Whether you work in a coffee shop or a butcher shop, if you’re serving people something that they’re going to consume, you have to be extremely careful with it. This is also the case for delis and sandwich shops, especially when you consider the amount of liability that you have if something does go wrong.

This is why deli and sandwich shops always opt to get at least some form of insurance once they start seeing more customers come through their doors. Insurance is a great way to ensure that a business remains protected and that a livelihood remains intact.

To make it easier for our readers to get the insurance that they need, we’ve gone ahead and compiled everything you need to know about deli insurance into this guide. We’ll discuss the best deli insurance companies, the various kinds of coverage you can get and what they’ll end up costing you.

Sandwich Shop Liability Insurance

General liability coverage is a comprehensive basic coverage you can get when running a deli as it protects you from a lot of risks associated with running a food business. 

This insurance protects you when you are found liable for either property damage or bodily injury sustained by someone while at your sandwich shop or deli. You may be wondering how someone’s property could be damaged, and it’s not as impossible as you may think. 

Maybe your soda fountain machine burst while one of your customers was filling up their cup and it ended up wetting their phone, rendering it unusable. Instead of paying for that phone out of your pocket, you could turn to your liability insurance policy to pay for the phone or get the phone repaired.

Keep in mind that general liability policy can be endorsed with other insurance policies such as commercial auto and worker's comp insurance policies. Nonetheless, this option depends on the type of business. Read the next section to know more about this. 

Sandwich Shop Business Insurance

If you like the idea of a liability policy but don’t feel like it provides you with enough coverage, you’re probably better suited for a business insurance policy. These policies are also known as sandwich shop BOPs (Business Owner Policies) and they tend to bundle together various forms of coverage.

These bundled policies will cost you less than what individual policies would otherwise cost if you were to purchase individually. Insurance carriers have no problem giving a discount for these policies as it’s their way of providing better offers and deals to customers.

BOPs tend to be a little less uniform across the board when you look at various carriers. There are two components that are usually present in a BOP. But still, you might find some that offer additional options. 

The first is a liability policy which is either general or public depending on the amount that you’re spending for your insurance. The second component of your typical BOP is the commercial property insurance component, which will cover any damage to the storefront itself.

Deli Insurance Cost

The price of deli insurance depends on a variety of things that an insurance company looks at before providing a quote. While we’re certainly capable of giving you an estimate of how much this insurance will cost, we can’t give you one that’s 100% accurate.

The size of your deli will dramatically influence how much you’ll end up spending for your coverage. Smaller delis will pay far less for their insurance than larger ones because they simply see fewer customers over the course of a year, reducing the chance of one of them having an accident.

Larger delis, however, typically have more stock that they have to keep track of as well as a larger number of customers. Their property size is usually bigger, as well, meaning that they’ll end up paying more for their commercial property insurance because of the higher cost of repairs.

Another thing to consider is that your business’s history will be closely inspected by the insurance company that you’re getting a quote from. They will look and see if you have a history of making claims and they will also look into your store’s reputation. If you’re known for serving people food that has made them sick or if you’ve failed health inspections, they may outright reject you.

To gather the following info about deli insurance costs, we used a medium-sized sandwich shop that had no history of prior claims to drive the price up. We did this to ensure that these costs are as close to reference values as possible so that you can have a better idea of what to expect.

As you can see, the average cost of deli and sandwich bar insurance tends to be a little more expensive than insurance for similarly-sized businesses. The average cost per month comes out to 52 dollars and the average cost per year comes out to 624 dollars.

Best Delicatessen Insurance Companies

If you’re searching for the best insurance policy for your deli or sandwich shop, you may be wondering which company you should go to for coverage. While there’s no quick answer to that question, we can make your search easier by reviewing some of the most qualified insurance companies out there.

AXA Sandwich Shop Insurance

AXA is an insurance firm that is technically based in France, though the company has subsidiaries in the Middle East, America, and Africa. The company originally started as a fire insurance firm in Paris, but they have since expanded their operations to be a little more all encompassing.

AXA Policy Details

AXA offers a flexible insurance policy for delis and sandwich shops, offering public and product liability coverage as a basic part of this package. However, the company also offers a few different add-ons that you can use to further refine your coverage, including content cover, employers’ liability, and quite a bit more.

Pros

• Experienced in working with delis

• Good online presence

• Specialized coverage for sandwich shops

Cons

• Claims response time is slow

Average cost: $51

Best for: Premade coverage options

Our rating: 5/5

Aegis Sandwich Shop Insurance

Aegis is an insurance company based in Texas, and they operate in both the life and property insurance market. Aegis has offices in both Houston as well as DFW, ensuring that they’re never too far away from their clients in the Lone Star State.

Aegis Policy Details

Aegis’ trained agents work closely with clients in the deli and sandwich shop industries to ensure that they have all of the coverage that they need, ranging from liability to commercial property insurance. This company also prides themselves on offering some of the most affordable coverage in the industry.

Pros

• Affordable

• Specialized policies

• Several discounted bundles

Cons

• Only does business in Texas

Average cost: $48

Best for: Texas-based delis

Our rating: 4/5

World Insurance Sandwich Shop Insurance

World Insurance has only been around since 2011 but it has been one of the fastest growing insurance brokers in the United States during that time. The company is expanding at breakneck pace, with nearly 140 offices located all around the country, and that number is growing fast.

World Insurance Policy Details

World Insurance’s brokers specialize in coming up with packages that cater to the exact needs of your deli or sandwich shop. They can figure out a policy for you that will cover you from property damage, injury, damage to your reputation, food sickness, and accidents in delivery.

Pros

• Skilled brokers

• Over 130 locations country-wide

• Consultation alongside the quote process

Cons

• Expensive

Average cost: $57

Best for: Larger delis and sandwich shops

Our rating: 4/5