5 Essential Street Food Insurance Solutions
The street food scene is big in Britain. If you’ve got a delicious product and a distinctive look that will draw in the punters, you can cash in on the trend for dining street-side, at markets and festivals. But it’s not just about booking a pitch and turning up with your fabulous food. There’s also a fair bit of planning and paperwork to do, including essential street food insurance, so you can make the most of every selling opportunity. Read on for our top five insurance solutions for street food traders:
1) Keeping the public safe
Just like non-mobile catering businesses, there are strict rules and guidance about food safety. You’ll need to hold the relevant food preparation and handling safety certificates and take regular records of how you store and prepare food. As the business owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure that everyone working for you has the right level of training and follows the stringent rules of hygiene. If something does go wrong with your hygiene and safety planning, such as food poisoning or an allergy as a result of an allergen that had not been highlighted, you could be sued for personal injury.
Insurance solution: public liability insurance
Public liability insurance will pay for legal fees and any compensation awarded to members of the public as a result of negligence connected to your business.
2) Keeping employees safe
Food preparation areas can be a hazardous place with knives, hot oil and spilled liquids, and accidents can be common. Food preparation out and about, away from a fixed kitchen, and the hazards of working in often cramped spaces can throw up even more uncertainties. It’s your responsibility to ensure anybody who works for you knows how to use equipment safely and follows safety guidelines.
Insurance solution: employers’ liability insurance
By law, you have to have employers liability insurance if you pay anyone to work for you, even if they take cash in hand or are related to you. This essential insurance covers for any injury caused by your business as a result of negligence.
There are stiff fines for any employers who fail to take it out, as well as the risk that you’ll be left financially responsible for large legal fees and compensation pay-outs if something unfortunate does happen.
3) Keeping your business on the move
If you’re a street vendor you need your wheels. You might have a mobile van or just need to transport your stall to each festival, market or your chosen pitch.
Insurance solution: commercial vehicle insurance
Just like a domestic car, accident insurance is a requirement for your vehicle to be road legal, but it will need to be specialist commercial vehicle insurance. You’ll also need to consider cover for anything inside your van, such as built-in equipment, and it could be worth securing special breakdown cover at the same time. When the chips are down, this can often help save money compared to purchasing separately.
4) Essential equipment
Becoming a street food vendor requires relatively little outlay, especially compared to fixed premises. But if you tot up the value you might be surprised. To stand out you need quality gear – DIY-store gazebos won’t necessarily give your customers confidence that they’re buying an artisan product. Add to this other items such as outdoor cooking equipment, mobile fridges, generators etc, and your business assets are mounting up.
Insurance solution: business equipment insurance
Protect your business assets with specialist business equipment insurance. If they are lost or damaged in transit, at an event or at your premises, you’ll be able to get them quickly replaced so it won’t stop you missing your biggest trading opportunity of the year.
5) Stock cover
One of the benefits of starting a street food business is the relatively low outlay required for stock. But one of the challenges you face is keeping your stock safe when you’re out and about. Common problems include when power supplies fail, leaving you with a load of stock that is unusable, or if stock becomes damaged in transit.
Insurance solution: stock cover
Calculate the value of your stock and you could be in for a shock – but you’d have an even bigger shock (that could potentially leave you unable to continue trading) if you lose that stock and have to fork out for its replacement yourself. Stock cover insurance gives you peace of mind that you’ll be able to restock quickly with no issues with cash flow, and continue trading.
Finding the best street food insurance vendors
You’ll need to shop around for the best insurance deals or speak to the specialist catering team at Park Insurance. We’re preferred brokers for some of the UKs largest insurance providers and our expert knowledge and long-standing industry links can help you to secure the right level of insurance at the best price.