Restaurant Insurance – Equipment Breakdown Coverage Revisited

In the past I have blogged about equipment breakdown coverage for restaurants and I have discussed one of the more obvious reasons for needing it – breakdown of heating or air conditioning systems. However, with rapid technological changes in the restaurant industry, there are new areas of concern that give new weight to the value of carefully considering adding this protection to your restaurant insurance policy.

Specifically, I want you to think of the new technologies that you may have added to your restaurant in the past 5 years that you now rely on for smooth day to day operations. Which of these could you do without for an extended period of time? How much would it cost you to replace lost income due to the breakdown of this equipment? For instance, many restaurants now use sophisticated, computer based cash registers that integrate with point of sale software systems. What losses would you face if this system broke down? Could you stay open?

Another area of consideration for your equipment breakdown coverage is your commercial grade sound system if you have one, or your inventory scanner system or even your time clock and payroll system that might be run from your computerized register. If these systems go down, your restaurant could be crippled and the lost revenue while you struggle to get your systems running again could be substantial.

All of these new electronic systems are at risk for power surges and electrical arcing. Unbudgeted losses from breakdown of these systems can be significant enough that for some restaurants equipment breakdown coverage should no longer be considered an optional coverage but rather a critical one. Take a moment to check your restaurant insurance policy and see if you have equipment breakdown coverage. After the systems break, it will be too late to go back then and add the coverage.

Restaurants are a unique kind of business and they present unique insurance challenges. If you own a restaurant then you should take the time to seek out an insurance agent who specializes in restaurant insurance. Don’t trust your protection to a generalist. You will likely save money and be better protected if you find an agent who understands restaurants and insures dozens or even hundreds of them.

Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC is an independent insurance agency that specializes in restaurant insurance. We write insurance for more than one hundred restaurants in North Carolina and South Carolina. Our understanding of how each restaurant is different from the others has led us to create 5 distinct restaurant insurance programs. 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 specialized insurance program for catering companies. If we can help you with your restaurant insurance needs, or if you simply need a professional second opinion on any restaurant insurance issues, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

You can find the original source material for this article at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Restaurant Insurance Help – Slip And Fall Issues And Cheap Ways To Prevent Them

As a restaurant owner you know the importance of minimizing risk to prevent downtime and lost time out of work. But what you may not know is that there are some very simple changes you can make that will not only reduce your risk of loss but can also save you money on your restaurant insurance policies. This article talks about one of the most common sources for claims in the restaurant business and the simple techniques you can employ to help prevent these claims.

The most common restaurant workers compensation policy claim comes from slip and fall claims. These claims can really haunt the restaurant owner because they happen so fast and often happen out of site and can often result in long recovery times. These long recovery times can really kill your insurance costs. The resulting disability payments to your employee who is out of work and recovering will all count against your experience modification factor and drive up your rates for many years to come.

Slip and fall risks in a commercial kitchen are high because of the cluttered and slippery floors with oil water and food on the floor. Also, your employees putting away inventory are at risk because they often can’t see where they are walking while carrying large boxes or sacks. In addition, severs and bussers are at risk while carrying trays and operating in subdued lighting environments.

So here is a short list of what you can do to help protect your employees from this risk. All of the items on this list are FREE, you just have to implement them.

1. Have your employees wear non-slip, waterproof shoes.
2. Do not allow running in the restaurant.
3. Properly store all supplies and equipment and eliminate clutter
4. Apply de-icing products to exterior walkways to protect both employees and customers
5. Clean up any spill immediately.
6. If your employees must carry stacked items, you must have a rule that they can see over the top of the items that they are carrying.
7. Keep and eye on all rugs and carpets and make sure they stay in their places and all corners lie flat.

This next list is of some other things you can do to reduce injury to your employees. This list may involve some minor expense but the cost savings are dramatic compared to the costs of a long term workers compensation claim.

