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Café & coffee shop insurance

Price beat guarantee

We guarantee to beat your new insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. .

Here's what customers say about our business insurance.

  • No admin fees if you need to make changes to your policy.
  • 0% APR on your monthly Direct Debit payments in the first year.
    Over 18s, subject to eligibility.
  • Start a Business claim without the need to call.
  • We won't be beaten on price - we'll beat your new business quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.
    New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. .

Tailored insurance for your café or coffee shop

Running a busy café comes with a lot of challenges - you've got to keep your stock replenished, your building in good working order, and provide a safe and relaxing environment for your customers.

With members of the public coming through the door all day, you'll need to act quickly if something goes wrong. That's why it's important to have insurance that suits the different risks you face.

Direct Line jargon buster

Confused by an insurance term? Look it up in our jargon buster

Pick and choose from the following cover types to create a personalised policy that's just right for your business. These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.

Public liability insurance covers you if you cause injury to a member of the public or accidentally damage someone's property. An example of this could include a customer slipping on a wet floor in your shop or office and hurting themselves, or causing damage while carrying out buildings works on a client's house. You'll be held liable for the claim if you have not taken adequate precautions to prevent any accidents or damage occurring.

This insurance also covers you if a customer or member of the public becomes ill or suffers an injury because of a product you have supplied. For example, if the heel snaps off a shoe someone has bought from you, causing them to fall over, or if a cupcake you sell at an event makes someone sick.

If the people in question pursued legal action against you, public and product liability insurance would cover the costs you are liable to pay. We can offer cover from £1 million to £10 million. Plus, we can cover costs to help you defend the claim.

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have employees. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, which you can find out more about on our employers' liability page.

We'll cover you up to £10 million, as standard. This cover includes the legal and compensation costs you must pay if an employee gets injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.

You can insure the equipment needed to run your business, like your till, coffee machine, sandwich maker and even your laptop, with our contents cover.

If your equipment is stolen or damaged by an insured event, e.g. a fire or flood, we'll cover the cost of replacing it. So, you won't have to worry about forking out for expensive machinery you hadn't budgeted for.

If your stock gets damaged overnight, e.g. because of a flood or a faulty freezer, and you can no longer serve most of the items on your menu, you'll likely lose takings for the day.

Our stock insurance will cover the cost of replacing your food, including any raw ingredients, so you can carry on running your business. We can cover food stored at home and food taken away from your premises, e.g. cupcakes being transported to a customer via a third-party delivery service.

We offer an extra 25% of cover for 15 days before and after every bank holiday, and for two months of your choice, as standard. This is especially useful if you know you have a particularly busy period, like Christmas.

If there is an insured event such as flood or fire at your work premises, buildings insurance will cover the costs of repairing the damage, helping you get back up and running.

Equipment breakdown cover (for items forming part of the building) is included as standard. This will cover the costs of replacing or repairing things like your broken boiler and fire/burglar alarms, as long as the damage is not due to wear and tear.

Find out more about buildings insurance

When you insure your contents or stock, you'll get equipment breakdown cover as standard. This means you can insure the essential machinery needed to run your business, like cookers and dishwashers. If they break down, we can cover the cost of repairing or replacing them, as long as the damage is not due to wear and tear.

Similarly, if you choose to insure your premises, we'll automatically cover the items that form part of the building, such as your boiler or fire alarm. The breakdown must not be due to wear and tear.

Business interruption insurance offers cover if your workplace is unusable after an insured event such as a fire, theft or flood. Whether you run your business from home, an office, a shop, a client's location, or a shared workspace, business interruption insurance can help cover any loss of income until your business can operate at the same level as it previously did had the damage from the incident not occurred. If you need to temporarily relocate due to this damage, we may also pay for the relocation costs if it's economically viable.

If your main supplier or customer's premises get damaged due to an insured event and they can't trade, we'll cover any loss of turnover for your business. We can only do this once their insurer accepts the claim and manages the repairs to their premises. Similarly, if there's an incident, such as a fire, at a location where your business frequently trades, and you can't trade elsewhere, we'll cover the loss of turnover for the time the premises are unusable.

Business interruption will also cover you if key equipment that you use to run your business, like a laptop, is damaged or stolen, meaning you can't trade.

