Our sales went up. Is that why?

Very likely, at least in part. Restaurant general liability is rated on sales, so more sales means more premium at the same rate, and a big audit adjustment usually means the estimate at binding was too low.

Why did only the liquor part go up?

Liquor liability is priced on alcohol sales, often as a share of total sales, so a slower year in the kitchen raises it even when the bar did no more business. The market for it also moves faster than the market for the rest of the policy.

Will shopping it help?

When the rate moved, often. When your sales or values grew, every market prices the same growth. Send loss runs with the request, because a clean record is worth most to a carrier that does not already have you.

A restaurant owner, an East Asian woman in her fifties in a chef coat with her sleeves rolled, standing at the pass of her kitchen reading a renewal letter, stainless steel line and hood behind her

Why did my restaurant or bar insurance go up at renewal with no claims?

Usually because something it is priced on grew, not because of anything you did. General liability for a restaurant is rated on sales, liquor liability on alcohol sales, and property on what it would cost to rebuild your space and replace the kitchen, so a higher sales estimate, an audit or a higher property value moves the renewal on its own. The rest is the market: liquor liability for bars is written largely by surplus lines carriers, which can reprice a class in one year or leave it. Ask which of those moved before you shop.

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Tell us the situation.

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/ Who handles this

Brian Victores

Commercial Insurance Advisor

Licensed in nearly every state, working contractors and small commercial, writing general liability, workers comp and commercial auto. Runs on the principle that the best insurance experience is a boring one: straight answers, fast quotes, no surprises.

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Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.

Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.

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The detail

Gross sales is the usual premium basis for general liability on a retail or service business, including restaurants, while payroll is the usual basis for contractors.
Total CSR, "How to Complete the ACORD 126 Form for Insurance"
The surplus lines market exists for "covering risks not available within the admitted market," and a "licensed surplus lines broker is responsible for ensuring the surplus lines insurer meets eligibility criteria."
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Surplus Lines (CIPR topic page)
Of the 16 liquor liability placements we made for food and drink accounts in 2025 and 2026, 12 went through a wholesale broker into the surplus lines market.
Boring Insurance policy records, food and drink accounts (NAICS 722) with a 2025 or 2026 term, read 2026-10-07
Across our 2025 and 2026 food and drink terms, the median price was about $5,010 for a business owner’s policy, and for accounts that serve alcohol about $7,270 for general liability with liquor and $6,850 for a business owner’s policy.
Boring Insurance policy records, 2025 and 2026 terms, measured 2026-10-04 (43 food and drink insureds, 17 serving alcohol)
On our 2026 calls a market that had written a hookah lounge at $7,500 the year before had repriced the class, and the same lounge was then quoted at $12,500 and at a $20,000 minimum elsewhere.
Boring Insurance call records and policy files, 2025 to October 2026 (clients and carriers unnamed unless named positively)
Commercial property premium for a restaurant follows the insured value of the building or tenant improvements, kitchen equipment and contents, so a higher replacement cost at renewal raises the premium even when the rate is unchanged.
Kevin Kelsey, agency placement experience

What this means for you

Find out which input moved. Ask for the renewal’s sales figure, alcohol figure and property values next to last year’s. If those rose, the increase is arithmetic and shopping will not undo it. If they did not, the rate moved, and that is the case where other markets can help.
Correct the sales estimate before the renewal binds. A renewal built on last year’s audited sales can overstate a slower year. Give your agent the current figures, split into food and alcohol, before the policy renews rather than waiting for the next audit to refund it.
Read the property values. A kitchen you re-equipped or a build-out you added should be insured, and it costs more to insure. A value nobody updated in years may be too high or too low, and either one is worth fixing.
Remarket the liquor through more than one wholesaler. Surplus lines carriers reprice classes quickly, so the market that was cheapest last year may not be this year. We take restaurant and bar liquor liability to more than one wholesaler for that reason.

Go deeper on any of these

Need this handled?

Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.