Insurance costs for our bar – is this normal?

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.

We do around $300k in annual sales with no food sales. We pay $15k per year for general liability and property insurance. This is in Washington state.

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?

DM me if you want a quote from an independent insurance broker. I’m based in New England, but we also write policies in PA.

Find a broker and go through them. It can make a big difference.

We do around $2 million in sales and pay $49k annually, including liquor liability.

That sounds higher than average. I’d shop around.

We’ve got two bars with similar numbers. Erie dropped our policy, and we’re now looking at about $13k per year.

$6,200 a year in Louisiana for $1 million in general liability. We do around $300k in annual revenue.

Haru said:
$6,200 a year in Louisiana for $1 million in general liability. We do around $300k in annual revenue.

We’re similar in Oregon—$200k in revenue, $6k for $1 million general/liquor liability. No food, just beer and wine.

@Blake
Wow, yeah, our quote seems super high in comparison. I don’t know why.

Haru said:
$6,200 a year in Louisiana for $1 million in general liability. We do around $300k in annual revenue.

In Minnesota, we pay around $13k total for property, general liability, and liquor liability. We do about $300k in revenue.

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.