Best Catering Business Insurance

In our study of catering business insurance across four key coverage types, NEXT Insurance comes out as the top provider due to their exceptional affordability and digital coverage matching system. While this is the case, other companies are not too far behind, and we recommend getting quotes from The Hartford, Nationwide, Thimble, and Simply Business.

*We based all scores on a catering business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

Based on our analysis, NEXT delivers the most competitive overall pricing for catering insurance at $66 per month, with particularly strong value in general liability and workers' compensation coverage. Caterers prioritizing professional liability protection will find better rates with The Hartford, while those seeking a budget-friendly Business Owner's Policies should explore Simply Business.

NEXT leads with the cheapest general liability insurance for catering companies at $48 monthly. Compared to the industry average, NEXT saves catering businesses around $60 per month.

For catering businesses shopping for cheap workers' comp insurance, NEXT stands out with the most affordable average rates of $69 per month. The next most competitive options are The Hartford, Thimble, Progressive Commercial and Chubb.

The Hartford and NEXT offer the most affordable professional liability insurance options for cleaning organizations with average monthly rates of $71 and $74, respectively. Compared to the industry average of $79, you can save around $9 per month with The Hartford.

For catering companies seeking combined general liability and property insurance through a business owner's policy, Simply Business provides the most affordable coverage at $1,005 annually. This rate is $107 cheaper per year than Coverdash, the second most affordable option.

In general, catering business insurance costs are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $89 on average per month ranging from $76 to $111 depending on state
• Workers Comp: $74 on average per month ranging from $64 to $86 depending on state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $79 on average per month ranging from $68 to $92 depending on state
• BOP Insurance: $99 on average per month ranging from $84 to $115 depending on state

The most essential coverages for caterers and catering businesses typically include general liability, commercial property, and product liability insurance, while workers' compensation becomes mandatory in most states if you employ staff.

Here's a breakdown of each essential policy and appropriate coverage amounts for typical catering businesses:

• General liability insurance: This coverage protects your business from third-party bodily injury and property damage claims, such as guests getting burned by buffet equipment or slipping on spilled liquids at events. The industry standard for caterers is at least $1 million per occurrence with $2 million aggregate coverage.
• Workers' compensation insurance: This coverage is required by law in nearly every state for catering businesses with employees. It covers medical expenses and lost wages when workers suffer job-related injuries like burns from hot equipment, slip-and-fall accidents, or back injuries from lifting heavy items. Amounts needed will be state mandated limits.
• Product liability insurance: This specialized coverage handles claims involving your food and beverage products, including food poisoning and reactions from unlabeled allergens. Since approximately 48 million cases of foodborne illness occur annually in the United States, this protection is critical for anyone preparing and serving food. Coverage limits should match your general liability amounts.
• Commercial property insurance: This policy protects your owned or rented equipment, inventory, kitchen space, and business property from fire damage, theft, vandalism, and weather-related incidents. Your coverage amount should reflect the total replacement value of all your business assets, including expensive kitchen equipment and catering supplies.
• Commercial auto insurance (for businesses using vehicles): If you operate company vehicles for deliveries or transporting catering equipment and most states require this coverage. Standard coverage includes $1 million combined single limit for liability plus comprehensive and collision protection.
• Liquor liability insurance (if serving alcohol): This coverage protects your business from legal costs and damages if someone you served alcohol to injures themselves, others or causes property damage. When offering alcohol services, $1 million is the common minimum requirement, with limits matching your general liability coverage.
• Tools and equipment coverage: This add-on protection covers loss, theft, or accidental damage to portable catering equipment and supplies used at events. In most cases you'll need about $10,000 in coverage, but limits should be determined based on the values of your equipment you bring to and from venues.

Here's a practical approach for securing the best value on business insurance for your catering company.

Through our comprehensive research, we found NEXT, The Hartford, Nationwide and Thimble are our top business insurance options for caterers. For the best deal possible, consult agents and similar businesses, research costs and companies, and compare multiple quotes.

We answer frequently asked questions about catering business insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for catering companies based on the following criteria:

• Affordability (50% of score): The lower a company's costs compared to the competition based on our base profile for four core coverage types, the better the company performs.
• Customer service (30% of score): We scored providers on overall customer satisfaction using industry studies, customer review forum ratings and public forum sentiment analysis from sites like Reddit.
• Coverage (15% of score): We scored business insurance providers for this category based on the flexibility, payment and actual coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): Using financial stability industry ratings from companies like AM Best and Moody's, we created an overall rating to judge how likely companies are to pay out claims compared to the competition.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue