How much does insurance cost for a restaurant?

Which policies a restaurant buys, and which are required

A restaurant carries four kinds of exposure: customers (slips, burns, food-borne illness), employees (cuts, burns, falls, lifting), the building and kitchen equipment, and alcohol if it is served. Insurers usually sell the first and third together in a business owner’s policy (BOP), and workers’ comp separately.

• Workers’ comp. Required by state law once you have employees, on thresholds that differ by state; see the requirements table. In Wyoming, accommodation and food services (NAICS 72) are on the list of extrahazardous employment where coverage is compulsory⁠⁴.
• General liability. Rarely a legal requirement, but landlords and lenders commonly demand it in the lease or loan. Check yours for the limit and for additional-insured wording.
• Property and equipment. Covers the building contents, ovens, hoods and walk-in coolers. Required only if a lease or lender says so.
• Liquor liability. Required by some states as a condition of a liquor license, and in any case missing from a standard GL form, as covered below.

What insurers report for restaurants

Every restaurant figure in our dataset is an insurer-reported average. None is a median, and none is an official price.

Insurer- and broker-reported figures from each company’s own customers, as published on its website; not a random sample of all businesses. Figures are rounded as published.

Converted to the same period (our calculation), The Hartford’s GL average is $112.67 a month ($1,352 ÷ 12), ERGO NEXT’s is $245, and The Hartford’s BOP is $413, or $4,956 a year⁠⁶⁠⁷⁠⁸. The BOP figure includes property cover that the GL figures leave out, so it is not comparable to either. The GL figures differ because the customer pools differ: The Hartford’s are its small-business customers with no sample size or date window disclosed, ERGO NEXT’s are active customers who bought GL in the previous 12 months⁠⁶⁠⁸. The Hartford lists location, limits, deductible, claims history and revenue among the factors behind its figures⁠⁶.

ERGO NEXT’s $130 comp figure is for “restaurants and food”, a wider group than restaurants, and the disclosure on that page refers to commercial property buyers, apparently a copy error⁠⁹. Treat it as an indication only.

Before using any of these figures, ask whose customers it describes. A single-location counter-service cafe and a 150-seat bar and grill with a bar program sit in the same average.

Workers’ comp: the official class rates

Restaurants are classed apart from other service work. Ohio has three restaurant-related classes plus a hotel restaurant class, Washington one, and Wyoming prices food service by NAICS code:

Base rates set by the state fund before experience modification. Ohio and Wyoming charge per $100 of payroll; Washington charges per hour worked, and part is withheld from wages. Other states’ insurers file their own rates; see where rates are published.

In context (our calculations from the official schedules):

• Ohio. Fast food (9083, $0.6834) costs 1.28 times the restaurant NOC class (9082, $0.5338) and 14.7 times clerical class 8810 ($0.0466). The restaurant NOC class is 11.5 times the clerical rate. Hotel restaurant employees (9058) are $1.2892, about 2.4 times the stand-alone restaurant NOC rate⁠¹.
• Washington. Class 3905, restaurants and taverns, is $0.5126 for every hour worked in 2026, 2.3 times the clerical class 4904 ($0.2223). Of the 3905 rate, $0.16165 an hour is the employee share that may be withheld from wages⁠³.
• Wyoming. Food services and drinking places (722000) are $1.11 per $100 in 2026, and mobile food services (722330) $0.77⁠⁴. Wyoming’s schedule is NAICS-based, so a catering truck and a bar-and-grill take different lines.

These rates are for state funds. In most other states private insurers apply their own multiplier to bureau loss costs, so the same class code carries different rates by insurer; see where official rates are published and the class code guide.

What the BLS leisure and hospitality figure shows

The BLS June 2026 Employer Costs for Employee Compensation puts workers’ comp for leisure and hospitality at $0.27 per hour worked, against $0.43 for all private industry. As a share of total compensation, though, it is 1.2%, above the 0.9% all-industry figure⁠⁵. Both are true because restaurant compensation per hour is low, so a modest dollar cost is a larger slice of it. The sector includes arts, entertainment and accommodation as well as restaurants, so it is not a restaurant-only number.

Average employer cost per employee hour worked for workers' compensation and for health insurance, averaged across all workers in the group, plus workers' compensation as a percent of total compensation. Group averages mix high- and low-risk jobs, so they are not a premium rate for any single business. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), National Compensation Survey, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private industry workers, released 9 Sep 2026.

Turning a restaurant rate into a premium

Premium is the exposure times the class rate, times your experience modification, plus assessments. These are our calculations with stated assumptions, using official 2026 rates. They are not quotes:

1. Ohio, $400,000 of restaurant payroll

   $400,000 ÷ 100 × $0.5338 = $2,135.20 a year at the base rate. The same payroll classed as fast food costs $2,733.60⁠¹.

