While your restaurant might have general liability insurance, it won’t cover everything. That’s particularly true when it comes to liquor liabilities. Even so, clients that consume your alcohol pose a risk to themselves, others and the business. You will therefore benefit from enrolling in liquor liability insurance. Why do you need to carry coverage?
Why Liquor Liabilities Exist
It is no big surprise that drinking liquor will intoxicate the consumer. And when someone becomes intoxicated, they pose a risk to themselves and others.
Even if your restaurant is not a bar or tavern, or even if you serve only limited alcohol selections on your premises, you still serve it. Therefore, you could contribute to someone’s becoming drunk. They then might no longer have the judgement to avoid making bad decisions.
If a harmful accident occurs because of such a mistake, then your business could share in that blame. You might face significant losses should lawsuits or other challenges arise. To clean up the mess, you might only be able to rely on liquor liability coverage.
Why You Need Insurance
Let’s say that you serve a patron in your bar. They then proceed to become mildly intoxicated.
After finishing at the bar, the patron leaves, gets into their car and drives away. However, they no longer have the presence of mind to make good driving choices. They have a lower response time, and less reflex control. While on the road, they veer across the center lane and have a head-on collision with another car. The resulting damage and injuries might cost thousands of dollars.
Because you served the drunk driver the liquor that made them drunk, you might very well face some of the blame. The other driver who got hurt in the accident, might decide to sue you. The resulting proceedings might bring significant reputational and financial harm to the restaurant.
Liquor liability insurance might be the only way you can afford to respond to such claims. A general liability policy might only pay for damages or injuries to customers.
A liquor liability policy, however, can apply to the harm you indirectly cause to others. In the case of the intoxicated patron’s wreck, this policy might come into play. It can help you afford to respond to damage claims and reach legal settlements if necessary.
Still, regardless of whether you have liquor liability insurance, you still must take responsibility for your actions. If you sell liquor, you must do so responsibly. Only serve clients who can legally drink, first of all. Additionally, you usually have a right to refuse service if someone gets too intoxicated. With careful oversight, you can protect both the business and others from the risk of alcohol.
Learn more about protecting your restaurant by talking to one of our insurance agents at 708-423-2350.
Also Read: Protecting the Costly Liquor in Your Restaurant