Business insurance can be a headache when it comes to bakeries and more so for large commercial bakeries. In this article, I’m going to go over some of the insurance basics that a commercial bakery should be considering, including costs and the best way to get bakery insurance.
Hi, I’m Gordon Coyle; welcome to my website, where we talk about the risk and insurance issues on the minds of business owners. As an expert business insurance broker, I’m here to help guide and educate decision-makers to help you become a more informed insurance buyer.
Okay, so like most business owners, a bakery is going to need some core coverages, which include:
Property – covering your building if you own it, plus insurance for your contents, inventory, machinery, and equipment.
Liability – including product liability coverage.
Automobile if you own, lease, rent, or use autos in your business.
Workers Compensation Insurance as mandated by your state, and finally
Umbrella or Excess Liability Insurance to provide an extra margin of liability protection.
A lot of smaller bakery operations can find many of these core coverages through a BOP policy or Business Owners Policy, which can combine these coverages (except workers comp) into one easy-to-deploy policy.
Most insurers will move the core coverages onto a package policy for larger bakeries, which is often less robust than a BOP but designed to handle larger operations. The cut-off between small and large will depend on the particular insurance company, but most insurers use sales as the determinant of qualifying for a BOP. It could be $15M in revenues, it could be $25M, or somewhere in between, depending on the insurance company. But determining what product or type of policy is all part of getting the best bakery insurance.
There are, of course, a bunch of other coverage parts that may or may not be necessary to your bakery depending on the type and size of your operation, and we’re going to cover them in more detail in future videos, but for now, let’s talk about how you get Bakery Insurance.
How to get the best bakery insurance
I just mentioned that there are a handful of core property and liability coverages that every bakery is going to need, plus optional coverages that may make sense for your particular circumstances and your budget.
So, how do you figure out what you need and who you can trust to get the best bakery insurance?
The natural inclination when faced with any decision is to Google it. You may be buying Bakery Insurance for the first time, or you may be looking for a new provider. Maybe your existing provider or policy went up in price, or you’re not satisfied with the service, so you Google it.
Unfortunately, the search results will give you thousands of options, and you won’t know who you should reach out to or not. You’re going to ask yourself –
Who is the most qualified, who can help me, and who is going to give me the best buying experience?
I can tell you that the top-ranking responses will be direct sellers or big-name insurance companies that dominate online searches. Unfortunately, if you contact them, you’re probably not going to get very personalized attention, and you won’t get many choices in your quest to find the best bakery insurance.
For example, The Hartford Insurance Company often comes up near the top of business insurance searches. They are big-name insurers, and they will sell you a policy directly; if you ask for a quote, you’re going to get one quote – guess which insurer – Hartford, of course. The odd thing is that we represent Hartford as well, and if you ask me for a quote, you may get a Hartford quote and five other options.
The point is that the top-ranked Google results are likely direct sellers with one option to offer you. Not having choices or a broker to make recommendations from several providers in my book is a mistake.
Customer Service Standards
Another consideration is determining what level of service you expect or want. Do you want a call-center-type level of connection to a big company, or do you want to work with an entrepreneurial expert?
Okay, that’s a bit of a leading question, of course you’d want to work with an expert and not have to call an 800 number and connect to someone different every time you call. I mean, after all, your business insurance is critically important to protect what may be your most significant personal asset – your business. Getting it right is really important.
Well, if you’re watching this video, you’re watching an expert who is an entrepreneur like you and who owns a boutique insurance brokerage that focuses only on insuring businesses like yours. I have a deep bench of experts on my team who are super knowledgeable, friendly, and effective.
We represent the top-rated insurers that want to insure bakeries of all sizes, so you’re getting choices, not just one quote.
Here’s the bottom line
You can do all the leg work and get 5 or 6 quotes online yourself, try and compare them to find the best one – oh, and the lowest price may not be the best. Or you can work with an expert like The Coyle Group to do that leg work for you and to give you the peace of mind that the final product is the best. That removes the guessing and mind-numbing task of shopping for business insurance. AND it doesn’t cost you any more than going direct.
If peace of mind is essential to you, then reach out, and let’s connect. My contact info is in the description box below, and we’d love to hear from you.
here are two more videos on Bakery Insurance you may find helpful. Thanks for watching!
