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  • ​HOW TO INSURE RESTAURANTS
A Restaurant Is More Than a Building With a Kitchen.
A Producer’s Practical Guide to Understanding, Insuring & Winning Restaurant Accounts

A prospect calls and says:
“I own a restaurant and need an insurance quote.”
Sounds simple.
Until you start asking questions.
  • Do they serve alcohol?
  • Deliver food?
  • Use their own drivers—or third-party delivery services?
  • Have deep fryers, grills, open-flame cooking or commercial exhaust systems?
  • Offer catering?
  • Host live entertainment?
  • Have outdoor seating?
  • Own the building or lease it?
  • What happens to thousands of dollars of refrigerated food if the equipment fails?
  • Could the restaurant survive if a covered loss shuts the kitchen down for several months?
Suddenly, this isn't just a property and General Liability quote.
It is a business you need to understand.

THE PROBLEM WITH “IT'S JUST A RESTAURANT”
Two restaurants can look similar from the sidewalk and present very different insurance exposures.
  • A breakfast café that closes at 2:00 p.m. is not the same risk as a sports bar open until 2:00 a.m.
  • A takeout pizza shop is different from a white-tablecloth restaurant.
  • A restaurant that serves beer and wine is different from one with a full bar.
  • A restaurant using third-party delivery services may present different exposures from one employing its own drivers.
  • And a restaurant that caters weddings and corporate events may have exposures far beyond its four walls.
The producer's job is to discover what the restaurant actually does before trying to insure it.

WHAT THIS MANUAL WILL HELP YOU DO
After working through this guide, a producer should be better prepared to:
  • ✓ Conduct a professional restaurant discovery conversation
  • ✓ Identify important property and liability exposures
  • ✓ Understand why cooking methods matter to underwriting
  • ✓ Explore fire-protection and commercial-kitchen concerns
  • ✓ Identify food spoilage and equipment breakdown exposures
  • ✓ Recognize liquor liability considerations
  • ✓ Investigate delivery and hired/non-owned auto exposures
  • ✓ Ask better questions about catering and off-premises operations
  • ✓ Recognize employee and Workers' Compensation exposures
  • ✓ Discuss business income and shutdown concerns
  • ✓ Identify umbrella and excess liability considerations
  • ✓ Prepare cleaner, more complete submissions
  • ✓ Compare proposals beyond premium alone
  • ✓ Conduct stronger restaurant renewal conversations
  • ✓ Prospect for restaurant accounts more intelligently

WHO SHOULD HAVE THIS MANUAL?
How to Insure Restaurants was created for:
  • New commercial-lines producers
  • Personal-lines producers moving into commercial insurance
  • Experienced producers who want to pursue restaurant accounts
  • Agency owners training commercial-lines staff
  • CSRs and account managers who service restaurant clients
  • Independent agents looking for another commercial niche
You don't have to become a restaurant expert overnight.
But you do need to know what to ask, what to investigate, and when something deserves another question.

WHAT'S INSIDE?
Learn the Restaurant Before You Quote the Restaurant.
The manual walks producers through practical restaurant exposures and the conversations needed to uncover them.
Restaurant Discovery:
  • Learn to move beyond “What kind of restaurant is it?” and discover how the business actually operates.
Property & Building Exposures:
  • Consider the building, tenant improvements, restaurant equipment, furniture, inventory, and other property that keeps the operation running.
Fire & Cooking Exposures:
  • ​Understand why cooking equipment, fryers, grills, hoods, ducts, suppression systems, and maintenance can become important underwriting considerations.
Equipment Breakdown & Spoilage:
  • What happens when refrigeration or critical kitchen equipment stops working?
  • A relatively small equipment failure can create a significant restaurant loss.
General Liability:
  • Explore customer injuries, premises exposures, food-related claims, and other liability concerns associated with serving the public.
Liquor Liability:
  • If alcohol is served, the conversation changes.
  • Learn why producers need to understand what is being served, how much alcohol contributes to the operation, and what controls are in place.
Delivery & Automobile Exposures:
  • Who delivers the food?
  • Whose vehicle is being used?
  • Who is driving?
  • Learn why “Yes, we deliver” should start a conversation—not end one.
Catering & Off-Premises Operations:
  • The exposure may follow the restaurant beyond its own location.
  • Learn to ask about weddings, festivals, corporate events, and other catering operations.
Workers' Compensation:
  • Restaurant employees face burns, cuts, slips, lifting injuries, and other workplace hazards.
  • Learn what producers should investigate when developing the account.
Business Income:
  • A restaurant can repair a damaged kitchen.
  • But can the business survive while it is closed?
  • Learn why understanding how the restaurant earns its money matters when discussing business-income needs.
Umbrella & Excess Liability:
  • Explore situations where the restaurant's operations and underlying exposures may warrant additional liability limits.
The Underwriter Submission:
  • Help the underwriter see the operation clearly by providing accurate, organized information instead of an incomplete application and a request for “your best price.”
Proposal Comparison:
  • Help the restaurant owner understand differences in coverage, limits, deductibles, exclusions, and conditions—not simply which proposal has the lowest premium.
Renewals:
  • ​Restaurants change.
  • Menus change.
  • Hours change.
  • Delivery changes.
  • Alcohol sales change.
  • Equipment changes.
  • Ownership can change.
A good renewal conversation rediscovers the account before assuming last year's information is still correct.