If you, an owner, partner, director, trustee, or other essential employee of your business die or become seriously disabled as a result of an injury caused by accident and violent means, and are unable to continue working, we'll cover the incurred costs, up to £25,000, to minimise any interruption to the business.

Theft of Takings covers cash or cheques stolen:

  • from your premises during business hours
  • from your premises outside of business hours that aren't stored in a safe
  • from your premises outside of business hours that are stored in a safe
  • from you in transit
  • from your home, any director or partners home, or authorised employees home
  • while you're working at other premises, such as your clients' homes

Maximum limits conditions and exclusions apply.

Find out more about theft of takings insurance

If you hold sensitive customer data, process payments online, or just want peace of mind, cyber cover could be a good option to help protect your business. Cyber criminals can catch you off-guard and trick you into doing something you shouldn't, like opening an attachment in a fake email or finding a way through your cyber security. If this happens and they get their hands on your data or access to your bank account, the impact on your business could be serious.

But, with our cyber cover, you can call the experts, 24/7. They'll help you to stay in business and recover in three ways following a cyber incident:

  • Recover financially
    • Covering loss of business income.
    • Covering recovery costs, like fixing damage to your computer systems or data restoration.
    • Covering fines (where insurable by law) and compensation costs following a data breach.
  • Recover your reputation

    • You'll get access to public relations and crisis management experts to minimise damage to your brand and business.
  • Recover your systems and help prevent future incidents

    • Technical experts will help fix your IT issues and provide advice on how to prevent future cyber incidents.

Find out more about cyber cover.

Available on new and renewal policies for eligible retail, and office and professional trades. Cover is up to the limit in your policy schedule for all claims made in the year. You must follow our requirements for data backup, firewalls and antivirus protection. You'll find these requirements and all other terms and conditions in your policy booklet.

This covers the legal costs of providing specialist lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems, for instance disputes with suppliers or clients. Legal expenses cover can only be used if there is at least a 51% chance that the claim will succeed.

Personal accident cover provides payment if anyone in your business between the ages 16-75 is unable to work because they've been injured in an accident, whether in a business or personal capacity. Including temporary or permanent hearing loss and loss of speech for tradespeople.

We'll pay a lump sum of £50,000 if there is an accidental death, accidental loss of limbs or sight, or if someone in your business becomes permanently disabled following an accident.

If someone in your business is unable to work due to a temporary injury, then after 7 days we'll pay their normal net weekly earnings up to £500 for up to 104 weeks.

You can choose Personal Accident as an add-on once you've completed your quote.

If you have commercial premises, you can extend your cover, for an additional premium, to include property damage as a result of an Act of Terrorism. We'll cover you up to the maximum sum insured on your policy for buildings, contents, and business interruption (depending on which covers you have taken).

This includes:

  • the rebuild of buildings damaged beyond repair
  • cover for damage or loss of your business contents, stock, and computer equipment, to help you get back up and running.

If you choose business interruption cover on your policy, terrorism cover will also include any interruption to or interference with the business, due to damage to your premises resulting from an Act of Terrorism. It will also cover you if you're unable to access your premises as a result of an Act of Terrorism within one mile of your business.

Acts of Terrorism are defined as damage caused by someone acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which uses force or violence to overthrow or influence the UK government.

Terrorism cover is only available for properties located in England, Wales and Scotland.

Terrorism insurance is optional, so an additional premium will apply.

You can include Terrorism cover on your policy by calling us on 0345 301 5066 when you take out your policy or at renewal, as it cannot be added to your policy mid-term.

Policy documents

When you get a quote, we'll send you a personalised policy document that shows the cover you've chosen.

These can also be found when you log into your account.

Here you can find examples of our latest retail insurance documents, which show the main covers we offer, plus exclusions.

Frequently asked questions about cafe and coffee shop insurance

We can cover a range of establishments where food and beverages are served, including:

  • Cafés
  • Coffee shops
  • Tearooms
  • Snack bars

If your business isn't mentioned above, that doesn't mean we can't insure you. Get a quote to find out what we can offer your business.

Yes, we can insure your business if you use deep fat fryers. When you get a quote, you will need to specify that you use a deep fat fryer so that it's included in your policy.

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