Bakery Insurance

Get the Coverage You Knead

Do you arrive at a dinner party with a basket of biscotti rather than a bottle of wine? Are your brownies the big money-maker at the school bake sale? Is turning on your oven a sign that you’re having a good day?

If you’re nodding your head in agreement right now, you’re likely someone who loves to bake.

If that love has blossomed into a home-based business, that’s not surprising. Home bakers have emerged as a thriving group of small businesses.

Food can be complex enough, from getting a souffle to rise to keeping a croquembouche from falling, you probably don’t have a lot of time to deal with commerical bakery insurance. Not to worry. We can cut through the layers of complexity and help find the right coverage for you.

Just pick up the phone or jump online. We can take care of your home baking insurance in just 10 minutes. So you can do it all while waiting for your dough to prove.

Here are two types of policies that can be part of your bakery insurance coverage:

• General liability insurance
• Business personal property insurance

Benefits of Bakery Insurance:

• It can protect your business from certain claims.
• It can cover damages caused by your negligence.
• It can cover the theft of business property.
• It may be required where you’re located.

What Types of Home Baking Insurance Do I Need?

You carefully measure your ingredients. You preheat your oven to the specified temperature. You set your timer and check the bake when it’s done. Doing everything right is fundamental to turning out the best possible baked goods.

But doing everything right with your business doesn’t always keep things from turning out like a batch of overbaked cookies. The unexpected can happen.

That’s why it can make sense to have insurance that bakes in the right types of coverage.

Here are two coverages we recommend:

General Liability Insurance

Much like your stand mixer and measuring spoons can get you through just about any recipe, general liability insurance can help small business bakeries get through a variety of financial risks.

A general liability (GL) policy is there to help with claims related to third-party accidents, property damage, and bodily injury, like to customers or vendors.

Consider an event like this happening to you. People can’t get enough of your sweet and salty chocolate chip cookies. Orders are coming in from across town and across the country.

It’s all you can do to keep up.

A delivery driver has arrived to pick up your latest shipment. While walking back to his vehicle with an armful of boxes, the driver trips and falls on a patch of ice on the porch.

The cookies aren’t the only thing that has broken in the fall. A trip to the emergency room confirms the driver has injuries, including a broken ankle. You later find out that the delivery driver is suing you for medical bills and rehab costs.

If you have taken the time to shop for general liability coverage, those costs could be covered by your policy, up to its limits. If not, you may have to pay them out of your own pocket.

Generally speaking, those costs are not insignificant. The average small business property damage claim is a whopping $30,000. You might have to bake a lot of cookies to cover a bill of that size.

Does homeowners insurance cover a home bakery?

In cases with details like this one, your homeowners policy probably wouldn’t protect you, since the driver was at your home for business purposes.

With GL protection for bakeries, you don’t have to worry about putting your business or family at risk. Your policy can cover the costs of a claim — including any resulting legal fees — up to your policy’s limit.

Here’s a summary of what general liability insurance usually covers:

• Third-party bodily injury
• Third-party property damage
• Personal and advertising injury
• Claims arising from product defects
• Medical expenses
• And more

As useful as GL coverage is, there are some things it usually doesn’t cover:

• Damage to your own property
• Professional services
• Workers compensation or injury to your employees
• Damage to your work
• Automobiles while in business use
• Expected or intentional injury or damage
• And more

Business Personal Property Insurance

Remember your stand mixer and measuring spoons we talked about? Imagine for a minute that you didn’t have them. It could slow down or even shut down your independent home baking business.

That’s why you should consider business personal property insurance as part of your bakery insurance.

Business personal property (BPP) insurance typically covers the equipment, furniture, fixtures, and inventory that a business owner owns, uses, or rents inside their workspace.

For home baking companies, BPP insurance can help pay to replace your mixer, measuring spoons, and other essential baking tools and equipment in the event they’re stolen, damaged, or destroyed.

A BPP policy can cover financial claims involving:

• Theft of business property
• Damage to the business property
• Loss of business property
• And more

Chances are you may not have heard a lot about business personal property coverage, so you may be wondering if you really need it. As a baker, your biggest worry might be a batch of burning brownies that set off the smoke alarm.

OK, well let’s whip up an example for you. Imagine you’re working on a wedding cake and you have your business laptop on the counter so you can read the recipe. As you turn, you accidentally knock a 2-quart container of cream all over your computer.

While you’re able to finish the cake, your business laptop is finished as well. If you remembered to purchase BPP coverage, you could be covered for the cost of replacing your computer.