1. Provide two double swing doors with windows at the entrance to the kitchen so that people on both sides of the door can see what is going on before they push through.
2. Install wall and ceiling outlets so cords aren’t left running along the floor. Also, make sure floor plugs are not in areas where spills are common.
3. Stretch or re-lay any carpet that is bulging or bunched up.
4. Use nonslip floor mats and non skid floor waxes on surfaces where water could be spilled.
5. All floors where water is spilled or used to clean must have adequate drainage.
6. Place convex mirrors at blind corners.
7. Immediately replace any broken or damaged drain covers.

Following these recommendations will help you reduce and even nearly eliminate the slip and fall hazards to both your employees and your patrons. This will help hold down the costs of your workers compensation insurance and your restaurant insurance program.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping all kinds of restaurants across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance policies. We understand that not every restaurant is the same, and that is why we have created 5 specialized restaurant insurance programs. We don’t want you to be the round peg jammed into a square hole that so often happens with restaurant insurance. We have a fine dining restaurant insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program as well as a specialized 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 online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

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

Restaurant Insurance – How To File A Workers Compensation Claim

Savvy restaurant owners buy workers compensation insurance as part of their restaurant insurance program. If you don’t and you are paying someone to work there for you, then you shouldn’t go a day more without a policy. But assuming you already have a workers compensation policy, how exactly do you file a claim?

Filing a workers compensation claim is easy and simple. You want to do this as soon after the employee injury as possible. In NC the claim form states that you must file the claim within 5 days of the injury. To do so, you must complete a Form 19 claim form and mail, fax, or email it to your insurance company claims department. The Form 19 is a standardized claim form to be used for all workers compensation claims in North Carolina. The reason for this is that the policy and claims payments are all overseen by the NC Industrial Commission.

If you don’t have a form 19 on hand, check your policy as most insurance companies will insert a few blank ones in the policy that they send to you. It’s ok to make copies of this form when you run out. You can also do a google search for form 19 and get a pdf file that you can print or download.

The Form 19 will ask for contact information for you and for your injured employee. They will also need to know the details of the injury, how and when and where it occurred. This information usually comes from the injured employee’s supervisor. Next you will need to fill in the occupation of injured person and information about how many hours they work each week and what their wagers are per hour and per day. This information will help settle the disability portion of the claim.

The rules require that you provide a copy of the completed Form 19 to the injured employee or the employee’s representative (read lawyer) at the same time that the Form 19 is submitted to the insurance company. Last of all, you must give your injured employee a blank Form 18 which is a form they can use should they wish to contest the claim settlement. You can obtain blank Form 18 copies the same way you got the form 19, or you may call the NC Industrial Commission at 800-688-8349.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance consumers. Understanding how to file a workers compensation claim for your restaurant is important as you will want to move fast in the event of an accident or injury and spending time trying to figure out how to file a claim will only slow you down.

Should you need help with your restaurant insurance policies, from workers compensation to your business owners policy, please consider us as we specialize in insuring restaurants of all types and sizes all across North Carolina and South Carolina. We understand that not every restaurant is the same and we help you avoid becoming the square peg jammed into a round hole with our 5 different specialized restaurant insurance programs. We have a fine dining insurance program, a casual dining insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill insurance program and a catering insurance program. We can put our extensive knowledge to work for you with one quick phone call. Call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

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

Restaurant Insurance – Understanding The Basics

If you are considering opening an eating establishment, then one of the hurdles you will have handle is purchasing restaurant business insurance. You will need to know what types of insurance policies you might need and how they will affect your business. This article approaches this problem from an overview perspective and covers really the basic outline of the types of insurance policies that you should consider. For more details on any of these types of policies, you may want to read more of my restaurant blogs at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Property Insurance – You will need to consider coverage for your building and your contents. If you don’t own the building, check your lease to be sure that your landlord is requiring you to carry coverage on the building. Also, if you are a tenant, be sure to carry a high enough limit to replace all of your contents in a total loss. Also, don’t forget to include enough building coverage for the improvements and betterments that you make to the building itself in order to decorate the restaurant as yours.

