Café insurance
Join over 3,000 cafés like you with PL cover from £3.19 per month*
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,717 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Why do you need café insurance?
From bistros to tearooms, the hustle and bustle of cafés presents a unique set of challenges. Mistakes and accidents happen – so if you’re running a café business, you’ll want to protect yourself, your staff and your customers against any unplanned costs. Café insurance could give you the cover you need.
- Peace of mind in the case of spillages leading to damage or injury
- Protection against big disruptions, such as a fire or flood at your premises
- Reassurance that your café’s equipment, stock and materials are covered
What does café insurance insurance cover?
You know your café better than anyone else – and we understand that every café owner has different concerns. If you employ people at your café, you must have employers' liability cover. And as with most brick-and-mortar businesses, you may also need public liability insurance. Beyond that, you can tailor your insurance to suit your business.
Café public and product liability insurance
In case you or your employees injure someone or damage their property.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.
Building insurance
In case something happens to the premises where you run your café.
Contents insurance
In case something happens to the business equipment or fixtures and fittings in your café.
Stock insurance
In case something happens to the items you sell at your café.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, inside or outside of work.
Business interruption insurance
In case you’re unable to trade for a period of time.
Café public and product liability insurance
In case you or your employees injure someone or damage their property.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage caused by you or your employee to a customer’s belongings in your café
- accidental injury to a customer
For example:
- a customer slips on some food on the floor and hurts themselves
- a waiter accidentally spills coffee on a child and they get first-degree burns
- a customer sues you after getting an allergic reaction to something they’ve eaten
- you accidentally spill coffee on a customer’s laptop
Read more about public liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance
In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.
What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?
Legal and medical costs relating to claims against your business for:
- employees who fall ill or are injured while carrying out their work for you
**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**
For example:
- a waiter injures his leg after a fall in the kitchen, then sues you for damages
- a trainee chef injures themselves after not receiving the right level of health and safety training
Building insurance
In case something happens to the premises where you run your café.
What’s typically covered by building insurance for cafés?
- the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
- damage to fixtures and fittings in or on your premises
- damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for
For example:
- there’s a fire or flood at your café
- you discover that graffiti has been sprayed on the shop front
What you’ll need additional cover for
- tenants' improvements – these are changes to the structure of the property that you've organised and paid for yourself, such as partition walls or wooden flooring
Read more about buildings insurance
Contents insurance
In case something happens to the business equipment or fixtures and fittings in your café.
What’s typically covered by contents insurance?
- accidental damage to the business equipment or fixtures and fittings you use in the running of your café
- theft of your business equipment
- flood and fire damage to your business equipment
For example:
- your front-of-house kit, such as a coffee brewer, cake display, oven or toaster, is stolen or damaged
- your office laptop suffers from water damage due to a burst pipe
Read more about contents insurance
Stock insurance
In case something happens to the items you sell at your café.
What’s typically covered by stock insurance?
- the cost of replacing your products and raw materials if they’re lost, stolen or damaged
For example:
- a faulty fridge results in your prepared food (e.g. sandwiches, pastries) going off, and you have to throw it all away
- your ingredients (e.g. flour, rice) are destroyed by water in a flood and you can’t use them any more
Read more about stock insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day business activities, such as disputes with employees
- the cost of legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
- HMRC investigations, and tax and compliance disputes
- includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis PR support to help you protect your business’s reputation
For example:
- if you’re investigated by HMRC (or selected at random for an audit), this cover could help with the tax enquiries – for you and any other directors, as well as for the business
- you need to defend your legal rights following the dismissal of an employee
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, inside or outside of work.
What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
- injury or death, whether at work or elsewhere, for anyone covered on the policy
- lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- you trip over a chair that a customer has left out and break your arm
- you burn your hand on the deep fat fryer at your café
- a barista you’ve employed suffers a slipped disc on the walk home after work
Read more about personal accident insurance
Business interruption insurance
In case you’re unable to trade for a period of time.
