If you serve alcohol, your general liability almost certainly excludes it.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.

Without it — A slip in the dining room or a foodborne illness claim lands directly on the business.

Liquor liability

If you serve alcohol, your general liability almost certainly excludes what happens after you serve it.

Without it — A guest who was over-served and then causes harm becomes your liability, and general liability excludes it by name.

Assault & battery

A fight in a bar is an intentional act, and general liability excludes intentional acts, so the claim most likely to arrive from a late-night venue is the one most often uninsured.

Without it — A fight is an intentional act, and general liability excludes intentional acts, so the claim a late-night venue is most likely to see is the one it is least likely to be covered for.

Business income

Replaces the profit and pays the ongoing bills while a covered loss keeps you closed. It is the part of a fire claim that is not the building.

Without it — A kitchen fire closes you for months, and the rent, the payroll and the profit carry on without the revenue behind them.

Equipment breakdown & spoilage

Covers the walk-in, the compressor and the line when they fail from the inside. A mechanical or electrical breakdown is excluded by property policies, and the stock that thawed goes with it.

Without it — A walk-in compressor that fails from the inside is excluded by the property policy, and the stock inside it goes at the same time.

Food contamination

Pays for the destroyed stock, the deep clean, the lost income and the publicity when a health department closes you or a supplier contaminates a batch.

Without it — A health department closure means destroyed stock, a deep clean and a dark dining room, none of which general liability pays for.

Commercial property

Buildings and contents, valued at what it costs to rebuild today rather than what you paid.

Without it — Kitchen fires are the most common total loss in this trade, and equipment replaces at today’s prices.

Workers compensation

Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.

Without it — Burns, cuts and slips are constant in a kitchen and become uncapped claims without it.

Hired & non-owned auto

Covers vehicles the business does not own but its people drive on the job: rentals, and employees running errands in their own cars. Their personal auto policy will not cover a business trip, and the claim lands on the business. Pricing depends entirely on HOW it is bought: as an endorsement on a general liability policy we write, HNOA often costs a few hundred dollars; as a stand-alone (monoline) policy it runs $2,500 to $5,000, and association practitioner programs (CPH, CM&F and similar) generally cannot take the endorsement, so "add HNOA to my existing policy for $300-$800" is usually not a real option. A package carrying GL, professional liability and HNOA together is typically cheaper than the monoline.

Without it — Delivery drivers in their own cars leave the restaurant named in the suit with nothing responding: the exposure that makes delivery hard to place at all.

Cyber

Breach response, ransomware and the notification costs that follow, plus the card-brand assessments a business that takes payments gets billed for whoever was at fault. The customer database, the mailing list and the loyalty program are the assets at stake, and general liability excludes all of it by name.

Without it — The POS, the customer database and the loyalty program are what gets taken, and card-brand assessments land on you whoever was at fault.

Business owners policy

General liability and property packaged together. Cheaper than buying them separately when you qualify, and most small businesses do.

Without it — Buying liability and property separately usually costs more than packaging them.

Employment practices liability

Wrongful termination, discrimination and harassment claims brought by your own employees. General liability specifically excludes these.

Without it — Harassment and wrongful termination claims are common in high-turnover hospitality and are excluded from general liability.

We deliver. Why is that so hard to insure?

Because delivery turns a premises risk into an auto risk, and most restaurant programs are not written for auto. A driver in their own car is covered by their personal policy for their own liability. That policy will decline the claim the moment it learns the trip was work, and the restaurant is named anyway. Hired and non-owned auto is what responds. It is placeable, it is priced on how many drivers and how far they go, and it is the single most common reason a restaurant gets declined or non-renewed.

Does general liability cover alcohol claims?

No. Nearly every general liability policy carries a liquor liability exclusion, which removes coverage for injury caused by someone you served. Liquor liability is a separate line, and in most states dram shop law makes the establishment directly liable. If you serve alcohol at all, including beer and wine, you need it.

What the liquor exclusion says, and what BYOB changes

What about delivery drivers?

If staff deliver in their own vehicles, hired and non-owned auto is the coverage that responds. Their personal policy will decline a claim once it learns the trip was for work, and the claim lands on the restaurant. Third-party delivery platforms usually carry their own coverage, but the terms vary and are worth reading rather than assuming.

Do I need spoilage coverage?

It is worth pricing. Spoilage responds when a power failure or equipment breakdown ruins stock, which for a restaurant carrying serious inventory can be a five-figure loss from an outage nobody could have prevented. It is usually a cheap endorsement rather than a separate policy.

Our own staff valet the cars. Is that covered?

Not by the restaurant policy. General liability excludes damage to property in your care, custody or control, and a guest’s car with your employee driving it is the textbook case. Two pieces close it, garagekeepers for the car itself and hired and non-owned auto for what the employee does behind the wheel, with the attendants rated as drivers. If you use an outside valet company instead, get their certificate naming the restaurant as an additional insured on both, and get the endorsement behind the certificate, because if they lapse the guest’s claim comes to the name on the door.

Valet parking insurance, for restaurants and operators

Does our liquor license require insurance?

In most states the license does not, and in 13 it does, Illinois and Minnesota among them. South Carolina conditions the on-premises permit on liquor liability under S.C. Code § 61-2-145, and the requirement reaches any licensee open after five in the afternoon, so ordinary restaurants are caught by it. California requires no coverage but has required a Responsible Beverage Service certificate for every on-premises server and manager since July 2022. Where the state is silent, your lease is usually what sets the requirement.

The 13 states, and each minimum

What insurance will our landlord require for a restaurant?

Usually general liability at $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate with the landlord as additional insured, liquor liability at the same limit if you serve alcohol, property for your improvements and equipment, and workers comp. Many leases add an umbrella and a waiver of subrogation. Send us the insurance section of the lease before you sign, because the certificate has to match its wording and the keys usually wait on it.

We only sell a little beer and wine. Does that change the price?

Yes, and in your favor if you say so. Underwriters price liquor liability largely on alcohol as a share of sales, so a restaurant at a few percent is a very different risk from a bar. Carriers typically ask harder questions once alcohol passes about 30 percent, and many move the account to a liquor program between 40 and 50 percent. Give the real split, because an account rated as a restaurant that trades as a bar is a claim that gets investigated rather than paid.

Alcohol as a share of sales

We have not opened yet. When should we buy insurance?

Before the first date that asks for proof, which is usually the lease signing, the liquor license application or a county inspection rather than opening night. On our calls in 2026 several restaurant and bar owners came to us days before one of those deadlines, and a first carrier declining a new venue happened more than once. Start two to three weeks ahead so the account can go to a second market if it has to.

We are BYOB. Do we need liquor liability?

Possibly not. The standard general liability form says letting guests bring alcohol to drink on your premises, even for a fee, is not by itself the business of selling or serving it, so the liquor exclusion does not reach BYOB alone. Pouring for guests or holding a liquor license puts you back inside the exclusion. Check what your state and city allow before you advertise BYOB.

The exclusion, quoted

What does a restaurant insurance application ask for?

The applications for restaurant businesses ask about 4 things above all: what kind of food and drinks do you serve; do you have live entertainment like djs, bands, or karaoke; do you check ids at the door; how long has liquor liability coverage been in place at this business. Have your active liquor license and active food service permit or license and your loss and claims history for the past three to five years from your current insurance company ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.