Restaurant Insurance Part 4 of 10 – Spoilage Coverage

This 4^th 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.

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.

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 – 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 – Don’t Forget The Workers Compensation Policy

Restaurant insurance can be found in many different forms. One coverage that restaurant owner should have is workers compensation insurance. In North Carolina, the law states that if you have fewer than 3 employees you don’t have to purchase workers compensation insurance. But what this rule doesn’t tell you is that not buying a policy could put your very company at risk.

In NC, the workers compensation law does give you an out if you have less than 3 employees. In fact, there are no real teeth in the law that will catch and find employers who have 3 or more employees who also don’t purchase a workers compensation insurance policy. So, yeah, you could go years without purchasing a workers compensation policy for your restaurant. But that would be a very dangerous choice. Here’s why:

Although the law may not require that you actually purchase a workers compensation insurance policy, it will require that you pay all of the claims yourself just as if you were the insurance company. Workers compensation benefits in North Carolina are statutory. That means that exactly how much gets paid for each type of illness or injury has already been determined by state law. This means if you are paying out of your own pocket for a claim, you will not have the opportunity to determine how much you are going to pay.

So, using the loophole in the law to avoid buying a workers compensation policy only gets you out of paying the policy premium. It does not get you out of paying the costs of any and all claims. And these claim costs can be enormous. Imagine coming up with $100,000 to pay for injuries that resulted in permanent disability, then paying disability payments for years after that for one of your employees. Pretty scary huh? So even if work comp insurance seems expensive, you should realize that purchasing it is a no brainer because going bare means you are pretending to have the assets of an insurance company. For most restaurant owners, that just isn’t the case.

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.

Restaurant Insurance – Use your Medical Payments Coverage to Keep Loss Costs Down

If you own a restaurant, then you have at least a passing understanding of your restaurant insurance policy. And hopefully you have purchased general liability protection as a part of your package policy. What you may not understand fully, is how the medical payments section of your policy can help you keep loss costs lower, which in turn can save you time and money on your restaurant insurance policies in the future. Here’s how it works.

Your general liability section of your restaurant insurance policy should have two components, one called medical payments coverage – which we refer to as med pay, and a second component which is called liability coverage. The liability coverage is designed to protect you against claims filed against your business for which you are legally liable. This could run the gamut from broken teeth to food poisoning to slip and fall claims. And I probably don’t have to tell you that there are plenty of scam artists out there who visit restaurants just to set them up to demand payment for some kind of questionable claim. But your med pay coverage on your policy is your first line of defense to keeping scam claims and even legitimate ones from ballooning out of control.

Med pay will pay for the medical bills associated with injury to your patrons while they are on your premises. And here’s the best part – it pays without regard to fault. So, while you may not be sure that it is your fault that your client claims he slipped in your rest room, you can initiate a claim using your med pay coverage to cover his medical bills right away. Often by taking quick and decisive action you can mollify the feelings and emotions of an injured patron and keep the claim from escalating out of control. Med pay is the vehicle to help accomplish this goal.

If you don’t have med pay on your policy, of if you feel you might want to increase that coverage, call your agent immediately. This coverage is pretty inexpensive and could save you a bundle in time and hassle by keeping a potentially devastating liability claim under control.

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 have developed specialized insurance programs for different types of restaurants to keep you from buying coverages you don’t need and to help you get the ones that are needed for your type of establishment. So we have an insurance program that will fit your needs, whether you are casual dining, fine dining, fast food, bar and grill, or even a caterer. For more help with your restaurant insurance, please visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com or call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

Much of the source data for this article can be found on line at www.restaurantanswerguy.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.