What’s typically covered by business interruption insurance?
- loss of income due to being out of action following a fire, flood, theft or accidental damage
For example:
- a flood at your café leaves your business equipment and raw materials unusable, and you have to close up for a fortnight
Read more about business interruption insurance
How much does café insurance cost?
Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.
Prices start from £3.19 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes
10% of our customers paid up to £38.32 a year for a public liability insurance policy between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023. Equivalent to £3.19 per month based on a monthly cost when paying for the policy in one annual payment. Paying monthly is usually more expensive as you'll pay interest. Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example café insurance quotes, real prices
£24.58 /month
£218.46 /year
Café/coffee shop serving food and drink
- 3-4 years' experience
- Sole trader
- 1 employee
- Based in Nottingham
Public liability insurance
£2,000,000
Employers’ liability insurance
£10,000,000
Stock
Not included
£99.53 /month
£884.75 /year
Café/coffee shop serving food and drink using a fryer
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 2 employees
- Based in Nottingham
Public liability insurance
£5,000,000
Employers’ liability insurance
£10,000,000
Stock
£10,000
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 22/02/2022). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.
What kind of excess should I expect?
An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.
Insurance cover | Lowest excess | Highest excess |
|---|---|---|
Public and product liability | £100 | £2500 |
Employers' liability | No excess | No excess |
Stock | £100 | £500 |
Contents | £50 | £750 |
The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.
How it works
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How do I choose insurance?
Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.
Is public liability enough for third party property damage?
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Does café insurance cover my work correctly?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
Is public liability enough for third party property damage?
In some situations you may need more than public liability to cover certain kinds of property damage. Learn about buildings and contents.
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.
If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.
Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.
Does café insurance cover my work correctly?
Make sure you're picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you'll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider cake business insurance or electrical contractors insurance?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.
Talk to an expert
Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm
Call our team
How do claims work?
Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.
£39 million in claims paid out in 2022
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022
Example claim
Having café insurance through Simply Business has saved café owners thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Dee saved more than £10,000
There has been a fire at the insured premises. A bin was set alight outside the back door and a number of stock items and contents have been damaged.
Insurance payout
£10,000.00
Fire
Dee's costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Dee's policy terms
Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords
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Café insurance FAQ
Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about café insurance. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
A deep fat fryer is a high-risk piece of kit, so there are lots of safety measures you have to follow when you use one. If you’re claiming for unexpected costs through your insurance and you’re discovered not to have met these conditions, it could invalidate your policy. This means you wouldn’t get a payout.
To avoid this, you’ll need to check the requirements for the make and model of the fryer you’re planning to use at your café. If you don’t have access to the manual, you can call the manufacturer and ask them for the information.
The top six criteria you may need to comply with are:
- cleaning schedule
- service record
- safety equipment
- volume of use
- replacement of oils
- contractors who are registered to work on fryers
Yes. It’s important to make sure you have the right type and level of insurance for the different types of work you do. For example, if you’re a plumber, you may also do building work on certain jobs – you’ll need additional cover for this, but you can have it all on the one policy. When you start your quote, you’ll have the option to add another trade or profession to your policy. If you need to add a third trade, give us a call on 0333 0146 683 and one of our insurance experts will help you set up your policy in minutes.
Yes. You may start offering additional services that require you to use different skills or carry out different tasks. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to give us a call on 0333 0146 683 to update your policy before you take on this new work. If you don’t have the correct type of cover in place for the work you do, you may be unable to claim on your policy if something goes wrong.
Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.
You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:
- one-off credit or debit card payment
- BACS payment
- Direct Debit
If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly installments.
If you change your business legal structure from sole trader to limited company mid-way through your policy, give us a call straight away on 0333 0146 683. It’ll only take us a few minutes to cancel your existing policy and replace it with one that correctly covers your new legal structure. It’s worth bearing in mind that your insurer and premium amount may need to change.
We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions
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