Liability Insurance – You will need protection for your company for premises liability in case someone is injured on your premises. A good example of this would be someone who slips on a wet spot and is injured in your restaurant. In addition, you will need products liability for injury caused by the product you sell, that is the food. This would protect you if someone breaks a tooth on a meal or claims food poisoning as a result of eating at your establishment.

Business Interruption Insurance – This coverage will provide your lost income and ongoing expenses that occur while your business is out of business due to a covered loss such as fire or tornado. It is very important to have this protection to make sure that once you rebuild, you are still able to stay in business.

Mechanical Breakdown Coverage – What happens if your air conditioner stops working in the middle of July? No one will visit your restaurant and suppose it takes 5 days to order the part and get the air conditioner repaired. How will you deal with the loss of earnings that occurred during this time? This protection solves that problem. For more detailed information on mechanical breakdown coverage visit my blog by clicking here.

Liquor Liability – If you sell alcoholic beverages then this protection is a must. You can be sued by a third party if they are injured by one of your patrons who may have imbibed an adult beverage while visiting your establishment. These claims can be huge and can come out of nowhere so it is very important that you don’t overlook this protection.

Automobile Insurance – This is a no brainer if you purchase a vehicle in the company name. But even if you don’t you need this coverage. At the very least you need non-owned auto protection in case you ask one of your employees to run an errand for you and they have an accident while on that errand.

Workers Compensation – In NC the rules say that you don’t have to purchase a workers compensation policy if you have 3 or less employees. But what most don’t realize is that you are still on the hook for paying all claims yourself if you don’t purchase a policy. For more help with workers compensation rules and audit tips, be sure to visit my general blog at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Life Insurance – You may need additional life insurance to cover the money that you had to borrow to set up your business, or you may want to fund a buy out in the case of your death with a key man life insurance policy.

Disability Insurance – don’t forget to protect yourself in the event you become disabled and cannot work for a period of time.

Many of these coverages can be combined into one package policy so that you won’t have 10 or 15 different policies to keep up with. The best way to handle your insurance needs is to seek out an insurance agent that specializes in restaurants, one who knows the ins and outs of insuring restaurants and already insures 100 or more of them. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in restaurants and write them in both NC and SC. We understand that not every restaurant is the same and so to avoid making you a square peg jammed into a round hole, we have designed 5 different insurance programs for different types of restaurants. We have a program for casual dining restaurants, one for fine dining restaurants, one for fast food insurance, one for the bar and grill or tavern insurance and one for catering insurance. 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 articles found at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Restaurant Insurance – If You Have a Vintage Building, Consider This Approach

If you are a restaurant owner who also owns the building where your restaurant is housed, then you should take the time to consider exactly how the coinsurance clause on your property insurance policy works and what it means for you. To gain a better understanding of the coinsurance clause itself, please read my blog called, Coinsurance for Restaurants. In addition, if the building that you own is an older one, then you may find that the coinsurance clause is punishing you in a big way. In that case you may be looking for an alternative. That alternative can be a policy with a functional replacement cost clause.

As my earlier blog indicated, your coinsurance clause is based on the replacement cost of your building. But with older buildings there are many issues that skew the replacement cost of the building far too high. Simply stated, the functional replacement cost clause allows the building to be replaced with similar property that performs the same function but is less costly.

Functional replacement cost provides a combination of three separate coverages. They are:

Building limit of insurance – This covers the value of the building that you are going to replace at the time of the loss.

Demolition Cost -- This covers the cost to demolish and clear the site of the undamaged portion of the building which is caused by enforcement of ordinances.

Cost To Reconstruct In Compliance With Ordinance Or Law -- Generally speaking, you must repair or replace the building for this coverage to apply.

