BROKLY

Insurance for restaurants — what to carry, and what it costs

Published 2026-06-05 · Updated 2026-06-11 · by Brokly

Covers full-service (table-service) restaurants — fast food and bars have their own pages here, rated separately.

Direct answer: insurance for full-service restaurants starts with workers’ comp — required in nearly all states — with 5 more coverages matched to the trade below. For a typical restaurant that’s ≈$740 to ≈$28k/yr depending on the state (filed rates $0.48–$3.11/$100 payroll, 2024).
Pick your state — the statute, modeled costs, and the full coverage guide ↓

What full-service 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 medical care and part of lost wages when kitchen and dining-room staff get hurt on the job.

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≈$5.1k/yrtypical restaurant · median stateCosts by state →
Commercial auto

Liability coverage for restaurant-owned delivery and catering vehicles.

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

Customer injuries on your premises — and harm 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 property damage to your space and equipment — 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 →
Liquor liability

If you serve alcohol — most states' dram-shop laws let someone hurt by an over-served guest sue the restaurant.

Typically covers

  • Claims from injuries caused by a patron you served
  • Legal defense in dram-shop suits — lawsuits over alcohol you served
  • The proof of coverage many on-premises liquor licenses require

Typically doesn’t

  • Ordinary slip-and-fall claims — that's general liability
  • Fines or license penalties for serving violations, typically
  • Businesses that don't sell alcohol — host situations usually fall under general liability
Worth a lookWhat it covers →
Cyber insurance

Reservation, loyalty, and payment-card data plus the POS system every check closes 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 2026-06-06) · NAIC — Auto Insurance topic (as of 2025-09-26, retrieved 2026-06-06) · Texas Department of Insurance — Commercial general liability insurance (retrieved 2026-06-06) · Texas Department of Insurance — Commercial property insurance guide (retrieved 2026-06-06) · Maryland General Assembly, Department of Legislative Services — HB 102 fiscal & policy note (2015) (as of 2015 session, retrieved 2026-06-06) · NAIC — Cybersecurity topic (as of page updated 2024-05-09, retrieved 2026-06-11)

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

What workers’ comp costs a typical restaurant

Modeled annual premium for each state’s most common 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 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 241,886 full-service restaurants across 45 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 (Full-service restaurants (NAICS 722511)) (as of 2023, retrieved 2026-06-05)

Frequently asked questions

What work does class 9082 cover?

Full-service restaurants fall under NCCI class 9082 (Restaurant NOC) — table-service establishments; fast food (class 9083) 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 full-service restaurants buy insurance in the first place. Certificate of insurance, explained →

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