical tank. Another indicator is the type of discharge nozzle located over each cooking surface. All UL 300 compliant systems use a wet extinguishing agent. Discharge nozzles for the older, dry chemical systems are fairly large, usually around 2 inches in diameter. Wet system nozzles are narrow, typically ¾ inch to 1 inch in diameter and are typically covered with red, orange or yellow plastic caps to keep them clean.

You may have to ask the fire protection company that is offering the ongoing service and inspections on your system. You can identify them by finding the service record tag. This tag is normally attached to the manual pull box for the system.

Here are some red flag indicators that your system is not UL 300 compliant:

Installed prior to 11/21/1994.

No UL label on the cylinder.

Dry chemical extinguishing media.

Dry chemical discharge nozzles – large size – 2 inches in diameter

System uses water spray to protect appliances.

System uses a single nozzle to protect multiple appliances or multiple cooking surfaces.

So what if your current system is not UL 300 compliant? In that case I would recommend that you replace it with a UL 300 system. In part 2 of this 2 part series I will show you how to go about that and how to get someone else to pay for it.

Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC, is an insurance agency that specializes in insuring restaurants all across North Carolina and South Carolina. If you have a restaurant in NC or SC and would like our help answering your restaurant insurance questions, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com. We know that not every restaurant is the same, so we have developed 5 specialized restaurant programs to meet your specific needs. We have a fine dining restaurant insurance plan, a casual dining restaurant insurance plan, a fast food restaurant insurance plan, a bar and grill and tavern insurance plan and a special insurance program for caterers.

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

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.

Restaurant Owners – What Are Your Customers Saying About You On Yelp?

If you own a restaurant, you know your lifeblood is in the words and statements your clientele says to their friends and family. Most of this you will never know, but there is a place to find out what some people are saying publicly about your establishment. I’m talking about a web site called yelp. If you don’t know about it, you should take the time to find out.

Your digital marketing strategy must include monitoring what people are saying about you to others. Not only that, you simply must have your best customers, your raving fans, help you out in this area. Take the time to visit the yelp web site and poke around in there. Is your restaurant listed? Have you been reviewed? Is the review favorable? You just cannot afford to be ignorant about these types of digital feedback sites. Remember as more and more people begin to rely on their smart phones for help, directions and advice, restaurants are on the cutting edge of businesses most affected by these changes. Take the time to make sure that you are on the leading edge of this huge technological and cultural shift in consumer habits. Then ask your best clients and your friends for help in giving you positive reviews on Yelp.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping dining establishments all across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance policies. But we don’t stop there, we want our clients to be successful businesses. For that reason, we have developed our business partners page to help generate inbound traffic to our customers’ businesses. If we can help you with your restaurant insurance, or if you would like to know how we can help drive more customers to your restaurant, 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.