So who should use the functional replacement cost clause? This form is recommended when any of the following situations exist:

You own the building but in the event of a loss, you would only want to replace a portion of the building. Or, your building contains materials or design that is costly and difficult to replace. For instance, your building may have plaster walls but would happily replace them with dry wall after a loss. Another example would be if you would want to change the entire construction type of your building after a loss, perhaps replacing a masonry noncombustible building with a frame one.

What are the advantages of using this form in these cases? First of all, you can usually purchase a lower limit of insurance without putting yourself in jeopardy of the dreaded coinsurance clause. Secondly, total and partial losses can be settled on a replacement cost basis without a deduction from your claim for depreciation. Third, ordinance or law coverage for increased construction or repair costs is included in the form.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC we specialize in helping restaurant owners of all types of restaurants with their insurance needs. We want all of our clients to be informed insurance consumers and to understand exactly what they are buying. To make this process a bit easier, we have developed 5 different restaurant insurance programs so that you aren’t a square peg forced into a round hole. We know that all restaurants are different and that is why we have develop specialized restaurant insurance programs for fine dining, casual dining, fast food, bar & grill and even catering. To see all of our restaurant insurance programs, visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com or call us, toll free at 877-687-7557.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles found at The Restaurant Answer Guy blog site.

Restaurant Insurance – Does Your Umbrella Policy Cover Liquor Liability?

If your restaurant sells alcohol, then you should carry liquor liability coverage. And some restaurant insurance programs may even throw this coverage into the package policy for an additional charge. But purchasing this coverage as part of a package, or more importantly as a stand-alone policy could leave you with a gap in coverage that you don’t know you have. And if ever there was a need for high limits of protection it would be in the liquor liability coverage area. So how do you figure this one out?

First of all, a brief word or two about liquor liability coverage. If you sell alcohol and you don’t have it or don’t know if you have it find out now. This is one area of risk that can wipe you out and being without coverage just doesn’t make any sense. Also, if this coverage is tossed in to your package policy for free or for a very low cost, be suspicious. Check carefully to make sure that the limit of coverage here is the same as your liability limit as often the throw in protection will be for a very low limit of coverage. And believe me, if your client walks out of your establishment and has a terrible accident that kills young children or a family, the size of that claim is going to put you under without protection.

Now, the more savvy restaurant owners out there understand this and they also understand the need for high limits of liability protection. That is why they purchase a commercial umbrella policy to give higher limits of coverage above their business auto, their general liability and their workers compensation policies. But what few take the time to discover is whether or not their liquor liability insurance is also included in the umbrella protection. This is important because as I said before, the liquor liability claim can be huge and as I see it, there are 3 ways that your liquor liability protection may not be included in your umbrella limit. Here they are:

First of all, if your liquor liability policy is a stand-alone policy, then you want to make sure that it is listed as an underlying policy on your umbrella declarations sheet. If not, then your umbrella is not going to cover over the liquor liability policy. Secondly, if the liquor liability protection is an add on coverage in your package policy but for a lower limit than your stated liability limits, then the umbrella policy may not cover over the liquor liability as the underlying limit may not be high enough to qualify for umbrella protection. And last of all, your umbrella policy may simply have an exclusion that states that it does not apply to liquor liability claims. Any of these situations could leave you thinking you have umbrella protection when you don’t.

Your best approach is to hire an agent that specializes in restaurant insurance to help you navigate the complexities of this issue. If you don’t purchase your insurance from an agent who handles many, many restaurant clients, then you are probably taking an unnecessary risk with your livelihood.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we have the expertise to help restaurant owners with their insurance needs. We have developed specialized restaurant insurance programs for several different types of restaurants, including Fine Dining Insurance, Casual Dining Insurance, Fast Food Insurance, and Bar & Grill Insurance as well as Catering insurance. Give us a call, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

Much of the source information or this article can be found in articles located at The Restaurant Answer Guy blog site.

