For many food professionals, running a bakery—either from home or from some other retail space—can seem like a dream come true. However, one thing that many aspiring food business owners fail to consider is the amount of risk that running a professional bakery can create.
Like all businesses, bakeries come with a unique set of risks that—without the right kind of liability insurance—can create a heavy burden for you if an accident occurred within your business or as a result of your operation.
You can protect yourself from the risks associated with running a bakery by purchasing Bakers Insurance, which is designed to mitigate the financial responsibility that professional bakers face from third-party liability claims.
In order to illustrate just how risky running a bakery is, and how helpful Bakers Insurance can be, we’ve gathered a list of a baker’s dozen risks that can be easily mitigated simply by covering yourself with insurance, as well as a few extra benefits that this kind of coverage provides.
THE RISKS OF RUNNING A BAKERY
1. Injuring A Customer
Third-party bodily injury claims are one of the most common risks that many small businesses face, including bakeries. You may face a bodily injury claim if an accident occurs—either within or as a result of your business—that physically injures a customer or other individual (not an employee).
These kinds of accidents are commonly referred to as a “slip and fall” accidents, and should they occur, you could be sued and found legally liable to pay upwards of thousands of dollars in medical expenses, legal defense, and more.
Bakers Insurance includes a general liability policy, which can provide coverage for third-party bodily injury claims, allowing those who buy it to rest easy knowing they are protected from this financial burden.
2. Damaging a Customer’s Property
Similar in nature to bodily injury claims, third-party property damage claims are also very common risks that small business owners face on a daily basis. You may face a property damage claim if an accident takes place that damages a customer’s or other individual’s property, such as a server accidentally ruining a customer’s phone or laptop.
You may think property damage accidents don’t happen very often, but the truth is they occur much more frequently than you think. Your business could be sued and found liable to pay the expenses to repair or replace the damaged property, which could become very expensive.
It’s always better to be prepared for property damage accidents, even if you never have to face one. Bakers Insurance includes coverage for third-party property damage claims, making it a great option to protect your business.
3. Making a Customer Sick
One of the worst things that could happen to food industry professionals is accidentally making a customer sick. As a professional baker, of course you never mean to make anyone sick, but these kinds of accidents can and do happen—a lot, actually.
Whether it’s from foodborne illness, poorly prepared food, or simply an allergen you forgot to mention or they didn’t ask about, making a customer sick can have an untold impact on your bakery. If sued, your business could be found liable to pay for medical expenses for the injured customer as well as other costly expenses.
By protecting your business with the right kind of product liability insurance, you can mitigate the financial burden that getting a customer sick creates. Bakers Insurance, which includes a product liability policy, can cover the cost in case a customer gets sick from your food or services provided.
4. Giving a Customer Bad Advice
It’s not uncommon for bakeries and other food businesses to do more than simply sell their food as a service. Many bakeries host baking lessons and other fun activities for their customers in addition to selling their baked goods. These functions—while great at generating more business—come with unique risks that could negatively impact your business.
For instance, let’s say that during a lesson, the host forgets to mention something important or flat out gives bad advice that causes one of the students to get injured. In the insurance world, this is called professional negligence and could actually cost your business if legal action is taken against you.
In today’s litigious society, negligence claims have become a fairly common occurrence. If your bakery hosts lessons, demos, or activities where it might be at risk, it’s worth it to get covered. With a professional liability endorsement that can be included in a plan, Bakers Insurance is a great way to protect your business from negligence claims.
5. Losing† Your Business Equipment
As a professional baker, your equipment is an essential part of effectively running your bakery. From your baking equipment to your computer and electronic devices you use to complete transactions, you rely on your equipment to get the job done. That said, many things can happen to your equipment that could have serious financial consequences for your business.
What if someone broke into your business and stole your equipment?† Or it was destroyed in a fire that consumed the place where you do business? These kinds of incidents do occur, and the cost of replacing or repairing all that equipment could cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
There are several insurance policies out there that you can add to your Bakers Insurance, depending on where you do your business, that can financially protect you in case something happens to your business property. No matter what policy you end up with, however, you’ll be glad you have your equipment covered.
6. Losing Your Commercial Space
Similar to business equipment, another risk bakeries and other food businesses face is damage or loss of commercial space either from a covered accident, crime, or in some cases natural disasters.
As a baker, you could run your business in a variety of places, like a retail location, commercial kitchen or commissary, or even your own home. If something were to happen to your business space—like a fire or some other natural disaster—it could cost your business dearly.
Bakers Insurance provides policy options that can cover your commercial space so you can reduce the financial burden placed upon your business should a tragedy like a fire or other disaster occur.
7. Facing Malicious Prosecution
While running your bakery, you may, on occasion, face unsatisfied customers who threaten to sue you without any legitimate claim. Some of those customers may actually go through with their threat and take legal action against your business. These incidents are categorized as “malicious prosecution” and have unfortunately become more common for small businesses in recent years.
