Insurance for restaurants
Running a restaurant means a full room, a hot kitchen, and a lot of people on your premises. If a customer is hurt, made ill, or something of theirs is damaged, Insify's restaurant insurance covers what you owe them.
Public Liability from €7.55 per month, with cover limits up to €6.5 million per claim.
Business insurance, done differently.
Fully online business insurance in Ireland.
A few questions and you're covered.
No lock-in, no long contracts.
Excess from €0, up to €6.5 million of cover.
Why take out business insurance as a restaurant owner?
A guest is hurt in your restaurant. Between the dining room and the pass, someone can trip, be burned by a hot plate, or react to an allergen.
Something you served makes people ill. A supplier's error, a broken cold chain or a mislabelled dish can affect several guests at once, takeaway orders included.
You damage property that isn't yours. A neighbouring unit, your landlord's building, or a venue you're catering in.
What is Public Liability insurance?
Your public liability insurance protects you and your business when you, your employees or your products accidentally cause harm to a third party; whether that's injury to someone or damage to their property. So when a claim lands, you pay your excess and your policy covers the rest, up to the cover amount you chose.
How does it work?
You tell us your activities and choose your cover amount and excess. If an accident during your work injures someone or damages their property, your policy covers the third-party claim and your defence costs.
Cover that fits your work
Public Liability adapts to what you actually do, on your own premises, serving the public, or supplying food to take away. You select your activities when you apply, so the policy matches your real day-to-day risks.
Is Public Liability insurance mandatory in Ireland?
Public Liability isn't required by law in Ireland. However, clients, venues, landlords and local authorities often make it a condition of working with you, especially where the public is involved. It matters most for public-facing work such as restaurants and food service, where guests are on your premises every day. Get your cover from €7.55 per month with Insify.
What does our restaurant insurance cover?
Who you are covered against: Claims brought by third parties, meaning your guests, your neighbours, a landlord or a venue. Injury to a guest and damage to someone else's property both sit here, along with the cost of defending the claim.
Cover amount: Choose €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim, with twice that amount available across a policy year. €2.5 million is the default.
Your excess: The excess is the part of a claim you pay yourself. You pick it when you apply, and a higher excess lowers your premium. On a €6,000 claim with a €500 excess you pay €500 and we pay €5,500.
Cover for your staff, if you need it: Employers' Liability can be added for claims brought by an employee who is injured at work, up to €13 million per claim. Optional, and available once you have people on the payroll.
Property in your care: Third-party objects and sites can be added for damage to premises or items belonging to someone else while they are in your care, up to €5,000 per claim. Optional.
Who can apply: Restaurants with turnover up to €10 million and up to 30 people.
What's covered
Restaurant operations and food service
Takeaway food service
Use of land, buildings or premises for the insured activity
Participation in or execution of business trips
Matters under supervision (such as matters from customers that are processed for repair work)
Dark kitchen (place where food is prepared exclusively for online ordering and/or home delivery, without seating)
Cover and exclusions shown are indicative and non-contractual. Only the terms of your policy apply.
Some examples
Eight guests at a private function fall ill after a service, and they hold your restaurant responsible for the compensation and the medical costs.
A guest slips on a wet floor beside the service station and fractures a wrist, and claims against you for the injury and lost earnings.
A fire that starts in your kitchen spreads into the unit next door, and your neighbour claims against you for the damage to their property.
Eight guests at a private function fall ill after a service, and they hold your restaurant responsible for the compensation and the medical costs.
A guest slips on a wet floor beside the service station and fractures a wrist, and claims against you for the injury and lost earnings.
A fire that starts in your kitchen spreads into the unit next door, and your neighbour claims against you for the damage to their property.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.
Your business insurance with Insify SmartGuide
Taking out insurance can be quick. Making sure you have the right cover is another matter. With Insify SmartGuide, you don't sign a contract blindly. You ask all your questions, and get clear, immediate and personalised answers, before you take out a policy.
Are you covered if you accidentally damage a client's equipment while working?
What excess should you choose?
Are you protected in the event of a dispute with a client?
Insify SmartGuide guides you step by step to understand what's covered, what isn't, and why. In just a few clicks, you build insurance that's truly tailored to your business, with complete confidence. Try Insify SmartGuide. Understand your insurance before you need it.
How to choose the right insurance as a restaurant owner?
Choosing well means weighing up a handful of things that matter more in food service than they do elsewhere.
Criteria to compare:
The cover offered: Check that the policy matches the real risks of your work. Table service, counter service, takeaway and off-site catering are different risks, and every one of them needs to be declared. Damage cover concerns property belonging to other people, such as a neighbouring unit or a venue you work in.
The price: Compare premiums, but prioritise cover that fits the fitness industry. An attractive price can hide exclusions that matter for your activity.
The excess: Know what stays at your own expense when a claim happens, because it changes both your premium and what a small claim is actually worth to you.
The exclusions: Watch for activities you never declared, a service model that has quietly changed, and any claim you already knew about before you took cover.
The service: Choose an insurer you can reach and that knows food service. At Insify, our online support team knows the specifics of your work.
Mistakes to avoid: Do not settle for a generic business policy that was never written with a kitchen and a dining room in mind, and do not leave a side of the business undeclared because it only started recently. To secure your business today, discover our Public Liability insurance.
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs trust us
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Answers to your questions about restaurant insurance in Ireland
Public Liability for restaurants starts at €7.55 per month with Insify. What you actually pay depends on your turnover, how many people you employ, the cover amount you pick, and the excess you accept. A small counter-service operation with no employees sits near the bottom of the range; a larger dining room with staff and off-site catering sits higher. You will see your own price before you commit, and there is no long-term contract, so you can cancel any day.
Public liability isn't required by law in Ireland. In practice the people who let you trade usually insist on it. Landlords make it a condition of the lease. Shopping centres and food halls ask for proof before you open. Local authorities ask when you apply for a street furniture licence or a market pitch. A corporate client booking a private function will often want a certificate. With guests on your premises every day, you'll be asked for it sooner rather than later.
Yes, that is the core of what it does. If a guest is injured on your premises through something your business did or failed to do, and they hold you responsible, Public Liability meets the compensation and the cost of defending the claim, up to the cover amount you chose. A slip near the service station and a scald from a plate or a drink are both third-party injury claims. You pay your excess and the policy covers the rest. What it does not do is cover injury to you or to your own staff: claims brought by an employee need Employers' Liability, which you can add to the policy.
Employers' liability covers a claim from an employee injured at work. It's an optional addition to your public liability policy rather than a separate product, and it covers up to €13 million per claim. You need it if you employ anyone, including part-time and casual floor and kitchen staff. Kitchens concentrate exactly the hazards these claims come from: heat, knives, wet floors and long shifts under pressure. Public liability won't respond to an employee's claim, so if you have anyone on the payroll, this is the cover that does.