Average Restaurant Business Insurance Cost (2026 Report)

Restaurant insurance costs range from about $249 to $859 per month. The bundle that best fits your coverage needs determines where you fall within that range. For most full-service restaurants, the recommended bundle includes general liability, commercial property and workers' compensation for one employee, averaging $283 per month. Restaurants with no employees often pay less. Adding staff raises the premium, since workers' comp costs about $34 per employee per month.

Restaurants that keep refrigerated inventory or depend on walk-in coolers, freezers, ovens and other key equipment should add food spoilage and equipment breakdown coverage. That brings the full-service operations bundle to about $463 per month. Restaurants that also own a vehicle for deliveries, catering, or supply runs and rely on online orders or digital payments usually need the expanded bundle. That coverage costs about $859 per month.

These figures are modeled averages of quotes for restaurants with one to four employees across all 50 states, before discounts. Your actual premium depends on your state, claims history and coverage limits. Use this range as a starting point when you review your own quotes.

Here's how the bundles compare:

Note: Equipment breakdown, food spoilage and liquor liability costs are based on external research, not our restaurant insurance cost study.

Restaurant insurance costs vary by policy type, from $34 per month per employee for workers’ compensation to $219 per month for commercial auto. The difference shows how insurers price the major parts of running a full-service restaurant, from serving customers and managing staff to protecting your kitchen, property and vehicles. Unless you run a larger restaurant with staff, alcohol sales, delivery, online ordering and more expensive equipment or inventory, you likely won’t need every coverage type below. The right mix depends on how your restaurant operates and which losses would be hard to pay for yourself.

I've put together a table that helps you determine how much your ideal coverage mix could cost:

A business owner’s policy (BOP), which bundles general liability and commercial property, costs restaurants around $224 per month, or $2,692 per year. I got the rates by combining the average cost of these two coverage types for full-service restaurants, then applying a 10% bundling discount. That represents the lower rate insurers quote restaurants compared with buying general liability and commercial property separately.

Our data shows that BOP costs for restaurants are highest in California at about $318 per month, nearly twice the average rate in West Virginia at $173 per month. California’s higher rate likely reflects the cost of insuring restaurants in larger, busier markets, where customer claims, legal costs, equipment repairs and property replacement can be more expensive. West Virginia has a more affordable insurance environment, with smaller dining markets and lower repair or replacement costs.

On average, restaurants spend around $137 per month, or $1,645 per year, for general liability insurance. You need this coverage when customers, vendors or other visitors come into your restaurant because one injury or damaged item can turn into a claim against your business. For example, it can help if a guest slips near the entrance, a vendor gets hurt in a service area or a customer’s belongings are damaged while they’re dining.

General liability costs about $91 per month for restaurants in West Virginia, likely due to the state’s smaller dining markets, less dense customer traffic and lower-cost claims environment. If you're located in California, you’ll spend about $224 per month for the same coverage, roughly 2.5 times West Virginia’s rate. California has busier metro and tourist markets, where customer injury claims, property damage claims and legal defense can cost more to insure.

A commercial property policy costs around $112 per month, or $1,346 per year, and covers your restaurant if a fire, theft, water leak or storm damages items you rely on to operate. Your premium depends partly on the value of your kitchen equipment, furniture, fixtures, inventory and upgrades you made to the space. Costs can also rise if those items would be expensive to repair or replace.

My analysis of commercial property costs found that restaurants in New York see a monthly average of about $133, while those in North Dakota spend $35 less at $98. Commercial property is tied more directly to the items you insure, such as kitchen equipment, furniture, fixtures, signage, inventory and leasehold improvements. New York’s higher repair and replacement costs still push rates up, but your restaurant’s own property value usually matters more than location.

Most states require this coverage once you have employees, so check your workers’ comp requirements before hiring. Based on our study of restaurants with fewer than five employees, workers’ compensation costs about $34 per month per employee, but your total premium increases as your crew grows. Without it, you could be left handling medical costs or wage-related claims from injuries such as kitchen burns, knife cuts, slips, lifting strains or cleanup accidents.

