3 Surprises You Don't Want When Running a Restaurant

Unfortunately, not all surprises in a business are good ones.

Anyone who has ever owned a restaurant can tell you that it's not for the faint of heart. Operating one requires good teamwork, great service and excellent cuisine. There are also unseen surprises that sometimes occur when you own this type of establishment, such as employee injuries, employee theft or even a potential loss of business due to unpredictable weather or storm damage. When you have the right type of business insurance, Florida restaurant owners can breathe a little easier, however, since it can help these types of surprises become more of an inconvenience than a full-blown disaster.

Surprise 1: Employee Injuries

One of the worst surprises for a restaurant owner is an employee injury. Whether a chef cut his finger slicing food or a waiter slipped on the floor while goofing off with another employee, if the injury occurred in your workplace, you're at fault and are considered liable even if the employee did something that contributed to his own injury. 

Fortunately, there is a business insurance that covers this type of surprise. It is known as workers' compensation insurance; you've probably heard it referred to as workers' comp. This type of insurance not only covers the medical expenses of an employee, it also provides you with liability insurance in case an injured employee attempts to bring a lawsuit against you and your company. 

Although you may think that you could simply self-insure against these types of accidents, the state of Florida actually mandates that employers having four or more employees are required to have compensation coverage. This applies to the hiring of both full and part-time employees. 

Sometimes the most trusted are actually the most untrustworthy.

Surprise 2: Employee Theft

You might think that since you work side-by-side with your employees that none of them would ever steal from you. If so, this second surprise may stun you since according to the statistics reported in an article by Pinkerton, a longtime risk service management company, a stunning 75-percent of employees actually steal from their workplace. The article also states that most employees will steal from an employer repeatedly. While some restaurant owners consider it simply the cost of doing business, make no mistake, repeated thefts can actually run your establishment right into the ground and out of business. A business policy designed to cover employee dishonesty can ensure that if a theft does occur in your restaurant, your financial loss is limited. 

Surprise 3: Storm Damage

If you live in Florida, you may think that the occasional hurricane or other severe types of weather phenomenon are just the cost you pay for the rest of the state's 364 days of near perfect weather. When bad weather does strike, however, it often brings a nasty surprise for the business owner who is unprepared. Although storm damage can seriously disrupt your restaurant business for days or even weeks at a time, there is insurance that can cover losses, such as those caused by wind damage and power outages. While it may not take away all of your weather related stress, it can make this third surprise just a little less devastating. 

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