Why Do I Need Bakery Insurance?

As any good baker knows, following the recipe doesn’t always guarantee a successful bake. A malfunctioning oven thermostat leaves your Tarte Normande with a soggy bottom. The mistaken addition of baking soda instead of baking powder ruins your Alfajores. You forget to vent the crust of your raised game pie, and the filling spills all over the inside of your oven.

Things can go wrong in baking and in business. When they do, home baking business insurance can help protect you financially if you find yourself involved in a lawsuit or paying a claim.

And your chances of being sued may be higher than you think. According to the Small Business Administration,it’s estimated that between 36%-53% of small businesses may deal with a lawsuit in a given year.

Plus, it’s not just the amount you might be sued for. Defending yourself in court also can be expensive. Those same small businesses reported legal costs ranging from $3,000 to $150,000.

Having home bakery insurance also can help when things are going well. Say you need to rent additional space for your growing bakery business; your landlord may require proof of insurance.

Having insurance also can make customers feel more comfortable buying from you. It shows you care about your business. It’s easy for customers to feel that same degree of care will likely extend to the baked goods you sell.

Home Baking Insurance FAQs

• Is home baking insurance required by law?

  The answer here may depend on where you’re located. Requirements can vary by state and locality, so you should check with your local government to find out what’s required for home baking businesses in your area.

  If you have workers, even just one employee, you’ll likely need to have workers compensation insurance. Again, laws often vary among states, so check the requirements for your area.

  In addition, if you rent space for your bakery business, your landlord may require you to have business insurance.

• Is my policy premium tax-deductible?

  Most likely, yes. The IRS considers insurance premiums as a business tax deduction. As with any tax matter, though, it’s a good idea to check with an accountant or tax professional regarding your specific business situation.

• How much insurance coverage will I need?

  There’s no standard recipe for home baking insurance. The amount of coverage you’ll need will depend largely on several factors, such as:

  • The size of your business
  • Your business’s location
  • Your annual revenue
  • And more

  With our online quote form and our licensed insurance agents, we can help make finding the right coverage as easy as pie. Plus, if you have questions, our insurance pros are happy to assist! I mean, who doesn’t want to talk with a baker?

• What should I consider before buying a policy?

  To get your bakery insurance quote quickly, it’s a good idea to have the following information handy:

  • Your annual revenue and payroll estimates
  • Information on any previous claims

• What does business insurance cover?

  A comprehensive solution that includes both general liability and business personal property insurance can cover:

  • Third-party bodily injury
  • Third-party accidents and damages
  • Theft, damage, and loss of business property
  • And more

• How much does home baking insurance cost?

  This is a similar question to “How long should I leave the dough to prove?” It often depends on a number of factors. As a general rule, you can expect your policy costs to be determined by:

  • Your revenue
  • Your payroll
  • Number of employees
  • Your business location
  • The type of services you provide
  • And more

  You can get business personal property coverage as an addition to your general liability (GL) insurance. And we can help you find GL policies for as low as $25.95 per month.*

  If you’d like to see how much your home baking business insurance may cost, click here to answer a few easy questions and get free quotes to compare policies.

Why Choose Simply Business?

We get it. For many small business owners, insurance can seem as complex and laborious as creating the multiple layers of a Baumkuchen.

Not to worry. We’ve helped thousands of small business owners like you get the coverage they need without getting caught up in cumbersome applications and hard-to-understand insurance jargon.

Here’s how we can simplify the recipe to getting bakery insurance coverage:

We’re fast and affordable. Our policies are fast, affordable, and ready when you are. Say goodbye to stressing about having the right coverage.

We’re flexible with coverage. If you have changes you need to make to your insurance coverage, we’re here to help.

We get your business. Your business is unique, so shouldn’t your insurance policy be too? We understand what your small business needs, and we’ll make sure you’re properly covered.

We’re trustworthy and reassuring. No one wants to experience an accident, injury, or lawsuit. But if one of those events happens to you, we have your back. You can trust us to cover your costs and help you get back to baking.

We make it easy to compare free quotes. Insurance doesn’t need to be complicated. Our online quote form recommends policies that meet your specific needs.

Making a living by making the world a sweeter place is something to be proud of (and maybe envied a bit as well).

Being able to help you protect that business is just the icing on the cake for us.

*Monthly payment calculations (i) do not include initial premium down payment and (ii) may vary by state, insurance provider, and nature of your business. Averages based on October - December 2021 data of 10% of our total policies sold.

This content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal, tax, accounting, investment, or any other form of professional advice.