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Food vendors, just like catering businesses, are required to get the appropriate amount of insurance before selling food at parks, festivals, and other locations.
Insurance safeguards customers and ensures that a food vendor can grant compensation in case food poisoning or accidents happens.
Food vendor insurance provides comprehensive coverage to startup food vendors and established ones. This consists of vendor liability policies, commercial property insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, and more policies.
There are different kinds of food vendors such as those that sell in farmers markets, those that serve customers through a food truck. But regardless, general liability insurance grants protection against claims for bodily injuries or property damage.
Copyright infringement claims are also covered. And depending where you purchase it, general liability insurance for food vendor can cover food poisoning claims.
General liability insurance for farmers market vendors has a $1 million-$2 million per occurrence and aggregate limit. Insurance companies automatically include a rented premises liability coverage in the general liability policy of their farmers market insurance.
As a food vendor, you’ll find this useful if you’re just renting the farmers market stand. This will compensate the losses of the organizers if the stand gets damaged.
| CoverWallet | NEXT (Best) | Thimble | Hiscox | FLIP | |
| Per occurrence limit | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000/$2,000,000 | $300,000/$2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Aggregate limit | $2,000,000 | $1,000,000/$2,000,000 | $1,000,000/$2,000,000 | $600,000/$2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Product liability coverage aggregate limit | $2,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Advertising injury coverage aggregate limit | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | Included |
| Rented premises liability coverage aggregate limit | $300,000 | $100,000 | $5,000 | $100,000 | $300,000 |
| Can you get a certificate of insurance online? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Name additional insureds? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deductible | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
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Street food vendors are not required to get general liability insurance, depending on which city or town they’re selling food. For those who need coverage, insurance companies sell a highly tailored general liability insurance for street food vendors.
The policy limit for general liability insurance policy has a $1 million-$2 million per occurrence limit.
If you’re a food truck vendor, then you’ll get a general liability policy in food truck insurance programs. The per occurrence limit of the general liability insurance for truck food vendors is $500,000-$2 million. On the other hand, the aggregate is $1 million-$2 million.
Coverage for your food truck can be included in the general liability policy of food truck and mobile food vendor insurance plans.
Commercial property insurance is useful if you’re the owner of a food vending franchise that operates through several food trucks, food stands, or food carts.
You can use commercial property insurance to cover the tangible assets of your food vending franchise. You can use this policy to recover financial losses if the office or any other building that you own, lease, or rent gets damaged or destroyed due to:
commercial property insurance can also help if valuable item sustain damage or get destroyed because of the insured risk
| CoverWallet | NEXT (Best) | Thimble | Hiscox | |
| Building coverage limit (minimum) | $50,000 | $350,000 | $25,000/$500,000 | $25,000 |
| Contents coverage limit (minimum) | $50,000 | $24,000 | $25,000/$500,000 | $25,000 |
| Outdoor signs | Excluded | $2,500 | Excluded | $2,500 |
| Accounts receivable | Excluded | Excluded | $5,000/$10,000 | Excluded |
| Money and securities | Excluded | $2,500 | $1,000 | Included |
| Lock and keys | Excluded | $2,500 | Excluded | Included |
| Business interruption floater | Excluded | Included | Included | Included |
| Equipment breakdown floater | Excluded | Included | Excluded | Included |
| Inland marine insurance floater | Excluded | Excluded | $10,000 | Excluded |
| Employee dishonesty floater | Excluded | $5,000 | $2,500 | Excluded |
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Similar to juice bar insurance programs, food vendor insurance programs might allow you to bundle general liability insurance and commercial property insurance into a business owner’s policy.
A business owner’s policy is a fusion of general liability insurance and commercial property insurance.
| CoverWallet | Thimble | NEXT (Best) | Hiscox | |
| General liability aggregate limit | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $500,000/$2,000,000 | $300,000/$2,000,000 |
| Commercial property coverage limit | $50,000 | $25,000/$500,000 | 350,000 | $25,000 |
| Optional policies can be added? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Name additional insureds for free? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BOP discount? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Tools and equipment insurance will cover the repair or replacement of ovens, fryers, stoves, mincers, meat grinders, blenders, and other equipment you use for preparing food.
Coverage applies if damage or loss is caused by theft, vandalism, and other covered risks.
| NEXT (Best) | Thimble | Hiscox | FLIP | |
| Aggregate limit | $3,000/$10,000 | $2,500/$5,000 | $5,000/$25,000 | $5,000/$10,000 |
| Covers hired and borrowed equipment? | $5,000/$10,000 | $2,500/$5,000 | No | No |
| Miscellaneous equipment also covered? | $5,000/$10,000 | No | No | No |
| Offered as an endorsement to general liability insurance? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deductible | $500 | $500 | $0 | $0 |
By having workers’ compensation insurance, you can get the appropriate treatment and financial assistance for a work-related injury.
This insurance will cover hospital bills, medication, lost wages, rehabilitation, and even funeral expenses and allowance to dependents in case of death.
An employer’s liability coverage can be optionally added to workers’ compensation insurance. This will take care of settlements and legal fees if an employee sues you after sustaining a work-related injury or disease.
What works as a one day food vendor insurance is a short-term general liability policy. A short-term general liability policy provides coverage for a few hours, an entire day, or several weeks.
This has a $1 million-$2 million per occurrence and aggregate limit. Optional policies might be included. Insurance companies that sell temporary food vendor insurance for one day are Hiscox, Thimble, and The Hartford.
The organizers of the festival have their own festival insurance that takes care of liabilities, equipment damage or loss as well as event cancellation.
However, they’ll require you to get the appropriate coverage and name them as additional insureds. Your existing general liability policy can be used as a food vendor insurance for festivals.
Another option is to get a short-term general liability policy in case you want an additional level of protection.
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The average food vendor insurance cost is $35 per month or $420 per year for a $1 million general liability coverage.
Factors that affect the cost of premiums are business history, business size, number of employees, annual revenue, and location.
| Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Deductible | |
| General liability insurance | $35 | $420 | $0-$500 |
| Commercial property insurance | $39 | $468 | $1,000-$2,500 |
| Business owner’s policy | $65 | $780 | $500-$1,000 |
| Liquor liability insurance | $45 | $540 | $500-$1,000 |
| Tools and equipment insurance | Cost included in general liability insurance | Cost included in general liability insurance | $0-$500 |
NEXT
Founded in 2015, NEXT has established itself as a one-stop shop for food vendor insurance coverage. Their food vendor insurance will encompass several coverages, including general liability, commercial auto, workers’ compensation, and commercial property.
Average cost: $25 per month
CoverWallet offer food vendors services with high functionality, packaged in an easy-to-understand interface. All you have to provide is basic business information to the company’s platform, and they will send you the quotes of different carriers.
Average cost: $26 per month
Hiscox caters for sole proprietors with food and beverage carts, mobile food services, mobile concessions, or mobile street food vendors,with food vendor insurance.
It specializes in general liability for food vendors, which costs as low as $28 per month for a $2 million coverage limit. You can adjust your coverage amounts and deductibles before obtaining the final quote.
Average cost: $28 per month
Thimble differentiates itself from the rest of the food vendor insurance providers on this list by offering flexible terms. As a food vendor, you will not be locked into a yearly contract.
This is excellent news for flea market and festival food vendors who need daily or even hourly insurance policies. For hourly food vendor insurance, you’ll pay $5 per hour, but if you want a monthly cover, you’ll pay $30 per month.
Average cost: $30 per month
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