Professional Liability Insurance
If your food business offers professional services, such as cooking classes, you need professional liability insurance (also referred to as errors and omissions or E&O insurance) to protect you from costs associated with lawsuits and other financial risks.
Find out how Food Liability Insurance Program can personalize a policy for your food service business’ needs today!
What Is Professional Liability Insurance?
Professional liability insurance—or errors and omissions insurance—is designed to cover bodily injury and property damage claims that arise from your role as a facilitator, instructor, or teacher of any class or workshop.
Who Needs Professional Liability Insurance?
If you are instructing or teaching a class or workshop related to your food or beverage business, professional liability insurance is a must-have.
For example, a honey manufacturer who holds online classes for people interested in learning about producing honey-related products would need this coverage.
Learn more about how professional liability works with other types of food businesses:
Bakers
Bartenders and Alcohol-Serving Businesses
Chefs and Caterers
Food and Beverage Vendors
Food Distributors
Food Manufacturers
Home-Based Food and Beverage Businesses
Mobile Food and Beverage Businesses
Don’t see your industry type listed? Check out our full list of covered food and beverage businesses.
How Does Professional Liability Insurance Work?
If an individual attended a class you facilitated or instructed, followed your instructions, and was injured because of the advice or instruction you provided, professional liability insurance could respond to this claim.
It could pay damages they may be rewarded if you’re found legally responsible for them.
What Information Will I Need About My Business to Get a Quote?
To apply, we’ll need the following information from you:
- Business name
- Owner name and contact information
- Address
- Business description
- Gross annual sales
- Coverages requested
How Long Does It Take to Get Insured?
Most people can complete the application and get their instant proof of insurance in 10 minutes or less.
What Are Common Professional Liability Claims?
Some of the most common professional liability claims involve property damage occurring during a cooking class.
For example, one policyholder used a vice clamp to keep a pasta roller steady on the claimant’s glass tabletop and ended up cracking it as a result. Their professional liability policy insurance responded to the claim, paying out $817 for the damages.
Another policyholder was hosting a cooking class at a brewery and damaged the tables during that class. Their professional liability insurance paid out $500.
What Does Professional Liability Insurance Cover?
A professional liability insurance policy covers bodily injury or property damage claims stemming from an error in your services or your failure to provide those services.
For example, let’s say you teach a baking class and instruct your students to heat the internal temperature of a steak and ale pie to a certain temperature. One of your students goes home and makes a steak and ale pie using the recipe and instruction you gave them, but gets good poisoning because the internal temperature wasn’t hot enough to kill harmful bacteria.
If that student sued you for the damages caused by your instruction, professional liability insurance could help cover the cost of that claim.
What Does Professional Liability Insurance Not Cover?
Professional liability insurance will not pay for product or general liability claims, such as slip-and-falls, food poisoning, or allergic reactions caused by your products. However, your FLIP general liability policy could respond to these claims.
Please refer to the policy for exact limitations, conditions, and exclusions.
How Much Does Professional Liability Insurance Cost?
You can add professional liability coverage to your policy for just $10.42 a month. This includes limits of $100,000 for each claim with a $200,000 aggregate.
All policy coverages have limitations, conditions, and exclusions. Always make sure to refer to your policy for exact coverages.
Why FLIP for Professional Liability Insurance?
FLIP makes it easy to add professional liability coverage to your policy for an affordable price, so you can get the coverage you need for your business without breaking the bank!
Additionally, we offer other coverage options you can add to customize your policy, from inland marine (also known as Tools and Equipment coverage) to cyber liability.
Over 35,000 food and beverage business owners trust FLIP for their coverage needs. Join the club and protect your business in 10 minutes or less today!
Hear From FLIP Customers
Here's what other people have to say about their experience from over 350+ available reviews.
Coverage Details Limits
General Liability Aggregate Limit
$2,000,000
Products – Completed Operations Aggregate Limit
$2,000,000
Personal and Advertising Injury Limit
$1,000,000
General Each Occurrence Limit
$1,000,000
Damage to Premises Rented to You Limit (Any One Premises)
$300,000
Liability Deductible
NO DEDUCTIBLE
Business Personal Property / Inland Marine Limit (Any One Article / Aggregate)
$5,000/$10,000
Business Personal Property / Inland Marine Limit (Per Occurrence) – Deductible
$250
Medical Expense Limit
$5,000
Written by: Chris Van Leeuwen
Chris Van Leeuwen is the VP of Agency Development for Food Liability Insurance Program (FLIP). He has held the prestigious Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation since 1996.
Because he strongly believes in the importance of helping business owners understand their insurance coverage, Chris uses his wealth of experience to offer insights to food and beverage professionals across the country who are looking to navigate business liability insurance
Reviewed by: Kyle Jude
Kyle Jude is the Program Manager for Food Liability Insurance Program (FLIP). As a dedicated program manager with 10+ years of experience in the insurance industry, Kyle offers insight into different coverages for food and beverage business professionals who are looking to navigate business liability insurance.
