Restaurant, Café and Pub Insurance Ireland: Cover and Costs

What insurance does a restaurant, café or pub need in Ireland?

An Irish restaurant, café or pub normally needs a combined hospitality policy built on four pillars: public liability, for customers injured on the premises; employers’ liability, once you have any staff, including casual and part-time; property and contents cover for the building, fit-out, kitchen equipment and stock; and business interruption, which replaces lost income while you cannot trade. Licensed premises usually add cover tied to the licence itself, and most operators also carry money, glass, food spoilage and legal expenses cover.

Everything after that is a question of your particular risk: whether you have a kitchen or just a coffee machine, whether you serve alcohol late, whether you own or lease the building, and whether you deliver, cater off-site or run outdoor seating.

Why is hospitality treated differently from other business insurance?

Insurers underwrite hospitality as a higher-hazard trade, for understandable reasons. You invite large numbers of the public onto your premises, some of them drinking. You run open flames, hot oil, gas and refrigeration. You handle food that can make someone ill. You employ young and seasonal staff working fast in confined spaces. And you often trade late, when the risk profile changes again.

So underwriters ask about things a shop or office never would: your extraction and duct cleaning records, fryer and gas certification, CCTV coverage, closing times, whether you host live music, and how you manage the smoking area and outdoor seating. It also means the quality of your risk management genuinely moves your premium. A café with documented cleaning schedules, a proper accident book, trained staff and current service certificates is a different proposition to one without, and tends to be treated as one.

What does each cover actually do?

The table below sets out the main covers in a hospitality package and what each is for. Not every business needs every line, and the wording varies between insurers, so treat this as a map rather than a policy schedule.

Cover	What it protects	Typically essential for
Public liability	Compensation and legal costs when a customer or other third party is injured or their property is damaged	Every restaurant, café and pub
Employers’ liability	Claims from staff injured or made ill through their work	Anyone with employees, including part-time and casual
Products liability	Illness or injury caused by food or drink you have served	Any premises serving food or beverages
Buildings and contents	The premises, fit-out, furniture, kitchen equipment and fixtures	Owners; tenants for their fit-out and contents
Stock and food spoilage	Food, drink and cellar stock, including loss from refrigeration breakdown or power failure	Kitchens, cellars and anywhere holding chilled stock
Business interruption	Lost gross profit and ongoing costs while you cannot trade after an insured event	Almost all hospitality businesses
Money and assault	Cash on the premises, in transit and at the bank, plus injury to staff during a robbery	Cash-handling premises, especially late trading
Glass and signage	Shopfront glazing, display cabinets, mirrors and external signs	Premises with significant glass frontage
Loss of licence	Loss of value and income if a liquor licence is lost through no fault of the licence holder	Licensed premises
Legal expenses	Defence costs for employment disputes, contract issues and regulatory matters	Most operators with staff

Where do hospitality operators most often find a gap?

Three gaps come up repeatedly. The first is business interruption set too short: a twelve-month indemnity period sounds generous until a serious kitchen fire shows that sourcing equipment, agreeing a rebuild and getting back to pre-loss trading takes longer than a year. Many hospitality businesses are better served by a longer period.

The second is under-insurance of the fit-out. Commercial kitchens, bar fittings and interiors are expensive to replace at current costs, and a sum insured set when you opened may bear little relation to a rebuild today. If it is materially too low, an insurer may reduce a claim payment proportionately — often called average.

The third is activity drift. A café adding evening supper clubs, a pub adding a food offering, a restaurant starting outside catering or delivery — each changes the risk and each must be told to the insurer. Cover assumes the business described in the proposal, not the business it has quietly become.

What does restaurant, café and pub insurance cost in Ireland?

There is no meaningful average premium for hospitality, and any figure quoted as one should be treated with suspicion. The range across a small suburban coffee shop and a large late-trading licensed premises with a full kitchen is very wide, because the underlying risks are genuinely very different.

What we can be clear about is what drives the number. Insurers look at turnover and wage roll, since both scale the exposure; at the trade itself, because coffee and cold food is not the same risk as a deep-fat fryer and a food-led pub is not a late bar; at the premises, including construction, age, location, alarm and suppression systems and whether there is residential accommodation above; and at your claims history, usually the single most influential factor after size.

The practical consequence is that two premises on the same street can be quoted very differently, and that presenting your business well matters. A clear, accurate submission with documented controls, service certificates and a tidy claims narrative gives an underwriter reasons to price you keenly; a thin one invites caution, and caution costs money.

How can a hospitality business manage its premium?