Restaurant Insurance – The Hidden Rate Bias Against BBQ and Seafood Restaurants

As a restaurant owner you get to see the world from the kitchen looking out. In the insurance world I get the same type of view, one that my restaurant clients don’t see. And from this view I can see how some types of restaurants face hidden rate biases that drive their insurance costs up. And I can also see ways that the restaurant owner can avoid these biases. One of these biases has a big impact on BBQ restaurants and seafood restaurants.

You see, if you were to call up the average insurance company underwriter and tell him that you want to write a package policy for the local BBQ joint, you would find that most underwriters would shy away from that account. Why? Well, in the past there have been food borne illness claims associated with barbecue and seafood. And so the underwriter will check his notes and tighten up his rates a bit to protect against the possibility of having to pay this type of claim for you.

If you are the seafood restaurant owner, you are never privy to this conversation. Chances are you will never hear about it or know it happened. But it does happen and your rates are higher because of it. So what can you do to protect your restaurant from this inherent bias on your rates? The answer is that you need to deal with an insurance agent who has the experience of handling hundreds of different restaurant clients so he knows how to work the system to get you a better rate. In addition, you want the agent who has access to insurance companies who specialize in writing restaurants. There are two reasons for this.

First of all, the insurance company that actively seeks business from restaurants will have the law of large numbers working in their favor. Because they write so many BBQ or seafood restaurants, they will have a better understanding of exactly what the food borne illness risks mean and they will not have to overcharge to account for something that they don’t fully understand.

The second reason for you to seek out a company with an established restaurant insurance program is that these companies will be able to offer you loss control support and help to prevent this type of claim. And by doing this, they will be able to offer you a better rate as well. It is a win win situation for the insurance company and for the restaurant owner.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurant owners with all of their insurance policies as well as their loss control needs. We have specially designed programs for your restaurant, whether you are casual dining, fine dining, fast food, bar and grill, or even a caterer. We want all of our restaurant clients to be informed insurance consumers. If you need help with your restaurant insurance, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at http://www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

Restaurant Insurance – What is Mechanical Breakdown Coverage

Some restaurant owners have heard of mechanical breakdown coverage and some of those have a clear understanding of what it is. There are quite a number of insurance agents out there who do not really understand how this protection works. But it is a coverage add on that no restaurant should do without. Think of it this way, everyone likes to eat their food while it is hot but no one likes to eat their food while they are hot. If you can remember that, you can understand this coverage and why you need it.

Mechanical breakdown coverage is a protection add on that should be on every restaurant insurance policy. If you own a restaurant, and you don’t have this coverage on your policy, you should consider firing your agent immediately. This protection is fairly inexpensive and it could save you a huge loss somewhere down the road. So doing without it rarely makes sense for any restaurant owner.

Let’s talk a bit about what mechanical breakdown coverage is and how it works. The first thing you want to understand is that the coverage is not for the breakdown of the machinery itself, but rather for the consequential losses that you will absorb as a result of the temporary loss of some equipment. The most common type of loss for mechanical breakdown involves air conditioning units. Now just imagine that stretch of 5 days in a row when the temperature soars into the high nineties and the compressor on your air conditioning unit on the roof of your building goes out. Then you find out it will take 3 days to get the part ordered and installed. How many meals do you think you are going to serve over the next 3 days as the temperature inside of your restaurant creeps up into the low nineties each day? You know the answer -- None. And what is that loss of revenue going to do to your cash flow, not to mention your bottom line? And it doesn’t matter if you don’t own the building and are not responsible for the air conditioning unit’s repair costs because we are talking about the consequential losses as a result of the mechanical failure. In fact, I would argue that if you are a tenant, then you need this coverage more than ever because now you are at the mercy of your landlord and how quickly he or she acts to get the air conditioner problem handled.

