The Breakdown
It’s important to have Food Truck Insurance that includes general liability and product liability.
General liability responds to bodily injury and property damage. This can be anywhere from a customer sustaining an injury to your equipment damaging property. Product liability is designed to respond to claims that an item you distributed or sold (in this case, food) caused a customer to sustain bodily injury.
FLIP’s Food Truck Insurance policy includes a $2M general liability aggregate limit and a $2M product liability aggregate limit that can respond to covered third party claims within a one-year period.
Learn more about food truck insurance claims that can lead to lawsuits below.
Dreadful Food Poisoning
Keep in mind that preparing food could lead to accidental food poisoning if things aren’t cooked properly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases,” A customer could experience a food borne illness such as, salmonella or e-coli after eating something from your food truck. Symptoms can include fever, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Depending on the severity, they could be sent to the hospital for more treatment and may be unable to perform their job for weeks due to recovery.
An Unexpected Allergic Reaction
Some people can be slightly allergic to food while others can have a severe experience of an allergic reaction. It’s scary to think about and something you hope none of your customers experience at your food truck. The Food Allergy Research & Education organization (FARE) reported that 32 million Americans have food allergies (1 in 10 adults and 1 in 13 children).
Common food allergens include:
- Milk
- Egg
- Peanut
- Tree nuts
- Wheat
- Soy
- Fish
- Crustacean shellfish
An ingredient could be mislabeled and could accidentally get mixed in a food order. From hives to swelling, it can be a traumatic thing for a customer to experience an allergic reaction from your food. There’s also a possibility that they need medical attention and it can lead to a hospital stay.
The Unfortunate Slip and Fall Injury
A customer falling over a cord, a rug, or slipping on a wet/uneven surface could lead to a trip to the emergency room. In some devastating cases, the fall could lead to them being paralyzed or in need of additional help to recover.
Imagine if one of your regular customers sustained a serious hip fracture while ordering from your food truck. Think of the surgery and physical therapy they will need to go through to recover. That poor customer’s world is turned upside down because of the ordeal. It can likely lead to a lawsuit and that’s a scary thing to think about as a small business owner.
Get Food Truck Insurance From FLIP Today!
Each of these risks has the possibility of leading to a lawsuit. The legal costs and retainer fees can be thousands of dollars. On top of figuring out how you are going to pay for everything, you also need to manage the PR nightmare and try to repair your reputation in the food truck scene.
Food Truck Insurance gives your business a financial safety net to fall back on. Coverage is designed to respond to costs you are legally obligated to pay for. Think of insurance as your backup plan. FLIP makes it easy to file a claim online and our team will keep you updated on the status. We understand how important it is to make things convenient for you and that’s why we run online.
The Wrap Up
Learning about the risks and implementing safety measures to prevent third-party claims from happening is helpful. You can’t account for human error and other variables out of your control. Every business owner runs the risk of facing a lawsuit—no matter how careful you think you are.
That’s why it’s important to add food truck insurance to your business plan. You can do it in a matter of minutes and give yourself some financial peace of mind.
