Why You Should Require Insurance: A Festival Organizer’s Guide To Insurance
Hi there! With farmers’ market season upon us, it’s time to talk insurance. Are your vendors protected? Are you listed as an additional insured? When you require your vendors to protect their businesses with insurance while at your farmers’ market, you can experience peace of mind, more money in your pocket, and even more vendors at your market.
We understand that insurance can be a confusing and somewhat boring subject, which is why we put together this guide to help you gain the inside scoop on liability insurance. Detailed below is a list of the pros and cons of requiring your vendors to carry insurance. We hope this guide clears up your questions and provides a little background on insurance.
What Insurance Do Vendors Need?
Farmers’ market vendors can vary from food stands to arts and crafts, homemade pastries, fresh fruit, farm-grown vegetables, and more. This wide variety of vendors can all get farmers’ market insurance for their booths. Insurance policies can include:
- General Liability insurance
- Product Liability insurance
- Tools and Equipment
- Damage to Premises Rented
- Free & Unlimited Additional Insureds
These insurance coverages can help protect your vendors from the expensive costs associated with claims.
It’s important to note that with the Food Liability Insurance Program, your vendors can list unlimited additional insureds for free. So this means, they can list your farmers’ market for free as many times as they need to. When you’re listed as an additional insured, it means that their vendor’s insurance protection is extended to you.
We understand that insurance is a big step for many vendors, but it is a crucial step to protecting your markets from the costs of liability claims. Listed below are some pros and cons of requiring your vendors to have insurance.
Pros of Requiring Your Vendors To Have Insurance
Save Money –
When you require your vendors to have farmers’ market insurance, not only do they save money when it comes to claims, you do too. Insurance can save you money because it can mitigate or even eliminate the out-of-pocket costs associated with claims.
Returning Customers –
When your festival or farmers market boasts insured vendors, you can experience returning customers. Insured vendors can help your business boom and increase the amount of traffic to your event. Customers will feel more confident in their purchases and remember your festival or market as one that is professional and secure.
Be Easily Listed As An Additional Insured –
When your vendors are required to insure their businesses, adding an additional insured (you) is easy. With FLIP, vendors can experience free and unlimited additional insureds. Meaning, they can add additional insureds at any time, anywhere they need for free. Adding your festival or market as an additional insured extends their insurance coverage to you and provides you with the protection you need in order to run your business. Not to mention, it can give you peace of mind knowing if there is damage to your property, their insurance coverage can cover the damages.
Protect Your Business –
Insurance can protect your festival or farmers’ market from the consequences of claims. These claims can be expensive and can damage your business reputation. When your vendors are insured, you can boast a safe and protected event.
Cons Of Requiring Your Vendors To Have Insurance
May not want insurance –
A con of requiring your vendors to have insurance may be that your vendor doesn’t want insurance. They may not see the need for insurance and would rather deal with claims on their own. This leads us to our next con.
You May Lose Business –
If you require your vendors to have insurance, you may miss out on some vendors. They may choose to go to another festival or market where they aren’t required to have insurance.
May not be in their price range –
We understand that insurance can be a big decision, and while we believe it can be the best decision for your business, other people may not share the same opinion. Instead, it may not fit in their price range or budget.
It may feel too good to be true –
Insurance can protect your vendors in a superfluity of ways, including General Liability insurance, Product Liability Insurance, Tools & Equipment insurance, and Damage to Premises Rented coverage. Not to mention free and unlimited additional insureds. These coverages can protect your vendors from claims that may occur while at your event. This includes food poisoning, third-party injury, and equipment damage both yours and your vendors.
How FLIP Can Help You
The Food Liability Insurance Program is designed to protect your vendors from the costs associated with claims. These claims can include defense costs, medical expenses, or damage to equipment. FLIP can help you help your vendors.
FLIP provides affordable food liability and General liability insurance starting at just $25.92 monthly. Your vendors can protect their businesses in 10 minutes or less, with a completely online and quote-free process. Vendors who insure their businesses with FLIP gain instant access to policy documents, and certificates of insurance, and have the ability to add coverages or change coverage limits.
FLIP keeps the policy price low with USA-based agents who don’t make a commission and are dedicated to helping small businesses gain the coverage they need.