Of course this coverage doesn’t just apply to air conditioning unit breakdown, it could be your freezer or your cooler that puts you out of business for a while. Any of these types of losses could put a big crimp in your cash flow and your income. So please take a moment and review your policy and make sure that you have purchased mechanical breakdown coverage.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurant owners all across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance policy needs. We have specialty Restaurant Insurance Programs designed for Fine Dining Insurance, Casual Dining Insurance, Fast Food Insurance, and Bar & Grill Insurance as well as Catering insurance so we can help you with your restaurant insurance no matter what type of restaurant you own. If you would like an insurance second opinion on any of your restaurant insurance issues, or if you would like a quote on your current 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 blog can be found at The Restaurant Answer Guy blog site.

Restaurant Workers Compensation Insurance – Avoid The Small Loss Temptation

Most restaurant owners understand the basics of workers compensation insurance and most have heard of the experience modification factor. And to show how a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous, many restaurant owners even know that a lot of small losses can have a dramatically negative impact on this modification factor. But using this knowledge in the wrong way can lead to behavior that carries far too much risk for the average restaurant owner.

You see, when it comes to the NC workers compensation insurance policy, the experience modification factor calculation is broken down into two parts. One part measures small losses and attempts to account for loss frequency in an organization, while the second part measures loss severity. This first part weighs all losses under $5000 equally. So, if you have an employee who gets something in his eye and runs down to the local doc in the box for treatment, I can understand your desire to just pay the $100 to the doc in the box yourself and move on without filing the claim. But I’m here to say that although this strategy looks pretty brainy at first blush, it is not without tremendous risks.

The problem for you as the restaurant owner is that you don’t really know where any given work comp claim may lead. What at first looks like a routing eye wash claim could end up with an infection and even permanent partial disability. And if the insurance company thinks that you have made the claim worse by failing to notify them of the injury, then the can fight you on this claim and potentially leave you holding the bag for the claim. Paying a long term disability claim out of your pocket could possibly ruin your company and take from you all that you have worked so hard to build. And what you stood to save on your mod is just not worth the risk of losing your business. So please, always file each and every workers compensation claim within 5 days of the injury and resist the temptation to pay these claims out of your pocket just to protect your experience modification factor.

If we can help you with your restaurant insurance needs, please call us. We have developed several specialized restaurant insurance programs to make sure your round peg is not jammed into a square hole. We have a fine dining restaurant insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food restaurant insurance program, a bar and grill restaurant insurance program and even a catering company insurance program. If we can help, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source data for this article can be found at the restaurant insurance answer guy site.

Restaurant Insurance – Are Your Liquor Receipts Driving Higher Rates On Your Policy?

Any restaurant that sells alcohol should be carrying liquor liability insurance. This critical coverage is designed to protect you from third party claims generated by accidents caused by inebriated customers who did at least some of their drinking at your establishment. And the way that insurance companies underwrite and rate this coverage can be myopic at best. Here’s how to make sure that the insurance company’s myopia isn’t costing you extra money on your restaurant insurance policy.

In an effort to simplify their underwriting process to one simple question, many insurance companies that include liquor liability in their restaurant insurance package policy will simply ask you what % of your gross sales come from sales of alcohol. On the surface, this might seem like a logical way to get at the question of how much liquor liability exposure you have but, there are holes in this strategy that play against the fine dining restaurant as well as the bar and grill.

If your restaurant is a fine dining establishment, you may be especially vulnerable simply because the price of drinks and fine wines is a larger percentage of the gross receipts than a restaurant who just sells domestic beers in a can. Even some bar and grill type dining establishments with the higher end beers on tap can run into this problem. Just because you sell fine wines with your meals doesn’t mean your patrons are all a bunch of crazy drunks, pouring out of your restaurant to commit drunken mayhem on the streets. But you would never know that by talking to some of these insurance company underwriters who have exact rules about your liquor sales percentages.

Luckily, there is a better solution. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in all types of restaurant insurance. We have developed a program with our insurance companies that takes into consideration the fact that your percentage of alcohol sales to food sales is high not because you are a bar, but because you sell fine wines and top shelf liquors. With that in mind, we are able to help you keep your liquor liability rates under control and save you money, year in and year out while still providing you with the critical liquor liability coverage you need.

