Takeaway insurance

Public liability insurance

In case your takeaway causes an injury, illness or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for takeaways?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, because of your takeaway business
• an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
• accidental damage, illness or injuries caused by your employees

If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

For example:

• you’ve spilled oil on the floor and a customer slips, breaking their wrist
• an employee splashes hot water on a customer who’s waiting to collect an order
• you’re sued by a customer who’s had an allergic reaction to your takeaway delivery

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your takeaway.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an injury or illness that comes as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)

**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:

• your trainee chef cuts their hand while cleaning a blender, and claims the work area is unsafe

Building insurance for takeaway shop

In case something happens to your takeaway premises.

What’s typically covered by building insurance?

• the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
• damage to fixtures and fittings
• damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for

For example:

• your building is badly damaged after a deep fat fryer catches fire, and your takeaway shop has to be completely rebuilt
• you need to replace your takeaway’s floorboards and internal doors, which have been damaged by flooding
• your shop front is vandalised and you need to replace three large broken glass panels

Read more about buildings insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to your prepared food, ingredients, packaging and other materials.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

• loss, damage or theft of things like your fresh or frozen produce, prepared food items, packaging and other materials you use to stock your business

For example:

• your refrigerated meat goes off due to an electrical fault, and you need to replace everything
• a burst pipe in your kitchen causes a flood, destroying your stored dry ingredients
• while in transit, a large food order gets ruined in the back of your delivery van

Read more about stock insurance

Contents insurance

In case something happens to your takeaway’s fixtures and fittings or operational equipment.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

• accidental damage to your takeaway’s fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run your business
• theft, flood and fire damage

For example:

• a customer stumbles into your food display unit, breaking the glass and frame
• your pressure fryer, barbecue grill and dough mixer are stolen from your restaurant overnight
• an employee breaks your brand new kebab grill

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you have to pay legal costs while running your takeaway business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs associated with day-to-day operations, like an employee dispute
• legal costs associated with property damage, nuisance or trespass
• HMRC, tax and compliance issues, if they come up
• includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline and crisis support to help you protect your reputation, as a popular local takeaway

For example:

• if you’re investigated by HMRC (or selected at random for an audit), this cover could help with the tax enquiry costs – for you and any other directors, as well as for the business
• you’ve dismissed an employee and need to defend your legal rights

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident – at work, or elsewhere.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
• lost income, hospital bills or other medical costs associated with the accident

For example:

• you break a finger while taking the kids out at the weekend, keeping you off work
• a Christmas temp shuts their hand in your shop door, causing lasting nerve damage

Read more about personal accident insurance

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 takeaway 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 courier insurance or private chef insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

• Restaurant insurance
• Fast food insurance
• Fish and chip shop insurance
• Pub insurance
• Coffee shop insurance
• Home baking insurance
• Mobile food van insurance
• Cafe insurance

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Contractors insurance
• Sole trader insurance

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.