Tavern insurance is extremely important for any bar owner. It’s not too surprising to learn that bars and taverns have higher premiums and higher rates of accidents than other businesses. The simple explanation is that alcohol greatly increases the odds of an accident or other destructive incident occurring. Tavern insurance protects you from every eventuality and could potentially save your business.
As with any business that has a walk-in locale it’s essential to have general liability insurance. General liability insurance is what protects your business from simple accidents on your premises, for example slips and falls, that cause injuries or property damage. Guess what? People fall over a lot more and get injured when they’re drunk so make sure you’re got comprehensive tavern insurance!
The other major concern for tavern owners is dram shop insurance. This type of tavern insurance is essential for states that have dram shop laws such as Illinois or Wisconsin. Dram shop laws are a real headache for tavern owners; they hold the tavern owner responsible for incidents related to alcohol consumption such as drunk driving, drunken assaults, destruction of property, vandalism, lewd behavior, etc.
In order to reduce your tavern insurance premiums you need to reduce the risk of such incidents. Good ideas include refusing service to people who are already intoxicated, training your staff to deal with intoxicated clients and promoting designated driver programs by offering free soft drinks for example.
Alcohol in general raises the premiums of any business that serves it. One way to reduce your premiums is to reduce your business’ dependence on alcohol related income. Branch out by serving food, games and other wholesome activities. As an added bonus you’ll attract less alcohol oriented clients, which means less fights, accidents and general bad behavior. Drunks tend not to act out as much when they’re surrounded by normal people!
