Best Coffee Shop Business Insurance

Coverdash takes the top spot for coffee shop business insurance with its exceptional affordability and comprehensive coverage options. We found this provider excels most in these two areas, making it an ideal choice for coffee shop owners looking to balance cost with protection. However, we recommend comparing quotes from our other top picks, including Nationwide, The Hartford, Simply Business and biBERK.

*We based all scores on a coffee shop business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

Coverdash leads the market with the most competitively priced comprehensive coffee shop insurance at $62 per month, outperforming rivals in both general liability and Business Owner's Policy (BOP) coverage. NEXT delivers superior value for cafes on workers' compensation insurance at $44 monthly, while The Hartford secures the lowest rates for professional liability protection.

In general, coffee shop business insurance costs are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $90 on average per month, ranging from $78 to $105, depending on the state
• Workers' Comp: $47 on average per month, ranging from $40 to $55, depending on the state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $61 on average per month, ranging from $52 to $71, depending on the state
• BOP Insurance: $133 on average per month, ranging from $111 to $155, depending on the state

For most coffee shop businesses, the essential types of coverage are general liability and commercial property insurance, often bundled together in a Business Owner's Policy (BOP). Workers' compensation, commercial auto insurance for delivery vehicles, and liquor liability insurance for establishments serving alcohol are often legally required to satisfy state regulations and common contract requirements.

Here's why these coverages are important, and the recommended coverage amounts for each policy type for the average coffee shop business:

• General liability insurance: Covers third-party claims for bodily injury and property damage, protecting coffee shop businesses from common risks like customer slip-and-falls, burns from hot beverages, and damage to customers' personal belongings. We recommend a $1 million per occurrence or $2 million aggregate policy.
• Commercial property insurance: Helps protect your owned or rented building, tools, and equipment used to operate your business, including espresso machines, grinders, furniture, and inventory, from covered events such as fire, theft, vandalism, water damage, and weather-related incidents. Coverage amounts should be based on the replacement value of your equipment and property.
• Workers' compensation: Required by law in almost every state if your coffee shop has employees. This coverage pays medical bills and lost wages for baristas and other employees injured on the job, including burns from espresso machines, slips on wet floors, or back injuries from lifting supplies. The average cost is about $97 per month or $1,168 annually.
• Equipment breakdown coverage: Covers damages to your business equipment if there's an unexpected breakdown, protecting critical machines like espresso machines, grinders, refrigerators, and POS systems from internal failures such as motor burnout, power surges, and electrical shorts. This coverage can also include spoilage protection, reimbursing you for products that spoil due to equipment failure and the profit you would have made from selling them. This is typically included in a BOP or can be added as an endorsement.
• Liquor liability insurance (if you serve alcohol): Covers legal fees, property damage, and medical costs if alcohol is served or sold at your coffee shop to an intoxicated person who then harms others or damages property. The average cost is about $35 per month, with typical policy limits of $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. Many states have dram shop laws that hold businesses liable for damages caused by intoxicated customers.
• Commercial auto insurance (if you operate delivery vehicles): Required in most states for business-owned vehicles. This policy covers medical expenses and property damage if someone driving your coffee shop vehicle is held liable for an accident, as well as vehicle theft, vandalism, and weather damage. The average cost is about $164 per month or $2,116 annually for food and beverage businesses.
• Cyber liability insurance: If your business relies on computer systems for point-of-sale transactions or online ordering, cyber coverage protects against data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber incidents. This coverage can include notification expenses and credit monitoring services for affected customers if payment details are stolen.

Here's a step-by-step method for finding the best and cheapest business insurance for your coffee shop company.

Coverdash is the best cheap insurer for coffee shop insurance, and we also recommend getting quotes from Nationwide, The Hartford and Simply Business, our next top picks. For the best deal, consult agents and similar businesses, research costs and companies, and compare multiple quotes.

We answer frequently asked questions about coffee shop business insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for coffee shop companies based on the following criteria:

• Affordability (50% of score): The lower a company's costs compared to the competition based on our base profile for four core coverage types, the better the company performs.
• Customer service (30% of score): We scored providers on overall customer satisfaction using industry studies, customer review forum ratings and public forum sentiment analysis from sites like Reddit.
• Coverage (15% of score): We scored business insurance providers for this category based on the flexibility, payment and actual coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): Using financial stability industry ratings from companies like AM Best and Moody's, we created an overall rating to judge how likely companies are to pay out claims compared to the competition.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue