Café and coffee shop insurance
Cover options for independent cafés, coffee shops and tea rooms, including public and products liability, employers' liability, equipment breakdown and lost income after a fire or flood.
Café and coffee shop insurance is a set of business covers built around serving hot drinks and food to a steady stream of customers. Cafés usually combine public and products liability, employers' liability, contents and stock, and business interruption, with optional cover for coffee machine breakdown, shop front glass, money and cyber.
PIB Insurance Brokers arranges cover for independent cafés, coffee shops, tea rooms and small café groups. Policies bought online are often built for smaller cafés, with limits on seating or deep fat frying. If your café is larger, fries food, opens late or sells alcohol, it's worth having a broker check the terms. If you also serve full meals, see our restaurant insurance; if baking is a large part of what you sell, our bakery insurance; and for other types of venue, our hospitality insurance.
What café and coffee shop insurance covers
Café policies usually combine a core of essential covers with optional extras, depending on your size, what you serve and whether you own or rent your building. The summaries below are general examples of what may be covered in each section; your policy schedule and wording decide what is and isn't covered in any claim.
Core covers
Public liability
Compensation claims from customers, suppliers and passers-by who are hurt or whose property is damaged, such as a scald from a spilt hot drink or a trip over a chair leg, including at tables outside if you've told your insurer about them.
Watch for: Claims from your own staff (covered separately), deliberate acts, liability you've taken on by contract beyond what would apply in law.
Products liability
Claims from customers made ill or hurt by food or drink you've sold, including food poisoning and allergic reactions.
Watch for: Food you knew was unsafe or past its use-by date, deliberate breaches of food safety or allergen labelling law.
Employers' liability
Claims from staff hurt or made ill at work, such as burns from steam wands, cuts and slips behind the counter. Usually required by law if you employ staff, including part-time and seasonal staff. The law requires a limit of at least £5m.
Watch for: Who the policy treats as an employee can vary. Check the policy terms if you use contractors, casual, temporary or seasonal workers.
Contents and equipment
Espresso machines, grinders, fridges, furniture, fit-out and fixtures against fire, flood, theft and escape of water, and often accidental damage.
Watch for: Wear and tear, gradual deterioration, theft without forced entry, leased equipment the supplier already insures.
Stock
Food, drink, milk and coffee, often including stock spoiled when a fridge or freezer fails or the power goes off.
Watch for: Stock kept outside stated temperatures, losses from poor stock rotation, shortages with no identifiable cause.
Business interruption
Lost profit and ongoing costs such as rent and wages while you can't trade after an insured event like a fire or flood. See our business interruption insurance page.
Watch for: Closures caused by something the policy doesn't cover. Closures from disease or a pandemic are usually excluded unless you've added a specific extension.
Optional covers to consider
Buildings
The structure of your café, if you own it or your lease makes you responsible for insuring it.
Watch for: Subsidence may carry a higher excess. Cover is restricted if the building is empty beyond a stated period (often 30 days).
Glass
Shop front windows, glass doors and display counters, including emergency boarding up.
Watch for: Glass already cracked or damaged, damage during building work.
Equipment breakdown
Sudden mechanical or electrical failure of coffee machines, ovens, dishwashers and refrigeration, including repair costs.
Watch for: Breakdowns caused by lack of servicing or descaling, wear and tear, equipment beyond a stated age.
Money
Cash in the café, in a locked safe overnight and on the way to the bank.
Watch for: Limits on cash left in tills out of hours, conditions on alarms and safes, unexplained shortages.
Cyber
Costs of responding to a data breach or cyber attack, such as a compromised card terminal, booking system or customer Wi-Fi.
Watch for: Incidents caused by known security flaws left unfixed, fraud by your own staff (usually separate crime cover).
What café insurance does not cover
Typical limits across café policies:
- Problems that existed before the policy started: known damage and ongoing disputes are usually excluded.
- Wear and tear: equipment and buildings wearing out over time isn't insurable damage.
- Poor maintenance: breakdowns or fires caused by equipment that wasn't serviced, descaled or cleaned as required may be excluded.
- Closures from disease: policies usually exclude lost income from disease or a pandemic unless you've added a specific extension.
- Staff dishonesty: usually covered under separate crime cover, not within a standard café package.
- An excess on most claims: most covers carry an excess (the amount you pay before the insurer contributes), which varies by cover.
Conditions matter too: claims may also be reduced or declined if policy conditions aren't met. Common examples: alarm not set, cash left in the till overnight above the stated amount, or equipment not serviced on the schedule the policy sets out.
How much does café insurance cost?
There is no standard price. What you pay depends on your turnover, the number of staff, whether you own or rent the building, the value of your equipment and stock, what you cook on site, whether you serve alcohol, and your claims history. A café serving hot food from a full kitchen usually pays more than one serving drinks and pastries.
What affects the cost
- A clean claims record: insurers usually look at the last three to five years.
- Security: an intruder alarm, good locks and CCTV may lower the cost of contents and money cover.
- Servicing records: evidence that fryers, extraction and coffee machines are cleaned and serviced on schedule.
- Accurate values: setting sums insured for equipment and stock at an accurate value can help reduce the risk of underinsurance or paying for cover you don't need.
- Your excess: choosing a higher excess (the amount you pay towards each claim) may lower the premium, the price of your cover.
Why work with PIB Insurance Brokers
We explore your options
We can approach insurers that cover cafés and hospitality businesses and set out the differences in cover, not just price.
We look at how you trade
Outdoor seating, deep fat frying, catering for events, late opening and selling alcohol may each change what you need to tell your insurer.
We look for common gaps
Business interruption set too short to cover a refit, equipment left off the schedule, or stock covered for less than you hold on a busy weekend.
Here when things change
Our team is on hand throughout the policy year for advice, whether your circumstances change or you're not sure what to do next.
What our clients say
Reviews from PIB Insurance Brokers clients across the sectors we work with, collected by Reviews.io.
Opening a café, switching insurer, or not sure your cover fits?
Get a quoteFrequently asked questions
What insurance do I need for a café?
The main insurance required by law is employers' liability, which most businesses need once they employ staff, including part-time and seasonal staff. The minimum is £5m, and you must display the certificate or make it available to staff electronically. Public liability isn't required by law, but you'll usually need it in practice. Beyond that, the covers worth considering are contents and equipment, stock and lost income. If you're opening a new café, arrange cover before you sign the lease or start the fit-out, as a lease usually requires cover from the day you sign.
Do cafés need public liability insurance?
It isn't required by law, but you'll usually need it in practice. It covers claims if a customer or member of the public is hurt or their property is damaged because of your business. Landlords usually make it a condition of the lease, and if you put tables and chairs on the pavement in England, the council can ask for evidence of public liability cover before granting a pavement licence. The council sets the amount of cover it expects.
What happens if I don't have café insurance?
In England, Scotland and Wales, if you employ staff without employers' liability insurance, you can be fined £2,500 for every day you're not properly insured, and £1,000 if you don't display the certificate or make it available to staff. Some employers are exempt, such as businesses that only employ close family members. Without other cover, you'd pay any compensation claims, repairs and lost income yourself, and many landlords make public liability a condition of the lease.