Restaurant, bar and food truck insurance
Three operations, three completely different risks
A kitchen fire, a dram shop suit and a highway collision are not the same exposure, they are not priced the same way, and they are not covered by the same policy. We write all three, for operators in 48 states.
- 4,000+ Businesses Insured
- 48 States
- 23 Markets
- 8 Core Coverages
Who we insure
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Restaurant Insurance
Your kitchen sets the risk. Hood and suppression systems, the grease that feeds a fire, burns and lacerations on the line, and a wet floor between the pass and the dining room.
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Bar Insurance
Alcohol service sets the risk. Dram shop exposure, over-service, assault and battery, and a late-night crowd that has to be managed rather than merely served.
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Food Truck Insurance
Your truck sets the risk. It is premises and vehicle at once — it drives to the exposure, parks in a jurisdiction that may not be the one that licensed it, and carries its own fuel and generator to the curb.
Where general liability stops
Every standard general liability form excludes liquor liability. Not by oversight — by design. The exclusion is the reason a separate policy exists, and it is the single most common thing an operator discovers at the worst possible moment.
A bar carrying only general liability is insured for the slip in the doorway and uninsured for the reason most claims against bars are brought. The questions that follow — how assault and battery is treated, whether it carries its own sublimit, whether it is excluded outright — are where two quotes that look identical stop being comparable.
One walk-in failure, three policies
The compressor stops at two in the morning. Nobody finds it until the first prep cook opens the door. By then the question is not what broke — it is which policy answers, and the honest answer is that it depends which part you mean.
Your property policy excludes mechanical and electrical breakdown, so it does not pay for the compressor. Equipment breakdown coverage does. Neither of them pays for what was on the shelves — that is spoilage and food contamination coverage. Three lines, one failure, and gaps between them if the stack was assembled without anyone checking that the seams meet.
- Commercial Property Insurance — The building, the contents, the kitchen equipment, and the improvements you paid for in a space you lease. Built around the cooking fire, because that is what actually happens.
- Equipment Breakdown Insurance — The mechanical and electrical failure a property policy excludes. The walk-in compressor, the HVAC unit, the refrigeration.
- Spoilage and Food Contamination Insurance — What was inside the walk-in when it stopped. Equipment breakdown pays for the machine; this pays for the product.
Coverage
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Liquor Liability Insurance
The exposure your general liability policy specifically excludes. If you serve alcohol, this is the largest uninsured risk on the premises until you buy it separately.
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Commercial Property Insurance
The building, the contents, the kitchen equipment, and the improvements you paid for in a space you lease. Built around the cooking fire, because that is what actually happens.
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General Liability Insurance
Slips on a wet floor, a foodborne-illness allegation, anyone hurt on the premises. The base layer — and the one carrying the liquor exclusion.
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Workers Compensation Insurance
Burns, cuts, wet floors and lifting. A kitchen produces a particular injury profile, and four states will not let a private carrier write it at all.
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Commercial Auto Insurance
Delivery and catering vehicles — including the exposure created when a member of staff runs a delivery in their own car.
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Equipment Breakdown Insurance
The mechanical and electrical failure a property policy excludes. The walk-in compressor, the HVAC unit, the refrigeration.
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Spoilage and Food Contamination Insurance
What was inside the walk-in when it stopped. Equipment breakdown pays for the machine; this pays for the product.
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Umbrella Liability Insurance
Excess limits above general liability, auto and liquor — usually because a landlord, a franchisor or a licensing authority requires them.
Owner resources
Cost guides, coverage explained, and the operational questions that come up.
Licensed in 48 states
Liquor liability and food safety are state law, so the detail changes at every border — which license classes exist, whether a dram shop statute is on the books, who inspects your kitchen and against which edition of the food code.
Questions operators ask
Does general liability cover alcohol claims?
No. The standard general liability form carries a liquor liability exclusion, which is precisely why liquor liability is bought as a separate policy. If you serve alcohol and hold only general liability, the largest exposure on your premises is uninsured.
Is dram shop liability the same in every state?
It is liability for harm caused by someone you served. It is created by state statute rather than federal law, so it varies widely — several states have no dram shop statute at all, and the states that do differ on who can sue, for what, and within what limits. It is one of the few exposures where the state line genuinely changes the answer.
My walk-in failed overnight and I lost the inventory. Which policy pays?
Potentially two, and neither is your property policy on its own. A standard property policy excludes mechanical and electrical breakdown. Equipment breakdown coverage responds to the compressor; spoilage and food contamination coverage responds to what was inside it. One failure, two different lines.
I lease my space. Whose insurance covers the build-out?
Usually yours. The improvements and betterments you paid for — the kitchen, the bar, the fit-out — are typically your insurable interest, not the landlord’s, even though they are physically part of their building. Most operators lease, and this is one of the most commonly under-insured items on a restaurant policy.
A member of staff uses their own car for deliveries. Are we covered?
Not automatically. That is hired and non-owned auto exposure, and it is the gap operators miss most often. Your commercial auto policy may cover vehicles the business owns while leaving the employee-owned car doing your delivery outside the policy.
Do you write workers compensation everywhere?
Not everywhere, and we will say so plainly. North Dakota, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming are monopolistic states: workers compensation there is written by the state fund, not by a private carrier, so it is not something this agency can place for you in those four.
Which states do you write in?
Forty-eight. We are licensed in every state except Hawaii and Alaska.
How long does a quote take?
Send us the details through the quote form and a licensed agent reads it. Complicated risks take longer than simple ones, and we would rather ask a follow-up question than guess at your exposure.
Who we are, and how we place restaurant and bar risks
Wexford Restaurant Insurance is a specialty brand of Wexford Insurance, an independent agency licensed in 48 states. We do not write every class of business. We write this one.
We hold appointments with 23 markets for restaurant and bar risks:
- The Hartford
- Travelers Insurance
- Liberty Mutual
- Rainbow Insurance
- Cincinnati Insurance
- CNA Insurance
- Coterie Insurance
- Crosscover Insurance
- Employers Insurance
- Encova Insurance
- Goodville Mutual Casualty Insurance
- Grand River Insurance
- Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
- Hastings Insurance
- Next Insurance
- Ohio Mutual Insurance
- Pie Insurance
- Progressive Insurance
- Secura Insurance
- Texas Mutual Insurance
- Three Insurance
- West Bend Insurance
- Westfield Insurance
That panel is reviewed quarterly and adjusted when a carrier’s appetite shifts.
Restaurants and bars are what we do, not a line we also write. That focus is what earns us market access other agencies don’t have, and it’s why the questions we ask are the ones that actually change a quote. We know restaurants.
— Nate Jones, CPCU, Founder
Verify our license before you send us anything
Wexford Insurance, LLC holds National Producer Number 19887690. You can confirm that through the National Insurance Producer Registry before you share any detail about your business with us.
Get a quote
A licensed agent reads every submission. Or call 317-942-0549.