Thankfully, the Great Recession is coming to a very slow and painful end. It will be a long, long haul out of the other side and everyone, except maybe our Prime Minister, will come out of it having learned a lot more.
The Great British pub has been hammered for years, the supermarkets, the smoking ban, brewery rents and the tough economic times have sadly caused many to go. However, there is a resilience and many have decided that in order to survive, they must diversify.
This means for many licensed trade premises that they start to sell food. As the prices charged to the licensee for beers have been increasing, the margins on food have made this an attractive proposition.
But, if you do now sell food on your premises (and didn’t in the past) you need to look at all of the angles. One of these is making sure your pub insurance company is aware of what you do. In addition, you may need to advise your local health and safety department or local authority that you are now cooking and selling food.
As far as your business insurance policy is concerned you need to consider two areas. Firstly that you are covered for all the business activities as some underwriters do charge more money if you are selling food. Secondly, if you are involved in deep fat frying, there may be certain policy conditions that apply. These may be that you have to clean the ducting and equipment in a certain manner at least once a month.
Speak to your broker and just check that they and your insurers are fully aware of what you do.