Pet Bakery Business Insurance
Getting insurance for your pet bakery is essential.
Pet bakeries need to be protected against things like product liability, false advertising, and health code violations.
For example, just like any food-related business, your pet bakery may be sued if it fails to adhere to food safety regulations.
We’ll help you find the most personalized and affordable coverage for your unique business.
Recommended: Next Insurance is dedicated to matching small businesses with the right policy at the best price.
Best Insurance for a Pet Bakery
General liability insurance is — generally speaking — one of the most important insurance policies for pet bakeries.
Some of the risks general liability insurance covers are:
- Bodily injury
- Property damage
- Medical payments
- Legal defense and judgment
- Personal and advertising injury
Even though general liability is a great policy, it should not be the be-all and end-all of your pet bakery’s protection. Some of the following extra policies are also required:
- Product liability insurance: Protects your business from the financial consequences of lawsuits filed against you due to some harm that one of your products has caused a customer’s pet.
- Workers’ compensation insurance: Protects your employees from the financial consequences of injuries and illnesses acquired while at work.
- Commercial property insurance: If any of your business’s inventory, equipment, or other property is damaged in a covered event, this policy will protect you from the financial consequences of this.
The process of selecting where to buy coverage for your pet bakery is made much simpler when you consider insurance providers as being one of the following two types:
- Traditional brick-and-mortar insurers
- Online insurers
Examining prospective providers with this mindset is immensely useful as it will help you to identify online insurers — which are greatly favored by most businesses due to their far more affordable pricing.
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Cost of General Liability Insurance
On average, pet bakeries in America spend between $300 - $700 per year for $1 million in general liability coverage.
Compare the average cost of general liability insurance for a pet bakery to other professional industries using the graph below.
Several factors will determine the price of your policy. These include your:
- Location
- Deductible
- Number of employees
- Per-occurrence limit
- General aggregate limit
You may be able to acquire general liability insurance at a discounted rate by purchasing it as part of a business owner’s policy (BOP) rather than as a standalone policy.
A BOP is a more comprehensive solution that includes multiple forms of coverage, such as business interruption and property insurance.
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Common Situations That General Liability Insurance May Cover for a Pet Bakery
Example 1: You’ve recently started putting out a water dish for visiting dogs to use while their owners are busy browsing your shelves. After a particularly messy dog uses the water dish, his owner slips and falls on the way out the door. He is seriously injured and upset that no caution sign was set up near the doggy dish. Your general liability policy will likely pay for their medical bills and any of your legal fees if there is a lawsuit.
Example 2: Your marketing team has come up with a great new commercial that is a hit with your customers. Unfortunately, one of your local competitors feels like you’ve libeled their company in the commercial and threatens legal action. Your general liability policy would likely pay for your legal fees and any damages awarded to the other company in a lawsuit.
Example 3: As your regular delivery driver goes to back into your loading dock, your overhead door malfunctions and crushes the back-end of his van. Not only is the vehicle inoperable, but your merchandise is damaged as well. General liability insurance will likely pay for the vehicle repairs and cover your lost inventory as well.
Other Types of Coverage Pet Bakeries Need
While general liability is the most important type of insurance to have, there are several other forms of coverage you should be aware of. Below are some of the most common types of coverage:
Product Liability Insurance
If one of the products you make causes harm to a pet or their owners, you could be held legally responsible. Product liability insurance is designed to help protect your business in the event that you produce a defective or harmful product.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
To protect your employees following a work-related accident or illness, workers’ compensation insurance can cover the cost of their medical bills, disability benefits, and, in extreme cases, death benefits as well. This insurance coverage is typically required by state law for any business with part-time and/or full-time employees.
Commercial Property Insurance
Creating your special pet food items requires a lot of equipment and inventory. If these items were damaged in a fire or other common accident, you could be left to pick up the pieces on your own without proper insurance protection. Commercial property insurance will cover the cost of repairing or replacing these items.
Commercial Umbrella Insurance
There is always the possibility that a lawsuit settlement or accident at your bakery could end up exhausting your primary policy limits. If this happens, you could be left to pay out-of-pocket for any leftover costs without proper backup. Commercial umbrella insurance works to cover expenses above and beyond your primary policy limits in these situations.
Additional Steps To Protect Your Business
Although it’s easy (and essential) to invest in business insurance, it shouldn’t be your only defense.
Here are several things you can do to better protect your pet bakery:
- Use legally robust contracts and other business documents. (We offer free templates for some of the most common legal forms.)
- Set up an LLC or corporation to protect your personal assets. (Visit our step-by-step guides to learn how to form an LLC or corporation in your state.)
- Stay up to date with business licensing.
- Maintain your corporate veil.
Pet Bakery Business Insurance FAQ
Yes, absolutely. You will need to first get a quote from an online business insurance provider like Next Insurance. Next allows you to then purchase a policy immediately and your coverage will be active within 48 hours.
A typical business owner’s policy includes general liability, business interruption, and commercial property insurance. However, BOPs are often customizable, so your agent may recommend adding professional liability, commercial auto, or other types of coverage to your package depending on your company’s needs.
"Business insurance" is a generic term used to describe many different types of coverage a business may need. General liability insurance, on the other hand, is a specific type of coverage that business owners need to protect their assets.
Yes. It is reasonable to expect a pet bakery will be exposed to certain risks from the first day of its operation, which makes business insurance a prerequisite.
Furthermore, this assumes that certain policies are not already a legal prerequisite for your business to be able to operate, which is not always the case. Policies like workers’ compensation and commercial auto insurance are commonly required.
Not necessarily. Certain exceptions may be written directly into your pet bakery insurance policy, and some perils may be entirely uninsurable.
Yes, an LLC is meant to create a legal barrier between your business and your personal assets and credit. If you haven’t formed an LLC yet, use our Form an LLC guide to get started.
An LLC doesn’t protect your business assets from lawsuits and liability– that’s where business insurance comes in. Business insurance helps protect your business from liability and risk.