Who asks for what
Restaurants collect certificate requests from more directions than most small businesses:
| Who | What they usually want to see |
|---|---|
| Landlord | General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements, workers' compensation, sometimes an umbrella |
| Liquor licensing authority | Liquor liability at a minimum limit set by the state or municipality |
| Delivery and ordering platforms | General liability, commercial auto or hired/non-owned auto for drivers, sometimes cyber |
| Event and catering clients | General liability and liquor liability naming the venue, commercial auto for the catering vehicle |
| Franchisor | The franchise agreement's schedule, usually general liability, property, workers' compensation, EPLI and an umbrella |
The pattern: each party cares about the risk they are exposed to. Tick the list above against who you work with, not against a generic "restaurant insurance" bundle.
How to check what you already have
Pull out the declarations page of each policy, the first page or two that lists the named insured, policy number, policy period, forms and limits.
- Find the line of coverage. A business owner's policy shows both a liability section and a property section. A standalone general liability policy shows only liability limits.
- Look for liquor. On a BOP or GL dec page, liquor liability appears as its own line with its own limit, or as a listed endorsement form. If neither is there, you are relying on an exclusion not applying, and it usually does apply.
- Check the auto situation. Hired and non-owned auto shows up as an endorsement on the liability policy. Owned vehicles need a commercial auto policy with the vehicle listed.
- Match the limits to the asks. Leases and platform agreements state limits per occurrence and in aggregate. Your dec page states yours. They should be at least equal.
- Confirm the dates. Every policy has an expiration; the earliest one is your next deadline.
Bringing the dec pages into a wallet does these five checks for you and keeps doing them as the pages change.
What usually goes wrong
- Liquor is assumed, not bought. The most common gap we see at the first upload.
- Delivery drivers on personal auto. Fine until a claim exceeds the driver's limits.
- The first hire. Workers' compensation becomes a legal requirement in most states as soon as there is an employee; the threshold and the penalties are state-specific, so check the state page rather than a rule of thumb.
- Spoilage. Not required by anyone, and the most-regretted omission after an outage.
- Certificates that expired. A PDF from last year still looks official. Holders notice when the claim comes.
Renewal timing
Restaurant policies tend to renew together because they were bought together. Put the earliest expiration in the wallet and start comparing sixty days before it. That is enough time for carriers to quote, for you to compare line by line, and for a switch to take effect on the renewal date with no gap.