Business Insurance

Before we begin, just take a guess at how many female restaurant employees claim sexual harassment by their own management…

“Unfortunately, it’s just become the societal norm, and we have all accepted it and we all hate it.” —Woman bartender in Houston

In a moment we will tell you how many, but first, how would you define sexual harassment? If you have employees like the managers talked about in this article, you might have a very different definition than the law. This spells trouble for you and your restaurant.

Sexual harassment includes any of the following:

• Sexual jokes and innuendos
• Sexual advances and propositioning
• Inappropriate touching
• Groping

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Ignore this 8-point Host Liquor Liability Checklist at your own risk:

If you use liquor to entertain clients, then read closely. The law states that the consequences of an accident connected with the serving alcoholic beverages may fall on the party that served the alcohol.

So, who does this affect?

Do you serve wine, beer or booze at a:

• Bar?
• Tavern?
• Restaurant?
• Hotel?
• Events?
• Office parties?
• Company-sponsored parties?
• Client meetings?

Wise business owners see the consequences down the road of serving alcohol. Inexperienced business owners must suffer the consequences. How about you? Where do you fit in? By taking a proactive approach to this, you can avoid many headaches later on.

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Denny’s has been in the news many times over the years. This time, it’s for racial discrimination and the following lawsuit.

What practical lessons can your restaurant learn from this? In this lawsuit, an Illinois African American family sued the restaurant chain for racial discrimination and they won. The jury awarded the family $600,000.

Read closely to their claims:

• A white waiter deliberately ignored them
• Later, the waiter used racial slurs when the family finally did get service

One of the family members hopes that the award by the jury sends a message to the restaurant chain. But what about your restaurant?

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Chances are, if you’re reading this article, then you likely have racks and racks of clothes sitting within viewing distance.

You’ve got your shipping down, you have been having pop-ups, you’ve got a Facebook group going and you have probably been selling quite a bit. You’re also probably investing money to grow your inventory. 

What started out as a hope and a dream is now your real business. Your inventory is likely worth somewhere between $5000 and $20,000 wholesale. And guess what? Everything you have built is not insured.  Your home insurance policy isn’t built to cover your business. A small kitchen fire could ruin your entire inventory with smoke smell. Theft, slip and fall, or even a car accident with your inventory in transport could not only put you out of business but also put you at risk of a lawsuit. 

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If you have a restaurant, deli, or food preparation kitchen, then read closely. We realize that restaurant insurance can be expensive. In fact, it can be quite expensive, especially when you have accidents in your kitchen.

But, here’s the thing: many commercial kitchen accidents and injuries can be avoided when safety procedures and policies are set up.

When safety is ignored, it’s only a matter of time before there are accidents. Remember that restaurant kitchen accidents only make insurance rates go up. So, doesn’t it make sense to implement these checklist points in your kitchen and food prep area?

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Did you know that back in 2012, over 616,000 restaurants opened nationwide?

That’s 616,000 restaurants similar to yours. That is a heck of a lot of competition. However, some resources quote that up to 60 percent restaurants close or change ownership in the first year, which means that roughly 369,000 restaurants closed within their first year of business. What’s worse is that about 80 percent (492,000 restaurants) close within five years.

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As a business owner, you can’t always count on good luck.

Or simply making a claim on your commercial property insurance coverage. Instead, you must manage your risk now. Recently, we talked about the importance of having a written emergency disaster plan for your business and this article is part 2 in this series.

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When it comes to disasters, 50% of small businesses are making the mistake of not having an emergency disaster response and recovery plan. Is your business guilty of making this mistake? 

Did you know that each year thousands of small businesses like yours are struck by disaster?

• Fire
• Earthquakes
• Hurricanes
• Tornadoes
• Power outages

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