Tristate Business Insurance Blog

The greatest risk for a bar or night club owner is the risk of a one size fits all insurance policy. As a bar or night club, there are certainly inherent risks that are unique to your industry.

Assault and battery, crime, and liquor liability are some of the risks you face. But when you stage live music, you have some even greater risks. Your insurance policy should be made for you with no excess, and no gaps, your business needs a comprehensive insurance solution that addresses your real risks.

Taverns, bars and night clubs need coverage for exposure due to live music. Contact TriState Business Insurance for the following:

• Musical instruments, entertainment equipment, sound and lighting, audio visual equipment, film and video equipment, insurance against accidental loss or damage, theft, and fire.
• Public liability for performers and bands and staff, concerts, corporate and private functions, dance parties, dance and drama schools and childrens entertainers.
• Event Cancellation, non-appearance and weather insurance.
• Personal accident insurance for entertainers, musicians and voluntary workers.

Most people use a car to get to work, but what if you have drivers and cars for work. Delivery drivers and businesses have special auto insurance needs.

Personal auto insurance will not cover your employees who use their own cars to deliver pizzas or flowers.Only commercial auto policies cover cars used for commercial purposes.  Personal insurance policies do not cover cars that are used for business purposes unless they are insured for that purpose.
 
A commercial auto insurance policy is needed if:

• If a vehicle is driven for business purposes, for delivery or good or transporting people, your business needs commercial auto insurance.
• If your vehicles are rented out for compensation
• If a your vehicles are used to meet clients or to transport employees.

• Physical damage or loss of catering items
• Damage to your business premises 
• Theft or vandalism of your catering vehicles
• Protection from food poisoning related to food you provide
• Auto insurance for your delivery vehicles
• Losses incurred by illness or unforeseen circumstances

Responsible restaurants, pubs and bars are insured for liability from injuries or lawsuits from customers, but they certainly have “Revenue Loss” Exposure from potential Food Borne Illness Outbreaks.

TriState Business Insurance has been underwriting business interruption insurance and extra expense coverage for food borne illnesses for restaurants and bars.

Restaurants and bars and other businesses in the hospitality industry are vulnerable when it comes to food borne illness.  Regardless of how food borne illness outbreaks are initiated, the results are devastating.  Business Interruption Insurance or Food Borne Liability is what your business needs.

If customer stop coming and revenue drops, how will your business pay for the expenses that continue?  In the absence of physical damage standard Commercial Insurance Policies may not help. Restaurants and other businesses in the hospitality industry need Business Interruption Insurance or Food Borne Illness Coverage.

Contact TriState Insurance for more information on how we can help your business.

Umbrella liability insurance is also known as business umbrella insurance or commercial umbrella insurance for small businesses. Commercial Umbrella provides additional protection when your existing liability insurance policies cannot cover all expenses.

Umbrella liability insurance protects you when accidents happen. When serious situations arise, umbrella liability or excess liability policies add another layer of protection to other insurance policies such as general liability. Umbrella liability insurance will help ensure that your business is protected. Unfortunately, accidents to happen.

Umbrella liability insurance is generally the most affordable way to get higher policy limits on small business insurance policies.

Contact TriState Business Insurance for more information on how Umbrella Liability Insurance can help your business.

Chances are that as a bar, nightclub or pub owner, you have business insurance coverage including general liability,  property and liquor. But are you covered for all the potential exposure? What about your bouncers?

You have to admit, Virginia, Maryland and DC have some hot spots for nightlife. The nightlife business is big business. In D.C. alone patrons can pay $10 or more for a drink; bars and clubs can be big money spots, or so your patrons can believe.

When starting or running a bar or night club, there are many risks and liabilities that need to be considered very carefully.
 
Tristate Insurance has the experience to make sure your bar, pub or nightclub has the proper insurance coverage. The potential liability exposure needs to be brought down to a minimum, the potential risk needs to be controlled; there are a many consideration to take into account.
 
Contact Tristate Insurance for a consultation with one of our insurance professionals. It’s the best place to start to protect your business.

If your business deals with alcohol; manufactures, serves or sells it, you need liquor liability insurance. Liquor liability insurance is business insurance that protects your business against loss or damages as a result of claims against your business.

Most often of course, these claims are a result of an intoxicated customer of your business injuring themselves or others. Damages in these suits can be very high, and often business lack the right amount of coverage, exposing themselves to high liability. You may need this additional coverage if your business manufactures, sells, or serves alcohol.

You can buy liquor liability coverage as a separate liability policy or as an add-on to your commercial liability insurance. Keep in mind, that if you do not buy liquor liability, your standard liability coverage does not protect your business.

Rates for this insurance are based on the type of business, the location, and the business record.

While Virginia and Maryland are two of the few states that do not operate with Dram Shop Laws, your business, if it serves alcohol should have liquor liability.  DC does have Dram Shop Liability, and if your business serves alcohol, Liquor Liability insurance is a must.

The hurricane has passed; overall, damage was not as bad as expected. While many business owners dodged a bullet, others were not so lucky. Insured damage from Irene will range between $2 billion and $3 billion, and the total losses will likely be about $7 billion, according to preliminary estimates by Kinetic Analysis Corp. a consulting firm.

Both figures are less than had been feared, a bit of reassuring news for a fragile economy. However that is $4-5 million in uninsured loss; so the news isn’t that reassuring to the businesses who have to figure out how to cover that loss.
 
Also, the long-term costs of Irene will likely grow as storm-ravaged areas deal with lost business, insurance claims, dislocated workers and transportation disruptions. These costs will take months to fully calculate.

The preliminary estimate from Kinetic Analysis, based in Maryland, suggests that Irene will have caused far less insured damage than the $6 billion the industry paid out after Hurricane Isabel struck the East Coast in 2003.

Information from insurancenews.net

With the recent Earthquake in Virginia and now a hurricane on the way, it is easy to see how anything can happen. As business owners, you need to “hope for the best and plan for the worst”. Certainly, you don’t want to expect that the worst can happen, however, you need to be prepared if it does.

Small business owners need to be sure that their interest are covered and protected. As a business owner, protect yourself with business liability insurance and workers compensation insurance coverage. But, as a business owner, you don’t just need the insurance; you need the service that should come along with it.

Tristate Insurance teams with business owners from all industries to protect your business and your livelihood. We design custom business insurance solutions that provide business owners in VA, MD and DC with both comprehensive and affordable business insurance coverage. 

The mission of TriState Business Insurance is to provide outstanding service and superior coverage to each and every one of our clients. Contact us to see how we can better insure your business.

There are a lot of entrepreneurs out there. Many of you who have started your own business had a great idea and have made that into a profitable enterprise. Small Business Insurance is designed to protect you as you figure out how to run your business.

Many small business owners think that having business insurance is too costly for their business. The fact is that not having business insurance may lead to expenses far beyond your annual premium. Imagine your business facing an unexpected risk like fire, theft, employee injury or even a customer’s injury, without having the proper business insurance coverage. The expenses of these claims could potentially put the uninsured (or under insured) owner out of business. Having business insurance is a must have for any business, no matter how small the business is.

Tristate Business Insurance can customize a small business package just for you. Let Tristate Business Insurance take care of you while you take care of your business.