If we can help you with your restaurant insurance needs, please call us. We have developed several specialized restaurant insurance programs to make sure your round peg is not jammed into a square hole. We have a fine dining restaurant insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food restaurant insurance program, a bar and grill restaurant insurance program and even a catering company insurance program. If we can help, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source data for this article can be found at the restaurant insurance answer guy site.

Restaurant Workers Compensation Insurance – Protect Your Mod

Most restaurant owners have at least a general knowledge of workers compensation insurance. They know that they need it and they know it can cost a lot of money. But only a few really understand the experience modification factor and what it could mean for their future restaurant insurance policy costs. This little primer will help you understand just how important it is to protect your mod and how to do it.

The experience modification factor of workers compensation policies, referred to as the experience mod or just mod for short, is the insurance industry’s way of assigning higher rates to businesses with poor loss experience and lower rates to those who have had more favorable loss experience. Each business has its own unique experience modification factor and this factor is applied to the rates on their policy. For example, if you have had a lot of losses, or perhaps a few large losses, you might find yourself with a mod of say, 1.35. If this is the case, then your workers compensation insurance policy premium will be adjusted upward by 35% to reflect your bad experience. Likewise, if your restaurant hasn’t has a work comp loss for several years, your mod might drop as low as .80 and this would mean a 20% reduction in your overall workers compensation policy premium.

So how is this mod calculated? Well, the first thing you need to know is that the mod is calculated based on past experience. That means what happens today will take several years to come back and bite you. Also, the experience period for the mod in North Carolina is 3 years, so once you get some losses in your mod calculation, they will stay there a while. I want to leave a more detailed explanation of how the mod is calculated to a later blog, but for now, understand that it is not only the number of losses (called frequency) that plays a part, but also the amount paid out (called severity) that impacts the mod calculation. And a little of both, frequency and severity can really run up the mod.

So what can you, as a restaurant owner, do to protect your mod? A lot of how your mod will affect you, both good or bad will be determined by which insurance company you choose for your workers compensation policy. I say this, because, although you may be as careful as you can to avoid injuries among your workers, there is no substitute for an insurance company that is actively working for you to help you prevent claims and reduce the severity of existing claims.

Choose a workers compensation insurance company that will work with you to help you with both prevention and severity reduction. Prevention can come in the form of safety inspections, and loss control techniques that the insurance company can share with you. Reduction can come in the form of programs that help your injured workers get back to work more quickly. Some of the best workers compensation insurance companies even have their own nurses and doctors. Also, you want to purchase your workers comp coverage from a company that assigns case managers to each claim to stay on top of all the medical bills and the disability payments to keep the payout as small as possible.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurant owners navigate the complex waters of insurance policy and insurance company selection. We can help you find a pro-active insurance company that will help you reduce the number of work comp claims and keep the claims that happen from spiraling out of control. Because restaurants are our specialty, we can help you with your restaurant insurance needs whether your restaurant is a fine dining establishment, a casual dining restaurant, a fast food restaurant, a bar and grill or tavern, or even a catering company. We have built special niche programs for almost every kind of restaurant out there and we encourage you 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 was taken from other articles which can be found in their entirety at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

When it comes to Restaurant Insurance, Watch Out for the Audit Trap

If you are restaurant owner then you probably have some working knowledge of the workers compensation insurance. At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in insuring restaurants and we have found time and again how many restaurant owners are seduced into the cash flow nightmare I call “the audit trap”.

The restaurant owner’s workers compensation insurance policy is rated based on payroll. Since the exact amount of payroll is unknown to the insurance company when the policy is first written, the policy holder has to give the insurance company an estimate of the total payroll for the coming policy year. Many restaurant owners are tempted to “low ball” this estimate to reduce the total premium on their policy. In some cases unscrupulous agents may quote the policy with reduced payrolls in order to make the premium appear smaller. While this strategy could work if the company plans ahead for it, just shooting in the dark with low estimates can create a cash flow disaster.

