Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt insurance – cost and coverage

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt insurance must be near the top of the list because you can’t always know exactly what can happen in the future.

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With the protection provided by liability insurance and all the other sorts of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unexpected happens.

Like any business owner, for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt enterprise, you must consider how much financial liability you are taking on.

If your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a tremendous chance not just of losing some money but of a final wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the upshots of their actions. 

Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Insurance

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for startup businesses to explain what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where we can, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business?

What this means, for any Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business owner, is that if some person claims that your work caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business is not protected by laws in the same way as states are, where laws can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like Texas, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a court can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the privilege of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a plaintiff more than they have claimed.

When you are running your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt operations, you can’t deny responsibility for the outcomes of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent beforehand the money necessary to have your business running as an LLC, all of that liability belongs to you alone.

What does Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt insurance protect you from?

For your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business, the most important sorts of insurance are intended to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

As well there are some legal kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will describe the most important points any Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business owner should know when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main categories of insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business is dealing directly with members of the public, and that means you usually have the danger that some accident can happen to them bodily or else something of theirs can be ruined.

In such a case, they can require compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business protects you against claims coming from injury to clients or damage to their property.

It protects your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business from the claims themselves and also to any follow-on court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it can also help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts require proper liability insurance.

The usual level of general liability insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business would be with a upper limit of $1 million for a single submission and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business for them, you can quickly be involved in a law suit.

Even if the case against you is judged in your favor, the cost of defense can be substantial, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Every small Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover a single claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that customers may claim that the results didn’t meet your description of function, or that your recommendation was basically incorrect.

You need to be aware of the specific laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held responsible for results caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any following lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt

Only you can determine exactly how much insurance you must have.

Best advice is to consult with experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for support.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business

Beware! – most policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any happening like theft or accidental damage when the car is being used for business purposes.

The right way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a direct commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial car policies cover the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

In addition, in case of any accident, the truck itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is insured if your truck is involved in a collision.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, mandate this type of insurance.

The necessary value of the insurance depends on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your requested level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business needs specialized and costly equipment, you will realize how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The gear may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unexpected acts.

In addition, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can wipe-out your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such unique gear quickly out of your own pocket, you should have full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy any equipment needed to keep your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business running.

It is impossible to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s really dependent on how much you have invested in your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business that owns or rents space in a building must have a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the property, you probably have a substantial capital investment, along with a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Every physical building location must carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against accidental occurrences like fire and storms, and against criminal damages like theft and vandalism.

If your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business deals in areas of high risk, like Texas or North Carolina, additional coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Rhode Island, where intense cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business premises, there is a need for more supplementary cover than in warmer climes.

Because the level of cover depends mainly on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt insurance section below to give some indication of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business

Is your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business fluctuating?

Using short-term insurance makes perfect sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt – are special policies where you can cover a designated period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having lower premiums but still having identical risk cover.

The key feature of short-term insurance is that you purchase the cover for a defined period – a designated date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of better business activity, get the existing cover improved.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy BOP for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business

You have the choice to combine most of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP merges commercial property and public liability insurance by incorporating these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will shield you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is mostly the right choice for small and medium-sized Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt businesses, such as yours.

There are a few limits that will determine whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs do not cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle policies.

Also, the size of your business will determine whether you are eligible to take out BOP cover.

The typical business that is eligible for a BOP policy must have no more than one hundred employees, and under five million dollars in annual turnover.

Plus, you must separately take out the required worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business employees

In almost all states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the business against any costs that arise if a worker experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits include medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s requirements in this regard can leave you as the employer required to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only authorize coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you can’t take out your workers compensation obligations from private insurance corporations.

Workers compensation charges are calculated based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must refer to the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt insurance requirement is unique, there are enough examples of standard quotes from insurance companies for us to give approximate guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with a broker what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have researched for the main types of insurance your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
Equipment insurance $405 – $1003
Product liability insurance $277 – $567
Commercial vehicle insurance $1651 – $2569
Public liability insurance $388 – $542
General liability insurance $711 – $928
Commercial insurance $1168 – $2361

Cost of insurance for your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt operations depends on many different factors.

We have calculated these figures for small freelance Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt businesses.

In larger states like New York, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, but in smaller states like New Mexico, they can be about 20%-30% cheaper.

The location and size and type of your Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should discuss with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

As well you can let the internet do the work for you by enquiring about insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another useful source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your suburb.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt operations?

This is an umbrella term used to describe standard insurance policies designed to protect Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business have to have insurance?

Some of the kinds of insurance are not mandatory for you to operate your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Several other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides insurance against lawsuits or claims filed by a customer for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The precise cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the recommended policies for Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt insurance.

How much will Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt business insurance cost?

On top of the size of the business, some other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should consult with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

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