More Inclusions in Farmers Market Insurance
Liability insurance is only one of the many protections that carriers include in their tailored farmers' market insurance. The following policies are available if you wish to get more protection:
Commercial property insurance
Business owner’s policy
Equipment breakdown insurance
Workers compensation insurance
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance has business equipment coverage that’s useful if you’re using equipment to sell in a farmers market. Fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils might cause the damage or loss of the equipment in your possession, and business equipment coverage will reimburse your losses.
Another inclusion in commercial property insurance is stocks and contents coverage. You have items to sell and these might get damaged or lost due to theft, vandalism, fire, and other covered perils. Stocks and contents coverage takes care of this exposure by giving you money equal to the value of items lost or destroyed.
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Business Owner’s Policy
A business owner’s policy is an insurance product that’s a combination of general liability insurance and commercial property insurance.
A business owner’s policy is the smart option if you’re planning to get general liability insurance and commercial property insurance separately. This is because its price is cheaper. For example, if commercial property insurance and general liability insurance costs $85 per month if bought individually, a business owner’s policy will cost $60 per month.
And since business owner’s policies are common, some insurance companies decide to innovate to leverage themselves against competitors. For instance, there’s CoverWallet that offers a business owner’s policy with workers' compensation insurance. Another example is Nationwide selling a business owner’s policy with equipment breakdown insurance.
Equipment Breakdown Insurance
Your business’s equipment might have occasional defects. Of course, you need to get it fixed. Equipment breakdown insurance will become handy in this situation because its job is to cover the repair or replacement of defective business equipment. Note that this insurance only covers mechanical, electronic/electric, or computer equipment.
Workers Compensation Insurance
You need workers' compensation insurance if your business has one or more employees. Employees suffer from work-related injuries or diseases. Workers' compensation insurance provides a helping hand in such a situation.
When your employee becomes sick or injured because of work, workers' compensation will ensure that you don’t spend a single penny when taking care of him or her. Workers' compensation insurance will pay for the employee’s treatment/medical procedure, hospitalization, and rehab.
Furthermore, if the employee needs to take a leave to continue healing, the insurance will also reimburse lost income equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage.
Workers' compensation will also take care of things on your behalf if the employee dies. But how? In practice, the insurance will provide death benefits to the deceased’s family equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage.
Farmers Market Insurance Monthly vs. Temporary Coverage
Most food vendors purchase a full-term policy and pay their farmers market insurance monthly. However, if you’re a traveling vendor or you only sell on a scheduled basis, or maybe you are just starting out and have a full-time job and only offer your goods on farmers' market once a month, then you may find that purchasing temporary or on-demand coverage is more affordable. Most insurance providers offer on-demand coverage options. These policies are designed to provide coverage for specific dates, so you’ll only need to pay by the day instead of having to pay for a full month at a time. The best company for on-demand farmers' market vendor insurance policies is Thimble, as it can be paid for as little as 1 hour, at a very cheap rate starting from as low as $43 for 3 hours.
Farmers Market Insurance for Vendors: Different Vendors, Different Needs
As we mentioned, farmers’ markets attract a wide range of shoppers and often contain several different types of vendors. While the majority of the vendors are local farmers, it’s also common to find food trucks, local artists, bakers, and other vendors. Below, we’ll explain the small difference in coverage that you may need, depending on which type of vendor you are.
Liability Insurance for Farmers Market Vendors
If you’re a farmer selling their homegrown produce at the market, then you’ll most likely need a full-term general liability insurance policy offering $500,000 - $1 million coverage. This will protect you from personal injury claims and property damage claims. Furthermore, your liability for defective items sold is also covered because general liability insurance for farmers' market vendors comes with an optional product liability coverage.
Liability Insurance for Artisans at Farmers Market
Many farmers’ markets host pop-up artisans. If you only set up at the market from time to time, then you’ll probably benefit from a on-demand temporary farmers market liability insurance for artisans that lasts for either hours, days, weeks, or months only. A typical farmers market artisan liability insurance includes:
General liability insurance - Covers compensation, defense costs, and other payments if you injured someone or destroyed someone’s property while doing your craft
Product liability insurance - Covers defense costs, other payments, and compensation if a handmade product you’re selling turned out to be defective and caused personal injuries or property damage
Professional liability insurance - Covers defense costs and compensation if someone files a claim against your business for negligence, misrepresentation, and other acts constituting errors and omissions
Liability Insurance for Food Trucks at Farmers Markets
Food trucks and food vendors are commonly seen at farmers’ markets, as most of the produce vendors don’t have the necessary license to sell cooked food to the general public. Compared to produce and artisan vendors, food truck liability insurance policies may be a bit more expensive. This is because there is a higher degree of risk involved with the large trailers and cooking equipment found on most food trucks and trailers.
So what are the liability insurances available for food trucks in farmers markets? Available liability policies are:
General liability insurance - Covers third-party personal injury claims and property damage claims. Includes coverage for rented premises and products and completed operations
Product liability insurance - Covers instances where your food truck sold poorly prepared food which resulted in guests becoming sick. Also covers situations where a customer displays an allergic reaction to the food you’re selling