​COULD ONE ACCOUNT PAY FOR THE MANUAL?
Consider what you're actually buying.
  • Not another insurance book to read once and forget.
  • You're buying a practical resource designed to help you become better prepared for the next restaurant owner who asks you for help.
  • One account could pay for the manual.
  • One exposure you remember to investigate could pay for it.
  • One better underwriting submission could pay for it.
  • One referral from a restaurant owner could pay for it many times over.
$25.One-Time Purchase.
A Resource You Can Keep Using.
GET THE RESTAURANT GUIDE → 
​REAL-WORLD PRODUCER THINKING:
Restaurant insurance rewards curiosity.
  • A producer hears:
“We started delivering.”
That should trigger another question.
  • A client says:
“We only cater occasionally.”
Another question.
“We just added a bar.”
Another question.
“We're staying open later now.”
Another question.

Throughout the manual, practical situations help producers develop the habit of:
HEAR IT
  • What did the restaurant owner actually tell you?
ASK ABOUT IT
  • What additional information does that create?
VERIFY IT
  • What facts need to be confirmed?
DOCUMENT IT
  • What belongs in the agency file?
TAKE THE NEXT SAFE ACTION
  • What should the producer do next without exceeding their authority?
  • That habit can be more valuable than memorizing another list of insurance terms.

DON'T WAIT FOR RESTAURANTS TO FIND YOU.
  • Look around your community.
  • Restaurants are everywhere.
  • Family restaurants.
  • Pizza shops.
  • Mexican restaurants.
  • Barbecue restaurants.
  • Coffee shops.
  • Sports bars.
  • Breakfast restaurants.
  • Fast-casual restaurants.
  • Fine dining.
  • Food-service operations.
And every one of them needs insurance.
Once you understand restaurant exposures and know the questions to ask, you can stop waiting for an occasional restaurant prospect to call.
You can deliberately pursue the niche.

YOUR 30-DAY RESTAURANT PROSPECTING PLAN:
Start with the restaurants already around you.
  • Build a prospect list.
  • Visit their websites.
  • Study their menus.
  • Look at their hours.
  • Do they advertise delivery?
  • Catering?
  • Alcohol?
  • Live entertainment?
  • Multiple locations?
Then start conversations.
Don't lead with:
“Can I quote your insurance?”
  • Lead with curiosity about the business.
  • Learn something from every conversation.
  • Build relationships with underwriters who understand restaurants.
  • Follow up.
  • Ask for introductions.
  • Become increasingly knowledgeable about the niche.
The goal isn't simply to quote more restaurants.
The goal is to become the agent restaurant owners want to talk to.

WHAT COULD ONE RESTAURANT CLIENT BE WORTH? Think beyond one policy.
A restaurant relationship could potentially involve:
  • Commercial Property
  • General Liability
  • Business Income
  • Equipment Breakdown
  • Food Spoilage
  • Liquor Liability
  • Commercial Auto or Hired & Non-Owned Auto
  • Workers' Compensation
  • Umbrella or Excess Liability
  • Other specialized coverages
And that relationship may renew year after year.
  • The owner may open another location.
  • The owner may know other restaurant owners.
  • Employees and owners may also have personal insurance needs.
One good restaurant relationship can become much more than one policy.

THE ENTIRE MANUAL IS ONLY $ 25.
Buy It Once.
  • Use It From Now On.
  • No monthly subscription.
  • No expensive seminar.
  • No travel.
  • No sitting through hours of generic training.
  • Just practical producer development you can return to whenever a restaurant prospect calls.
HOW TO INSURE RESTAURANTS 
  • Digital Producer Guide
  • $25 — One-Time Purchase
  • Immediate Access
GET HOW TO INSURE RESTAURANTS → 

BUILD YOUR COMMERCIAL LINES LIBRARY.
Restaurants are only one opportunity.

The FYI Express How to Insure Commercial Lines Library gives independent agents and producers practical guidance for understanding and pursuing real-world commercial accounts.
Continue building your expertise with: Don't Try to Know Everything.
Learn Where to Look — and What to Ask.

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