Workers' comp costs average around $79 per month per employee if your restaurant's based in California, since operate in a higher-cost claims environment, where medical care, wage replacement and claim handling can cost more. The state’s $16.90 minimum wage in 2026 also contributes to its higher payroll-based premiums, helping make California the highest per-employee state in our dataset. In Indiana, you’ll pay about 76% less at $19 per month per employee. The state follows the $7.25 federal minimum wage, which can help keep payroll-based premiums lower. Your final rate still depends on how many servers, cooks, bartenders and dishwashers you employ, what they do on the job and your restaurant’s claims history.

Expect to spend about $104 per month or $1,253 per year on cyber insurance, which helps cover costs tied to data breaches, hacked accounts, payment fraud or system outages. Not all restaurants need this coverage, but consider adding it to your policy mix if you use online ordering, delivery apps that store customer information, reservation platforms or POS systems. If your digital vendors or contracts require coverage, check your cyber insurance requirements to make sure your limits are high enough.

At the state level, full-service restaurants in Washington, D.C., pay about $129 per month. That higher cost reflects how restaurants operate in a dense city: more customers can mean more card payments, online orders, reservations, delivery-app transactions, and POS activity. These tools make service easier, but each one adds another point where customer payment data or business records could be exposed. In North Dakota, cyber insurance costs about 31% less, at $89 per month. Smaller dining markets often have fewer daily digital transactions, though your final rate depends mostly on your own setup: how you take payments, store customer data and protect your systems.

If your restaurant uses a business-owned vehicle for deliveries, catering, supply runs or other business driving, you’ll need commercial auto insurance. It costs about $219 per month, or $2,625 per year, on average. Check your commercial auto requirements if your restaurant vehicle is covered by a lease, lender agreement, delivery contract or local rule.

The average cost for commercial auto insurance ranges from $109 per month in Pennsylvania to $418 per month in Michigan. While it’s one of the costlier coverage types you can add to your bundle, you’ll only need it if your restaurant owns a vehicle for deliveries, catering, supply runs or other business use. Michigan’s auto insurance market's more expensive because policies include no-fault benefits, including personal injury protection, which can make injury-related claims cost more to insure.

Depending on how you run your restaurant, you may face risks tied to alcohol service, expensive food inventory, refrigeration, cash handling or employee management. In those situations, you may need specialized policies beyond the five common restaurant coverages.

I researched these specialized restaurant coverages and broke them down in the table below. The cost ranges aren't from our insurance cost study, but they’re based on external research and can help you estimate how these add-on policies affect your total cost.

Serving customers in a full-service restaurant involves more than food and tables, and each part of your operation can affect your premium. Some factors are specific to how your restaurant runs, such as your dining room, kitchen equipment, food storage, staff, payment systems and extra services. Others are more general and apply to any business, such as your location and claims history.

I’ve broken down restaurant insurance cost factors into two categories and explained each below:

These factors aren't unique to restaurants, but they still apply when you're budgeting for coverage.

The recommended restaurant business insurance bundle averages about $283 per month, but that figure works best as a reference point. Your actual rate can shift based on your restaurant type, employee count, state and coverage mix.

To help you put context into any quote you get, I suggest you start with these three questions:

1. How do you compare to similar restaurants? Compare your quote against rates for restaurants with similar coverage and location. A quote near the average doesn't automatically fit your situation: a leaner setup should cost less, and a more complex one should cost more.
2. Is your quote consistent with your risk profile? A quote far above or below the typical range deserves a closer look. The gap may come from limits, exclusions, claims history, bundled coverage or risks the average doesn't capture.
3. Which cost drivers apply to your business? Not every factor matters equally for every restaurant. A full-service restaurant with table service and alcohol costs more to insure than a takeout-focused restaurant with fewer on-site exposures.

What matters isn't whether your quote lands above or below average. It's understanding what's driving the difference. Use this page as context for reading your own quote, not as the exact price you should expect to pay.

If you're still sorting out what applies to your restaurant, start by matching coverage types to your setup, exposures and contract requirements. From there, the coverage amount you need mostly depends on your lease, staff and equipment.

If you're ready to compare options, focus on value instead of price alone. Look at which providers price well for your restaurant profile, and where you can trim costs without cutting protection your operation still needs. For a closer look at which carriers price well for restaurants like yours, see MoneyGeek's guide to the best restaurant business insurance carriers.

• Best Restaurant Insurance Companies

Our restaurant business insurance cost calculator below gives you more personalized estimates so you can accurately compare rates. After getting a benchmark, you can request for a quote from your the providers MoneyGeek matches you with based on the business details you enter.