Why Some Insurers Won't Cover Delivery Professionals
Kitchen fires, food poisoning, liability, spoilage. People who run sit-down restaurants have it easy. The real nitty gritty insurance risks come when you start delivering food to people's homes. It's like the wild west out there, anything can happen.
You're ready to look into franchise delivery restaurant insurance as soon as you start running a business that delivers. If there's one exception, it may be when you're the only person doing the delivering, and you don't mind paying any unforeseen expenses out of pocket. If you have people delivering for you, then you're responsible for the restaurant, for the food, for the customer, for the driver, and, to an extent, for their car. Their personal insurance might help to cover a lot of what might happen out on the road, but whatever your drivers do on company time may wind up costing company dime.
In some instances, your driver might be totally covered under their own policy, for their own expenses, that is. Their insurer isn't likely to be the one paying out if they are robbed while delivering for you, and their policy might protect them, but it might not protect you if they are found at fault in an accident that occurred while they were on the job. Furthermore, some insurance providers won't cover delivery drivers in the first place, forcing these drivers to seek specialty insurance or, in some cases, drive a company car under their employer's policy. Many insurers cite the high mileage that comes with the job. All those little ten minute trips to and from the customers' homes may not seem like much throughout the day, but by the end of the month, a pizza deliverer has racked up more miles on their car than some of us drive in a year.
If your employees are driving company cars, then you're going to be looking into commercial auto insurance. If your drivers are using their own personal vehicles, then you'll need to make sure that they have full coverage for themselves, including some form of pizza delivery insurance to cover their own end should something happen to them on the job. You will also need to ensure that your insurer knows that you're employing delivery drivers, and talk to them about what sort of coverage they can offer you, from data compromise insurance to employment practices liability to food contamination and, if you serve alcohol, liquor liability, as well.