The levers that tend to work are unglamorous but real:

• Keep certification current — gas, electrical, fire alarm, extinguishers, extraction duct cleaning — and produce it at renewal.
• Record and investigate incidents properly; a well-kept accident book helps defend weak claims and settle genuine ones sooner.
• Fix recurring hazards: wet floors, poor lighting on steps, trailing leads, uneven surfaces in smoking areas and beer gardens.
• Train staff and keep records, particularly on food safety, manual handling and responsible service of alcohol.
• Review sums insured yearly against real rebuild and replacement costs rather than rolling last year’s figures forward.
• Start the renewal conversation several weeks out, so there is time to market the risk properly.

What about claims — how does the Irish system work?

Most personal injury claims in Ireland go first to the Injuries Resolution Board, the statutory body previously known as PIAB, which assesses claims without litigation where both sides agree to that route. Awards are assessed by reference to the Personal Injuries Guidelines, which set out ranges for different injury types and were introduced to bring greater consistency to compensation levels. If a claim is not resolved there, it can proceed to court.

From the operator’s point of view, the important things are procedural. Report any incident to your insurer promptly, even one that looks minor and even if no claim has been mentioned — late notification is a common way cover is jeopardised. Preserve the evidence: CCTV footage is often overwritten within weeks, and a clip that would have resolved a disputed slip is then simply gone. Take photographs, note witnesses, and do not admit liability at the scene. Working with a broker means someone is advocating on your behalf throughout.

Should you use a broker for hospitality cover?

Hospitality is a specialised class, and not every insurer writes it — appetite for late-night licensed trade in particular varies from one insurer to another and shifts over time. A broker who places this business regularly knows which markets are open to your kind of premises and where the wordings differ on the points that matter: indemnity periods, spoilage triggers and conditions attaching to fryers, extraction and alarm systems.

Breeze Insurance works with a panel of leading Irish insurers and can approach several of them on your behalf with a single, properly prepared submission. You can read more about our wider business insurance offering, and if you also run vehicles for deliveries or supplies, our van insurance pages cover that side of it.

The bottom line

Restaurants, cafés and pubs carry a distinctive mix of public, employee, food and property risk, and are underwritten accordingly. Build cover around public liability, employers’ liability, products liability, property and business interruption, then add the hospitality-specific lines — spoilage, money, glass and, for licensed premises, loss of licence — that match how you actually trade. Set your sums insured and indemnity period against today’s costs rather than the day you opened, keep certification and incident records in order, and tell your insurer when the business changes. Those habits do more for both your protection and your premium than shopping on price alone ever will.

If you would like your hospitality cover reviewed ahead of renewal, talk to Breeze Insurance on 0818 700 300 or request a free quote and we will come back to you.

Frequently asked questions

Is public liability insurance compulsory for a restaurant in Ireland?

Public liability insurance is not compulsory by statute in Ireland, but in practice it is unavoidable for hospitality. Landlords, shopping centres, franchisors, event organisers and local authorities routinely require evidence of it, and trading without it exposes the business owner personally to the cost of a customer injury claim.

Do I need employers’ liability insurance for part-time or casual staff?

Yes. Employers’ liability cover is normally arranged for anyone working for you, including part-time, casual, seasonal and student staff. Hospitality relies heavily on this kind of employment, so it should be assumed to be needed from the first person you take on rather than at some later headcount.

Does business insurance cover food poisoning claims?

Claims that a customer was made ill by food or drink you served generally fall under products liability, usually included within a combined hospitality package alongside public liability. Cover depends on the wording and on your compliance with food safety obligations, so confirm the position with your broker rather than assuming.

What is loss of licence cover and do I need it?

Loss of licence cover applies to licensed premises and responds where a liquor licence is lost or not renewed through circumstances outside the licence holder’s control, compensating for the fall in the value of the premises and, depending on the wording, lost income. Where a substantial part of a pub’s turnover and value rests on the licence, it is normally core rather than optional.

Am I covered for outdoor seating and a smoking area?

Outdoor areas usually fall within your public liability cover, but they must be disclosed, and insurers may attach conditions around lighting, surfaces, heaters, canopies and supervision. Outdoor structures and furniture also need to be reflected in your property sums insured, since they are frequently overlooked when the schedule is put together.

Does my policy cover me if I close for a refurbishment?

Not automatically. Closing the premises, and building work in particular, changes the risk materially and must be notified in advance. Policies commonly contain conditions about unoccupied premises and contractors on site, and cover can be restricted if the insurer is not told, so raise a planned refurbishment before work starts.

Breeze Insurance Ltd. is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Registered in the Republic of Ireland with registration number 109879 and registered address at 38/39 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2, D02 NX53. Director: Colin Long.