Here’s why. Let’s say your actual payroll on for your company is $500,000 per year. And let’s also assume your workers compensation rate is $5 per $100 of payroll. This means your policy costs would be $25,000. Now let’s assume you start your policy with a low ball estimate of $250,000. This means your new policy is issued at a cost of $12,500 instead of $25,000. Looks pretty good so far. But now jump ahead 15 months and the insurance company has now performed an audit of your payroll and found that your actual payroll during that policy term was $500,000. So they send you a bill for the additional premium due of $12,500. Now that wasn’t really unexpected, but if you didn’t budget for this, it could put a crimp in your cash flow. But here’s the kicker. The insurance company will now increase the payroll on your renewal policy and send you another bill for $12,500 due right away. Suddenly you have to come up with $25,000 to square yourself with the insurance company. And that can make for a real cash flow problem.

Again, if you plan for the audit and reserve funds to make the payment then you can gain a cash flow “float” advantage by low balling your payroll and gross receipts estimates. But more often than not, the business owner fails to implement a plan to reserve these funds and instead faces a cash flow crunch at audit time.

Restaurant Insurance is confusing at worst and complicated at best. Keeping on top of your payroll estimates and how that relates to your actual payroll is an important part of managing your business insurance policies.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping restaurant owners with their insurance policies. We have specially designed programs for your restaurant, whether you are casual dining, fine dining, fast food, bar and grill, or even a caterer. We want all of our restaurant clients to be informed insurance consumers. If you want more help with your restaurant insurance, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at http://www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

Source material for this article was taken from the site: Restaurant Insurance Guy.

The Hidden Trap of Spoilage Coverage on Restaurant Insurance Policies

Spoilage coverage…I’m sure most of you don’t really give it a second thought. Most restaurant insurance policies “throw in” $5,000 or even $10,000 of coverage. Even the policies that don’t automatically include it have a relatively cheap endorsement to add it. But that coverage could disappear just when you need it if you didn’t take notice of the stealth clause that voids your protection. Has your agent explained this little known protection stealer to you?

The first area to take a little time on is to answer the question, how much spoilage coverage do you actually need? Most agents will just ask “how much spoilage coverage do you want?” or some will just throw in an arbitrary number and go with it…but do you know how much is enough?

I’ve developed a pretty straightforward formula that will give you a good indication of how much you need. I invite you to give me a call if you want to find out more and I’ll be more than happy to share this formula with you.

The other BIG issue with spoilage is what I call the “stealth clause”. On the declarations page you’ll see your coverage amount and deductible and you think all is well and good and then a freezer bites the dust on you (of course the day AFTER you get your steak order!) and you call in the claim. The insurance company adjuster shows up and asks you for your written refrigeration contract….What? no one said anything about having a written maintenance agreement. The adjuster then proceeds to show you where, buried on page 127 section C subparagraph 2 that the spoilage coverage only applies if you have a written refrigeration maintenance agreement in place and then he denies your claim.

This “stealth” clause is more common than you think. We have companies that understand that maybe you maintain your refrigeration yourself ( I know I did when I had my restaurants and I still have the Freon gauges and a jug of R12 in the basement.) This is just one of the items on our proprietary checklist that we go through with you to insure you have the protection that you need at the most competitive price.

This blog just points out one of hundreds of reasons why you should only purchase your restaurant insurance policy from an agent who specializes in restaurants insurance. If your agent doesn’t handle at least 25 or more restaurants, then you probably aren’t dealing with a specialist and what your agent doesn’t know could hurt you financially.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in both North Carolina restaurant insurance and South Carolina restaurant insurance. We want all of our clients to be informed insurance buyers and we work hard to help them understand all the ins and outs of the restaurant insurance policy. It doesn’t matter if your establishment is fine dining, casual dining, fast food, bar & grill or even catering, we understand your business and we have a program that can help you. Please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit our Restaurant Insurance Page.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles found at the restaurant answer guy blog site.