You are liable at a venue you have never seen, using equipment you carried in.
Cover for caterers — foodborne illness, off-premises operations at venues you do not control, and the liquor exposure that arrives the moment you pour.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What catering businesses actually need.
General liability
Injury and damage at the venue, and foodborne illness claims.
Without it — Venues require it before they will let you through the door.
Liquor liability
Serving alcohol, whether or not you supplied it.
Without it — Excluded from general liability, and serving is enough to trigger it.
Equipment in transit
Chafing units, ovens, refrigeration, glassware and linen, on the road and on site.
Without it — Your kit spends its working life away from your premises.
Damage to the venue
Damage to premises in your care while you occupy them.
Without it — A scorched floor or a damaged kitchen is charged straight back to you.
Spoilage
Product lost to refrigeration failure before an event.
Without it — A failed fridge the night before is the whole event’s food.
What catering operators ask us.
Do we need liquor liability if the client supplies the alcohol?
Usually yes. Liability generally follows the act of SERVING rather than the act of selling, so a caterer pouring a client’s wine at a private event can still be brought into a dram shop claim if a guest is over-served and causes harm afterwards. Host liquor liability — the limited grant inside a general liability policy — is written for a business hosting its own occasional event, not for one serving as its trade. If you pour, price the real thing.
What do venues typically require?
A $1,000,000 general liability limit as a minimum, the venue named as an additional insured, liquor liability where alcohol is served, workers comp for your staff, and frequently a waiver of subrogation. Hotels and larger venues publish their requirements and will not negotiate them. Collect the requirement in writing when the booking is made rather than the week before, because a certificate in the wrong form is the commonest reason a caterer loses an event.
How are foodborne illness claims handled?
As general liability bodily injury, and they are difficult on both sides because causation is hard to prove and hard to disprove — guests eat elsewhere too. What defends them is documentation: temperature logs, supplier records, HACCP-style procedures and staff food-safety certification. Those records are also what an underwriter reads, so the same discipline improves the price and the defense.
Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.