Even when unfounded or illegitimate, dealing with claims can be time consuming and expensive. Without any kind of insurance to help mitigate the costs of legal defense and other expenses, you could find yourself paying thousands of dollars to deal with unfair claims against your business.
Bakers Insurance includes general liability coverage, which can cover expenses that arise from malicious prosecution. Don’t let your business fall victim to wrongful legal action. Protect your business today.
8. Facing Advertising Injury Accusations
There are many claims your bakery could face when it comes to the way you communicate and advertise your business and talk about other businesses, as well as the way that other businesses advertise themselves and talk about you. These claims—both first- and third-party—can get a bit complicated, but they all fall under a term called “advertising injury,” which includes claims against stolen ideas, invasion of privacy, slander, libel, and copyright infringement.
Simply put, your bakery is required to respect other businesses’’ intellectual property and they are required to respect yours. If legal action is taken against your company for advertising injury, it can be expensive. However, under most circumstances, these kinds of claims can be covered by an insurance providers’ general liability policy.
By protecting your bakery with Bakers Insurance, which includes general liability coverage, you can have the financial protection you need should another business take legal action against you.
9. Falling Victim to Cyber Crime
Cyber crime has become increasingly more common in recent years and poses a greater threat to small businesses now than ever before. If your business collects or stores information online, on a computer, or on mobile devices—especially customer payment information—and that information is compromised during a cyber security breach, your business could be held liable to pay tens of thousands of dollars in expenses.
As much as it helps to know about phishing schemes, online scams, and other techniques employed by cyber criminals, it always helps to have coverage that protects your business. By protecting your business with cyber liability insurance, you can mitigate the costs of expensive first- and third-party claims.
Luckily, with Bakers Insurance, you can include this important coverage as an extra option in your insurance plan and rest easy knowing you have the protection you need should you fall victim to cyber crime.
THE EXTRA BENEFITS OF HAVING BAKERS INSURANCE
10. It Creates Peace of Mind
Perhaps the greatest benefit of having Bakers Insurance is the peace of mind that it creates knowing that you can have the help you need should anything happen to your business. Covering your bakery with insurance is like placing a safety net under you: you may not ever need it, but it sure is reassuring knowing it’s there.
Running a bakery is stressful enough, after all. The last thing you need is the additional financial burden that comes when legal action is taken against you. With the right insurance plan in place, you can rest easy knowing that you have some financial protection beyond your own wallet.
11. It Opens the Doors of Opportunity
As a baker, you can make a lot of money by simply selling your baked goods. However, there are many opportunities in the world that you can take advantage of that getting insurance can help you achieve.
One example of this is the ability to participate in events like farmers markets or trade shows where you can get your goods in front of people and generate more business. These events are great opportunities, but most—if not all—event organizers actually require their vendors (you) to have liability insurance and to add them (the event organizer) as an additional insured.
By having Bakers Insurance, there are endless possibilities of activities you can do and events you can participate in to help you grow your business.
12. It Builds Trust Between Businesses
As fulfilling as it can be to run your business by yourself, there is a lot to be said about partnering with other companies to grow your businesses together. Now more than ever, food industry businesses are creating awesome opportunities by collaborating with each other. You can do the same for your bakery, but it definitely helps to have insurance.
Showing your certificate of insurance to would-be partners is a great way to establish credibility and professionalism. It lets them know that you’re covered should anything happen and that they, as your partner, wouldn’t be roped in to any problems that occur.
By getting yourself covered with Bakers Insurance, you could create lasting business relationships that will benefit you for the rest of your career.
Protect Your Bakery Today With Bakers Insurance by FLIP
When it comes to getting Bakers Insurance, many a baker wonders whether the coverage you get is worth the price you pay. It’s an understandable question. As a business owner, you want to make sure that you’re getting the best bang for your buck and you don’t want to have to spend extra time or money on insurance that you’re not going to need.
One thing to consider when looking at the cost effectiveness of insurance is the risk you face by running your business without insurance. If an accident were to occur, could you cover the cost of legal fees, medical bills, or more out of pocket?
Luckily, the price of Bakers Insurance is kept low at just $299 per year or $25.92 per month, so you can have good coverage without breaking the bank. And if anything happens to your business, you can rest easy knowing that you’ve actually saved money in the long run by having good financial protection in place.
For many culinary professionals, running a bakery can seem like a dream come true. But by preparing yourself for the risks associated with actually running a bakery, you can not only make that dream a reality, but keep the dream going for many years to come.
While there are quite a few risks associated with running a professional bakery, you can prepare for and mitigate the cost of these risks by covering your business with an insurance plan that fits your bakery’s needs.
If you haven’t already, you can check out Bakers Insurance by FLIP. We offer a wide variety of policies that you can use to create a custom insurance policy that works perfectly for your company. Getting signed up is quick and easy, too. Our online process takes less than ten minutes to complete.
There may be a lot of risks with running a bakery, but with FLIP, you can rest easy knowing that you’ll have the exact coverage you need for when you need it the most.
