Last Updated on March 6, 2023 by
In 2020, there were approximately 8,884 breweries in the U.S.
That’s a lot of breweries, but there’s a reason there’s so many. People love breweries.
As you plan to open a new brewery, you’ll have lots of work to do. One step you’ll have to take is to buy brewery insurance.
Brewery insurance is a unique type of insurance policy that you must have if you own and operate a brewery, and here are the main things you should make sure your policy includes.
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The Purpose of Having the Right Business Insurance
Insurance is essential for businesses and personal use, and it serves several purposes. Here are a few:
- It offers financial protection
- It reduces your risks
- It protects you from lawsuits
Every business owner needs insurance for these three reasons, no matter what type of business you operate.
When you buy business insurance, it’s always important to purchase the right type of policy. For example, you’ll need winery insurance if you have a winery. If you operate a food truck, you’ll need food truck insurance.
If you own a brewery, you’ll need to find the best brewery insurance around. With the right insurance, you’ll cover all your bases, leaving you with the protection you need for almost any incident that might occur.
Insurance is an expense you’ll have to pay every month or year, but it will come in handy if you ever experience a peril that causes damage or leaves your business unable to operate.
The Coverages Your Brewery Insurance Plan Should Include
You can customize your brewery insurance plan to meet your needs, but here are some of the main coverages you should make sure your plan includes:
Liability Coverage
Every business needs liability coverage for protection against lawsuits. When you have a business, customers will visit it. Anytime a person comes there, you take the risk that they might encounter injuries of some kind.
Liability coverage protects you, your business, and your personal assets from these types of incidents.
Property Insurance
If you operate a brewery, you have a physical location, which means you need property insurance. Property insurance can protect the structure of your building. It also protects everything inside the building.
If you rent the building, you might need renter’s insurance coverage, but you can ask an agent. You should make sure your plan covers everything you own in your business, including all your equipment.
You might want to make sure the plan offers replacement value coverage, as this coverage compensates you by adding up how much each item costs.
The opposite coverage is actual cash value, which only compensates you for the depreciated value of any items you lose from a covered peril.
Breakdowns
A brewery insurance policy might also include coverage for breakdowns of your equipment. The property insurance you have covers damages that result from covered perils, such as fire or storm damage.
Breakdown coverage protects your machines if they stop working and need repairs. Your coverage might pay a portion of the repair costs when you need to file a claim, but you might have a deductible to pay.
Contaminated Beer and the Effects
As a brewery, you make and serve beer. Unfortunately, your machines might get contaminated by the ingredients or other things. If this happens, it can contaminate your products.
If you lose products due to contamination, a brewery insurance plan might cover the costs of your losses.
Additionally, this part of your insurance plan might cover lawsuits from damages that your guests encounter from drinking contaminated beer.
You’ll need to make sure you have coverage for this particular aspect of your business.
Liquor Coverage
Any business that sells liquor needs the proper licensing, but they also need insurance to cover this aspect. When you buy brewery insurance, it offers all the protection you need for selling liquor within your establishment.
Business Interruption
You should also make sure your brewery insurance includes business interruption coverage. You might never need it, but if you do, you’ll be glad you had it.
Business interruption coverage compensates you for losses your business experiences by being forced to close for a temporary period.
For example, if an ice storm knocks the power out for five days, you could lose a lot of money by not being open. If this happens, your business interruption coverage will compensate you for your losses if you file a claim.
You can talk to an agent about other forms of coverage you can add to your plan. For example, you might want to add sewer line coverage for protection against sewer line problems.
There’s a host of other coverage types you can add to any business plan, and you can learn more about them by speaking with an insurance agent.
How to Buy Brewery Insurance
Now that you know the types of coverage you should get with a brewery insurance policy, you might wonder how to buy a plan.
One option is by contacting Brewery Insurance Specialists. While many insurance companies might be willing to offer coverage, you’re better off sticking with an insurance company that specializes in protecting breweries.
When you call, they’ll ask for some information, including your business name and location. They’ll ask what types of coverage you want, and they might ask a lot of other questions.
With the information you provide, they’ll issue you a brewery insurance quote. You can ask several companies for quotes if you’d like to see the differences or find the cheapest brewery insurance around.
Don’t Open Your Business Without the Right Protection
Having brewery insurance is essential for every brewery business owner. Now that you know what to look for in a policy, you can call around to find the coverage you need to operate your business.
If you enjoyed learning about brewery insurance, you might want to learn about other insurance types. You can do so by checking out the rest of our website!
Read More: What Equipment Do You Need to Start a Brewery?
