A hood fire starts on the line at nine on a Friday night. The suppression system discharges, the fire is out in seconds, and nobody is hurt.
The kitchen is closed for six weeks. The hood and ductwork need replacing, the ceiling comes down, everything is cleaned, and the health department has to sign off before the doors reopen.
That is one event and at least four coverages. The building damage and the equipment are property. The six weeks are business income. The hood system itself may be tenant improvements. And whether the claim goes smoothly depends substantially on whether anyone kept the hood cleaning records.
Most restaurant losses work this way. They cross policies, and the gaps show up where the coverages are supposed to meet.
The scenarios below are illustrative loss patterns rather than specific client claims, and every one of them is ordinary for a Florida restaurant.
Claims That Start in the Kitchen
Grease fire in the hood. The most common serious restaurant loss and the most preventable. What decides the claim is the file: hood cleaning records at the required interval, suppression system inspection and service records, and documentation that the fire suppression was current. A restaurant with that paperwork is defending a maintained system. One without it is explaining why.
The walk-in fails overnight. Product on the floor in the morning and a compressor that needs replacing. Property coverage does not respond to mechanical failure — that is equipment breakdown — and the food is not covered property under most forms without spoilage coverage. A restaurant needs both, and many carry neither.
Power fails at the utility. Same result, different cause. This is neither equipment breakdown nor a property loss at your premises. Utility services interruption is the endorsement, and it is worth reading whether the form excludes overhead transmission lines, because in Florida that exclusion removes most of the value.
An employee is burned or cut. Workers’ compensation, required at four or more employees counting part-time. Burns, knife cuts, slips on greasy floors, and lifting injuries are what this trade produces, and frequency drives the experience modification more than severity does.
Claims That Start in the Dining Room
A guest slips. The most frequent claim in the class. Wet floors, spills, the area near the beverage station, and the path to the restrooms. What keeps it small is a documented inspection routine — timed floor checks, spill response, wet-floor signage — that you can produce for the date in question.
A guest claims illness after a meal. Products and completed operations responds. What defends it is temperature logs, cooling and reheating records, receiving documentation, and food manager certification. Absent those, the restaurant is defending a recollection against a health department investigation that produces its own paper.
An altercation at the bar. Late hours, alcohol, and a crowd. This is an assault and battery question, and many policies exclude it or carry a sublimit with defense costs counted inside. The exclusion typically reaches claims pleaded as inadequate security, so framing the case that way does not avoid it.
A guest’s coat or handbag disappears. Property of others is not automatically covered by your property policy, and general liability generally does not reach it either. Valet operations raise it further — a vehicle in your care is property in your custody, which liability forms carve out.
Claims That Stop the Business
Fire, as above, where the build-out is the piece owners underestimate. Hood and suppression systems, walk-ins, gas and plumbing runs, electrical service, grease traps, and finishes are tenant improvements, frequently worth more than the movable equipment, and the most commonly omitted item on a restaurant policy. The landlord insures the building, not what you installed in it.
Water from above. In a multi-tenant building or a mixed-use property, the loss frequently starts somewhere else. Your policy responds to your damage and then the question becomes recovery against the party upstairs, which is a slower conversation than the repair.
Water from your own plumbing. Ice machines, dish areas, and supply lines. The variable that decides it is sudden versus gradual — a line that has been weeping behind a wall for weeks is generally excluded as seepage, and that version does more damage.
A health department closure. No physical damage, which means standard business income does not respond. Contamination or food-borne illness coverage is the endorsement written for it, and it is not standard.
Ransomware on the POS. No fire, no water, and the restaurant cannot take an order or run a card. The business interruption component of a cyber policy usually matters more than the breach response.
A hurricane. Property, business income, and a percentage hurricane deductible that on a restaurant insured with contents and build-out is a large number. Run it in dollars before the season.
Claims Involving the People Who Work There
A wage and hour claim. Tipped wages, tip pooling, off-the-clock time, and mixed pay structures make this trade complicated and the records thin. That is employment practices liability — not general liability, not workers’ compensation — and most restaurants carry nothing for it.
Employee theft. Cash handling, inventory, and turnover. General liability does not address it and most property forms exclude theft by people you employ. Crime coverage is the answer.
A delivery driver accident. A staff member in a personal vehicle, running an order or a supply trip, causes an injury. The driver’s own policy responds first at personal limits, and once exhausted the injured party looks for the next source — which is the restaurant that sent them. Hired and non-owned auto is what stands there, it is inexpensive, and it is almost always missing.
What These Have in Common
Three patterns run through nearly every expensive restaurant loss.
The records decided the claim. Hood cleaning, temperature logs, floor inspections, service invoices. In this trade more than most, the paperwork is the defense, and it is created before the loss or not at all.
The coverage was not there. Equipment breakdown, spoilage, utility interruption, hired and non-owned auto, employment practices, crime. Each is a modest line item, and a restaurant missing four of them has a program that describes a simpler business than the one it insures.
The claim crossed policies. The hood fire touches property, business income, and tenant improvements. The walk-in touches equipment breakdown and spoilage. Restaurants that added coverage piecemeal over the years find the gaps at the seams.
What Restaurant Owners Should Check
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Are hood cleaning and suppression service records current and retained?
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Do you carry equipment breakdown and spoilage separately?
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Do you carry utility services interruption?
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Are tenant improvements scheduled, including the hood system, at realistic value?
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Does business income have a realistic period of restoration?
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Do you keep temperature logs and floor inspection records?
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Do you have assault and battery coverage, a sublimit, or an exclusion?
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Is hired and non-owned auto in place?
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Do you carry employment practices liability and crime coverage?
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Does anything respond to ransomware on the POS?
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What is the hurricane deductible in dollars?
Restaurant Insurance in Florida
Prestige Insurance Group works with restaurants across Miami, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Tampa — from neighborhood operations to full-service and fine dining.
Send your declarations page and we will walk the scenarios above against what you actually carry. It usually takes one sitting, and the answer is normally three or four line items rather than a new program.
Call the office nearest you. Se habla español.
Miami: 305-969-8776 Orlando: 407-993-2331
The scenarios described here are illustrative examples of common loss patterns and are not descriptions of specific claims. General information only, not legal advice. Coverage forms, limits, exclusions, and endorsements vary by carrier and by policy, and whether any particular loss is covered depends on the facts and the policy in force. Refer to your actual policies for the terms that apply to your business.