2. Washington, eight staff working 1,500 hours each

   12,000 hours × $0.5126 = $6,151.20 a year, of which 12,000 × $0.16165 = $1,939.80 is the worker share that may be deducted from wages⁠³.

3. Wyoming, $400,000 of payroll

   $400,000 ÷ 100 × $1.11 = $4,440 before the employer’s experience factor⁠⁴.

Compare the third result with ERGO NEXT’s $130 a month, or $1,560 a year, for its restaurant and food customers⁠⁹: the two are not comparable, because ERGO NEXT does not disclose its customers’ payroll.

Tips change the payroll base. Under Ohio rule 4123-17-14, for employees who customarily receive tips or gratuities, remuneration includes all actual wages paid and all tips and gratuities⁠². A server paid a tipped-minimum wage plus tips is rated on the total. Rules on tips differ by state and by insurer, so ask your carrier how tips and overtime are treated at audit; see premium audits.

General liability and the BOP

General liability pays for injury to customers and damage to their property, such as a guest who slips on a wet floor or a burn from a hot plate. ISO’s standard GL form excludes liquor liability: injury for which the insured is liable by causing or contributing to intoxication, or by serving a minor or an intoxicated person⁠¹². The BOP bundles GL with property cover, so it costs more than GL alone and answers different claims. For the rating of each, see general liability and business owner’s policy.

Liquor liability when you serve alcohol

State dram shop laws let injured third parties sue the seller of alcohol. Because the GL form excludes that claim⁠¹², restaurants that serve alcohol buy liquor liability separately or as an endorsement. Some states set a minimum as a licensing condition.

One published rate shows how food-to-bar mix drives price. Minnesota’s assigned-risk plan (MJUA), a market of last resort, shows annual rates per $100 of liquor sales at the statutory minimum limits of $3.74 for bars and $1.46 for restaurants where liquor sales are less than food sales, with minimum premiums of $250 to $750 depending on liquor sales. The rate table on its 2025 application form is footnoted “rates effective 4/1/03”⁠¹⁰. On $100,000 of liquor sales that would be $3,740 for a bar and $1,460 for a restaurant (our calculation). It is a Minnesota last-resort rate, not a national price. The liquor liability guide covers state minimums and dram shop rules.

Spoilage, equipment breakdown and the kitchen

Restaurants run on perishable stock and refrigeration. A standard property form does not treat a failed compressor as spoilage by default. ISO’s CP 04 40 spoilage endorsement covers perishable stock lost through a change in temperature or humidity from mechanical breakdown of refrigerating or cooling equipment, and a power outage when selected in the schedule, which can extend to outages off the premises⁠¹¹. Check three things on your policy: whether spoilage is endorsed at all, whether power outage is selected, and the limit against your walk-in inventory. Equipment breakdown, which covers the compressor or other machinery itself, is a separate coverage; see commercial property.

Building a restaurant insurance budget

No published figure gives a restaurant’s total cost, and none can without your payroll, sales, premises and alcohol mix.

1. Split payroll by class

   Kitchen and floor staff go in the restaurant class (fast food in Ohio, if the insurer treats you as such); office staff may go in clerical.

2. Add tips where your state counts them,

   and ask how the insurer handles overtime.

3. Apply the official rate

   in Ohio, Washington or Wyoming. Elsewhere, ask the insurer for the class code, loss cost and multiplier.

4. Price the BOP on your sales and property values

   and ask what the liquor exclusion and spoilage limit are.

5. Price liquor liability on liquor sales,

   with your state’s minimum limit as the floor.

The premium calculation guide explains the arithmetic, and the workers’ comp estimator runs the comp numbers with official rates.

Sources

1. 1
   Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation / Ohio Administrative Code, OAC 4123-17-06, Appendix A: base rates effective July 1, 2026 (private employers) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation / Ohio Administrative Code, OAC 4123-17-14, Reporting of payroll and reconciliation of premium due Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, 2026 hourly rates by risk classification Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' compensation 2026 industry base rates by classification Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   The Hartford, How much does general liability insurance cost? (updated 05/20/2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   The Hartford, Business owner's policy cost (updated 05/20/2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   ERGO NEXT, How much does general liability insurance cost? (data updated April 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   ERGO NEXT, How much does workers' comp insurance cost? (data updated April 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    Minnesota Joint Underwriting Association, Minnesota Liquor Liability Assigned Risk Plan application (2025 rates) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    InsuranceXDate, Form CP 04 40: Spoilage Coverage (ISO commercial property endorsement) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    ISO (copy hosted by Cooper Scully), Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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