I’m trying to get a sense of what others are paying for insurance. My partner and I just bought a small bar (under $1 million in annual sales) in a small town in Pennsylvania. The bar does well with food, about 20% of sales, but it’s not a big money maker overall.
We have a Small Business Loan (SBL) for the purchase and are leasing the building. The bar didn’t have insurance before, but we’re now getting quotes of $30k-$40k per year for general liability and property insurance (plus taxes and fees). This does not include liquor liability, which is an additional $25k.
Does that sound in line with what others are paying, or is it high/low? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Pennsylvania is seeing high liquor liability rates due to rising drunk driving cases. That seems high for just general liability/property unless you’re covering the building. Does your lease require $1 million in liquor liability?
Update: We found an agent and ended up getting liquor liability, general liability, and property insurance (with a small residential exposure) for around $40k in total. I’ve learned more since we first got quotes—our bar does about $600k in revenue, mostly from alcohol. That puts us in the ‘nightclub’ category, plus we didn’t have any loss runs since the previous owners went two years without insurance. I think that’s why our rates are so high, despite having RAMP-certified bartenders and clear overserving policies in place.