BROKLY

Insurance for fast food — what to carry, and what it costs

Published 2026-06-11 · by Brokly

Covers counter-service (limited-service) restaurants — table-service restaurants and bars are rated separately and aren’t in these figures.

Direct answer: insurance for fast-food restaurants starts with workers’ comp — required in nearly all states — with 4 more coverages matched to the trade below. For a typical fast-food restaurant that’s ≈$630 to ≈$11k/yr depending on the state (filed rates $0.42–$3.11/$100 payroll, 2024).
Pick your state — the statute, modeled costs, and the full coverage guide ↓

What fast-food restaurants carry — at a glance

Workers’ comp is governed state by state — pick your state in the table below for the statute and the modeled cost. The rest is the trade’s exposure map.

Workers' compensation

Covers crew injuries on the job — in a trade OSHA gives its own young-worker safety program.

Typically covers

  • Medical bills for a work injury, at rates the state sets
  • Part of the injured employee's lost wages
  • The employer too: covered employees generally can't sue over the injury

Typically doesn’t

  • Injuries outside work
  • Independent contractors, in most states
  • Lawsuits that get around the can't-sue trade-off — that's the employer's liability part of the same policy
Required in nearly all states≈$4.3k/yrtypical fast-food restaurant · median stateCosts by state →
Commercial auto

Liability coverage for restaurant-owned delivery vehicles — and the gap when employees deliver in their own cars.

Typically covers

  • Liability when a business vehicle injures someone or damages property
  • Accidents in vehicles titled to the business, driven by employees for work
  • The liability minimums states set for business vehicles

Typically doesn’t

  • Your liability when employees drive their own cars for work — that's hired and non-owned auto; the employee's own car stays on their personal policy
  • The freight or goods being hauled — that's cargo or inland marine coverage
  • Damage to your own vehicle, unless physical damage coverage is added
Required if…Requirements by state →
General liability

Slip-and-falls in the dining area or drive-thru line — and illness caused by the food you serve.

Typically covers

  • Injuries to customers, visitors, and other third parties
  • Damage your operations cause to someone else's property
  • Legal defense for covered claims

Typically doesn’t

  • Your employees' injuries — that's workers' compensation
  • Mistakes in professional advice or design — that's professional liability
  • Redoing your own faulty workmanship itself
Worth a lookWhat it covers →
Commercial property

Fire and equipment damage to your space and gear — plus the income lost while you're closed.

Typically covers

  • Your building if you own it, and improvements if you lease
  • Equipment, fixtures, furniture, and inventory inside
  • The common causes of loss — fire among them

Typically doesn’t

  • Flood and earthquake on standard forms — separate policies
  • Property in transit — that's inland marine coverage
  • The income you lose while closed — that's business interruption coverage
Worth a lookWhat it covers →
Cyber insurance

Customer card data and the point-of-sale systems every order runs through — exposure standard business policies don't cover.

Typically covers

  • The fallout of a hack or data breach — notifying customers, restoring data and systems
  • Claims from customers whose data was exposed
  • Often the income lost while systems are down

Typically doesn’t

  • Physical damage to property — that's commercial property
  • Tricked-into-wiring-money losses on many forms — social-engineering coverage is its own add-on
  • Breaches at your vendors, unless the policy extends to them
Worth a lookWhat it covers →

Exact terms live in the policy — these are the typical boundaries.

Sources: NAIC — Small Business Insurance (retrieved 2026-06-11) · NAIC — Auto Insurance topic (as of 2025-09-26, retrieved 2026-06-11) · Texas Department of Insurance — Commercial general liability insurance (as of updated 2021-01-20, retrieved 2026-06-11) · Texas Department of Insurance — Commercial property insurance guide (as of updated 2025-12-09, retrieved 2026-06-11) · NAIC — Cybersecurity topic (as of page updated 2024-05-09, retrieved 2026-06-11)

Workers’ compCommercial auto · benchmark comingGeneral liability · benchmark comingCommercial property · benchmark comingCyber insurance · benchmark coming

What workers’ comp costs a typical fast-food restaurant

Modeled annual premium for each state’s most common fast-food restaurant size, from that state’s own filed rate and observed payroll. All 51 states: rates & costs →

Least expensive states

Most expensive states

Modeled — not quotes: each figure prices that state’s most common fast-food restaurant size band from the state’s own observed payroll (CBP 2023), so dollar order can differ from rate rank.

Pick your state — what’s required there, and what it costs

Every linked state has the full guide: what the law requires there, the coverages that fit, and modeled costs — built from 226,292 fast-food restaurants across 42 states (CBP 2023).

† state-fund jurisdiction — workers’ comp is purchased through the state, not a private market. Unlinked states lack a published rate or a defensible business-size cohort.

Sources: Oregon DCBS workers' compensation premium rate ranking study, June 2025 (calendar-year 2024 rates) (as of calendar year 2024, retrieved 2026-06-04) · US Census County Business Patterns 2023, state file (Limited-service restaurants (NAICS 722513)) (as of 2023, retrieved 2026-06-05)

Frequently asked questions

What work does class 9083 cover?

Fast-food restaurants fall under NCCI class 9083 (Restaurant: Fast Food); full-service restaurants (class 9082) and bars (9084) are rated separately.

Why does my state matter so much?

Workers’ comp is state law — the employee threshold that triggers it, the rates, and the market structure all differ by state. That’s why every state above gets its own guide.

Someone asked me for a certificate of insurance — what is it?

The one-page proof your coverage exists — landlords, general contractors, and client contracts ask for it routinely, and it’s often the reason fast-food restaurants buy insurance in the first place. Certificate of insurance, explained →

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