You want the service that your small business provides to be appreciated, but not everyone has the same tastes. In no industry is this as clear in as the food-and-beverage industry. Where one customer might say your sourdough bread has the perfect crunch, another might say it’s soft and disappointing. With review sites like Yelp publishing mixed reviews about your mom-and-pop café, you worry that you’re not going to be in business come year two. And if there is even one review that a patron got food poisoning at your establishment, you can bet business is going to be slow, especially if that same customer had to go to the hospital and decides to take you to court to pay for the medical bill.
Insure your dream with liability insurance. You’ll find that through CoverHound, the general liability insurance cost is very affordable. Isn’t your livelihood worth it?
General liability insurance is a standard commercial insurance policy that protects its policyholders against liability claims for property damage and bodily injury. Also referred to commercial general liability (CGL), CGL pays for the medical and property costs of someone injured or made ill on your property or by your product. It also covers the policyholder’s legal fees should they be sued.
More than 130 million Americans dine out every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in six Americans contract food poisoning and fall ill. 128,000 are hospitalized with food poisoning, and another 3,000 die. The six most common food-poisoning infections are listed as follows:
E. Coli: Persons can become infected with E. Coli by ingesting contaminated food. Unpasteurized milk, undercooked beef, as well as unwashed raw fruits and vegetables can all induce an E. Coli infection.
Listeria: Persons can become infected with listeria by ingesting ready-to-eat deli meats, smoked seafood and raw sprouts.
Salmonella: Persons can become infected with salmonella by ingesting contaminated food including: poultry, meat, eggs and unpasteurized milk and soft cheeses.
Norovirus: Persons can become infected with norovirus by ingesting shellfish and produce touched by unhygienic food workers.
Campylobacter: Persons can become infected with campylobacter by ingesting raw or undercooked poultry.
Clostridium perfringens: Persons can become infected with clostridium perfringens by ingesting poultry, beef and gravy.
If your establishment has been accused of serving the public questionable food or of practicing subpar food-preparation methods (remember what happened to Chipotle?) you could be held liable. If a patron can prove that your dining establishment made them gravely ill and they required hospitalization, you could get stuck with paying their medical bills, litigation fees and a hefty settlement, not to mention watching your reputation go down in flames.
To protect from such circumstances, restaurant owners purchase general liability insurance alongside their product and liquor liability insurance policies in order to safeguard against an unsatisfied customer.
Close to 60 percent of new restaurants close their doors before making their one-year anniversary. Don’t be another statistic. Find a great general liability insurance policy with CoverHound today!
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