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Catering insurance is for businesses that cook for other people’s events: weddings, office lunches, functions and private parties, from a commercial kitchen or a food van. It answers claims that your food made guests sick, damage your staff cause at a venue, spoiled stock after a fridge or power failure and equipment lost in transit. Fortis Risk Solutions arranges annual cover for caterers from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn and reads your venue contracts before setting the limits.
What Catering Insurance Covers
Catering insurance covers food liability, stock, equipment and your kitchen for businesses that cook for events, offices and functions. The risk that follows a caterer everywhere is the food itself. One tray of undercooked chicken at a wedding can make dozens of guests sick, and each of them may claim against the business that supplied the meal.
In Victoria, every business that prepares, sells or serves food is regulated by its local council under the Food Act 1984 and must register or notify. Fixed kitchens register with the council. Temporary and mobile premises, including food vans that cater, use FoodTrader, the statewide system that replaced Streatrader. Your council also sets your class, and all class 1 and most class 2 premises need a food safety supervisor.
Much of the risk sits away from your own kitchen. Chafing dishes, urns and portable cool rooms move between venues and get damaged in the van. Your staff work in kitchens you do not control, where a dropped tray or a burn can damage the venue or injure a guest. That is a public liability insurance claim, and venues usually ask to see the certificate before you arrive.
Fortis Risk Solutions arranges catering insurance from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn, and our team can explain it in Mandarin. We ask how many functions you cater a year, the largest guest count, where you cook, how food travels and whether you serve alcohol. Then we set the products liability limit to suit the contracts you sign. Catering sits within our hospitality insurance work.
Who this covers
Businesses in this group include:
- Wedding and event caterers
- Corporate and office catering businesses
- Caterers cooking from a commercial or shared kitchen
- Food vans and trucks that cater private functions
- Restaurants and cafes with a regular catering arm
- Grazing table, platter and canape businesses
If your business is not listed, ask us. The sections below are the starting point for any caterer in the group.
Catering Insurance: Cover Sections and Benefits
Catering Insurance FAQs
Public and products liability, cover for your kitchen and equipment, equipment in transit, spoiled stock and loss of income. Most caterers take the property and income sections as a business insurance pack. Business interruption insurance in that pack can pay wages and fixed costs if a kitchen fire stops you cooking for weeks. Liability is then added at the limit your contracts require.
It can be. Claims that your food made someone ill usually fall under the products liability section, depending on the policy wording and the food safety steps you declare. Our product liability insurance page explains how that section works. Insurers will ask about your food safety program, temperature records and allergen controls, so keep them up to date.
No. FRS arranges annual cover for businesses that cater regularly, because a catering business carries its limits, stock, equipment and contracts across a full year of functions. If you run a restaurant and cater occasionally, your restaurant insurance can often be extended to off-site functions. Tell us how often you cater and we will check the wording.
Injury or damage your staff cause to the venue or its guests can fall under public liability. Injuries to your own staff are a workers compensation matter, which sits outside a liability policy. Many venues ask to be noted on your certificate of currency, and some contracts ask you to cover the venue's own losses. Send us the contract before you sign.
A deterioration of stock section can pay for food spoiled by a refrigeration breakdown or a power outage, depending on the wording. Outages caused away from your premises often carry a separate limit or a waiting period. For a caterer holding stock for a large function, set the limit for your fullest week. Our guide to spoiled stock after a power outage walks through a claim.
Wordings for caterers insurance differ on off-site work, food liability, stock in transit and hired equipment. FRS helps you disclose your activities accurately, structure limits around your contracts, compare specialist insurers and act as your advocate at claim time. Catering is part of our business insurance range, so your kitchen, vans and liability can renew together.
Talk to a broker about Catering Insurance
Call 03 7046 3766 on weekdays between 9:30am and 6pm, email admin@fortisrisksolutions.com.au, or send an enquiry and a broker from our Box Hill or Hawthorn office will come back to you about catering insurance. Tell us what the business does and what the lease or contract asks for, and we take it from there.