4 Unique Considerations When Conducting Commercial Inspections for the Restaurant and Bar Industry

While our team of seasoned professionals at Insurance Risk Services partners with carriers that offer property and casualty insurance to a number of different industries, we’d like to take a moment to talk about insuring the risks associated with restaurants, bars, taverns, and nightclubs.

Each industry certainly has its own set of unique risks associated with it, and the restaurant and bar industry is no different. We provide insurance carriers with the resources necessary to accurately assess the risks associated with a property in order to make more informed underwriting decisions. One way that we’re able to accomplish this is by completing thorough commercial inspections, which help our clients to best determine which risks are worth taking.
Specifically in regards to the restaurant and bar industry, here are 4 key areas that thorough commercial inspections should take into consideration:

1. Cooking Exposure and Risk of Fire
Commercial kitchens in restaurants and bars typically include full cooking exposure, which automatically increases the risk of a fire loss. While there are a number of fire risk prevention practices that a restaurant could enforce to minimize this risk, it’s hard to know if these techniques will actually be enforced.

2. Exposure From Off-Premise Activities
It’s not uncommon for businesses in the restaurant and bar industry to have activities off-premises that are in connection with their business operations. Naturally, this can create increased risk exposure, and it’s not always something that is mentioned on an insurance application.

3. Parking Lot, Transportation, and Delivery
A number of injuries tend to occur in a property’s parking lot, and this is especially true with the restaurant and bar industry. Also, there may be times when a restaurant’s employees are required to leave the premises in their scope of work (to make a food delivery, for example). This, too, can present some increased risks and higher potential for loss exposure.

4. State Dram Shop Laws
The term “dram shop” refers to the laws that hold retail establishments responsible for any damages associated from serving alcohol to a person that is already intoxicated. These laws can vary depending on the state as to who is held accountable in this situation when the intoxicated person causes injury to himself or others.

At Insurance Risk Services, we specialize in providing detailed commercial inspections for the restaurant and bar industry. We have over 35 years of experience in providing our insurance partners with the most accurate surveys so that they can make more informed underwriting decisions.

Please contact us at Insurance Risk Services to learn more about factors to consider when conducting commercial inspections for the restaurant and bar industry.