Coverage
The Most Common Restaurant Insurance Claims — and What They Cost
Where restaurants actually lose money — and the coverage that stands between an incident and a closure.
By Restaurant Insurance Authority Editorial Team · Reviewed by J. Robert Smith ·
Coverage decisions get easier when you know what actually goes wrong in a restaurant. A handful of claim types drive most of the losses — and each one is answered by a specific policy.
The most common restaurant insurance claims are customer slips and falls, kitchen fires, employee injuries like cuts and burns, food spoilage from equipment failure, and liquor-related incidents. Slip-and-fall and fire claims are among the costliest — averaging tens of thousands of dollars — which is why general liability, property, and workers’ comp are non-negotiable.
Which policy responds to what
| Claim | Coverage that responds |
|---|---|
| Customer slip, trip, or fall | General liability |
| Kitchen or cooking fire | Commercial property + business interruption |
| Employee burn, cut, or strain | Workers’ compensation |
| Food spoilage from a power or equipment failure | Spoilage / equipment breakdown |
| Over-served patron causes harm | Liquor liability (dram shop) |
| Foodborne illness / customer sickness | General liability (+ contamination endorsement) |
| Harassment or wrongful-termination suit | Employment practices liability (EPLI) |
Slips and falls: the frequent, rising claim
Customer injuries are both common and getting more expensive. The Hartford reports that slip, fall, and customer-injury claims doubled from 10% to 20% of small-business claims over a decade, with the average cost climbing from $20,000 to $45,000. Your general liability policy is what answers a customer’s injury claim.
Kitchen fires: the costliest single loss
The kitchen is where the money burns. The U.S. Fire Administration counts roughly 5,600 restaurant fires a year, about 63% ignited by cooking equipment, causing around $116 million in annual property damage. Fire is often the single most expensive small-business claim — property coverage rebuilds, and business-interruption coverage replaces the income you lose while closed.
Employee injuries: high frequency, real cost
Kitchens injure people. In one analysis of about 130,000 restaurant workers’-comp claims, cuts and lacerations were roughly a quarter of claims and burns about 12%, while strains were the costliest at around $10,700 on average. Workers’ compensation pays medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault.
The takeaway
A restaurant’s real risk is concentrated in a few places: the dining room floor, the cook line, and the bar. Cover those well and you have handled most of what actually happens. To pressure-test your own program, get a quote and have a licensed agent map your coverage to these exposures.
Frequently asked
- What is the most common restaurant insurance claim?
- Customer injuries — especially slips, trips, and falls — are among the most common and costly. The Hartford found slip, fall, and customer-injury claims doubled from 10% to 20% of small-business claims over a decade, with the average cost rising from $20,000 to $45,000. General liability responds to these.
- How common are restaurant fires?
- Cooking is the leading cause. The U.S. Fire Administration counts roughly 5,600 restaurant fires a year, about 63% started by cooking equipment, causing around $116 million in annual damage. Fire is often the single costliest small-business claim, so property and business-interruption coverage matter most where flames start — the kitchen.
- Does general liability cover a drunk patron causing a crash?
- No. General liability almost always excludes alcohol-related injury, so a patron you over-served who then causes a crash is not covered there. That exposure sits with liquor liability, which many states’ dram-shop laws make essential for any business that serves or sells alcohol.
Sources
- The Hartford: Top Small-Business Claims (10-year claims analysis, 2025)industryretrieved 2026-08-19
- U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA): Data Snapshot: Restaurant Firesprimaryretrieved 2026-08-19
- Risk & Insurance (citing AmTrust): Restaurant Worker Safety: The Hidden Costs Behind Kitchen Injuriesindustryretrieved 2026-08-19
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: A Foodborne Illness Outbreak Could Cost a Restaurant Millionsindustryretrieved 2026-08-19
Cover what actually happens
Map your policies to the floor, the cook line, and the bar. A licensed commercial agent can find the gaps before a claim does.
Talk to an agent who insures food & beverage every day
A licensed commercial-lines agent who specializes in restaurants and bars will review your coverage, close the gaps that catch owners, and show you what a program actually costs — before anything is bound.