At PATCH we help to make it easier to insure your cafe.
We understand the passion and energy that goes into starting and running a cafe, and our mission is to ensure it is protected with the right insurance.
Our brokers can deal with you via phone, email and even video to give you the full insurance broker advantage without having to leave home or work.
To get started please call our friendly team on 1800 811 888 or request a quote online.
Types of Cafe Insurance
In this guide we’ll take a look at all of the different types of cafe insurance types:
- Public Liability Insurance
- Glass
- Property
- Theft
- Money
- Machinery Breakdown
- Business Interruption
- Management Liability
Who is PATCH?
We’ve helped over 10,000 Australian small businesses with their insurance needs over the last decade.
Most of these have been through our specialist Trade Risk brand, which has won multiple industry awards over the years.
The same award-winning team behind Trade Risk are here to help small businesses of all types – including your cafe!
Don’t DIY Your Cafe Insurance!
We don’t believe in the “do it yourself” approach to cafe insurance. You work so hard to build and run your cafe, so why take the risk of getting your insurance wrong?
But we do believe in convenience and making the cafe insurance process easy, which is where we come in!
We’ve put together a heap of information on café insurance below, so feel free to read through the guide, or if you simply want some expert help you can chat to one of our friendly team.
Public Liability Insurance
The number one form of insurance for a cafe is public liability insurance.
This form of insurance will protect you and your business in the event that a third party suffers property damage or personal injury as a result of your business activities.
For a café this can involve slip and fall injuries within the cafe, and can extend to food poisoning.
Most leases will have a requirement for the tenant to hold public liability insurance before being able to occupy the premises.
The cost of public liability insurance for a cafe will depend on a number of factors, including the size of the business based on revenue and/or staff numbers.
Glass
As with public liability insurance, glass insurance is another requirement of most commercial property leases.
This form of insurance covers any glass within the building, including windows, shelving, mirrors etc.
Aside from being a requirement of a lease, it’s also important for most cafes that use glass for their benches and display cabinets.
Glass insurance is typically bundled with your public liability insurance, rather than being a stand-alone cover.
Property
Setting up a cafe isn’t cheap. Depending on the size of the cafe, there can be tens of thousands (even hundreds of thousands) of dollars’ worth of equipment, furniture and other items to keep the café running.
Perils such as fire, storm and flood can see all of that lost or destroyed in no time, and for many cafes, this could be the end of them without the right insurance in place.
It’s important to note that theft is not covered under the property section of your business insurance, but can be added separately. See below…
Theft
No matter what type of business you operate, there is always the risk of theft.
For a cafe we’re not talking about someone stealing food or beverage, but more so a break-in that involves the theft of machinery, equipment and other items of value.
Money
Although we continue to move closer to a cashless society, plenty of people are still happy to pay for their coffees with cash.
Cash generally isn’t covered under the normal theft section of an insurance policy and is covered under its own section.
This insurance can cover you cash not just on the premises, but also in transit depending on the options selected within your policy.
Machinery Breakdown
Whilst we don’t think of a cafe as being heavily reliant on machinery, like a factory for example, there are still some key items that you rely on.
Coffee machines, cooking appliances and cool rooms are all vital to the running of the cafe.
If any of these items are out of action for a period of time, it could result in a serious financial consequence for your cafe.
Cool rooms can hold thousands of dollars’ worth of perishables, and there is an option to include coverage for this loss.
Business Interruption
If your cafe suffers major damage such a fire, flood or storm that leaves it unable to operate for a period of time, it could have huge consequences for you and your staff.
Even with all of your physical property insured, there is still the issue that it could take weeks – or even months – to be back up and running.
Who is going to pay the bills during that time?
And it’s not just damage to your own premises that could be the issue. It could be that the shopping centre your business is located in has been damaged and needs to close for a period of time.
These events can all lead to a business interruption claim.
This type of insurance can pay out an agreed monthly sum whilst your business in unable to trade.
Management Liability
As your cafe grows and you need to put on more staff, you may want to consider management liability insurance.
We recommend speaking with one of our insurance brokers about management liability insurance and whether or not it might be suitable for your business.
Next steps
The best way to know that your cafe is properly protected is to speak with one of our insurance brokers.
Our friendly team can deal with you in whatever way suits you best. Most of our clients around Australia use a mix of phone and email, but we can also do video calls and even in-person if you’re located in Brisbane.
We’ll gather information about your business, then put together our recommendations in terms of the types of cover and the insurers who will provide the most competitive premiums.
We then leave it to you to decide which of our recommendation you’d like to go with. We’ll never push you into anything, but we do want to make sure you’re aware of all the options.
To get started please call us on 1800 811 888 or complete our dedicated cafe insurance quote form.
