Foodborne Illness Insurance + TTB Enforcement + Joint Employment + No-Match Letters

Up to 90 percent of U.S. restaurants lack proper insurance coverage, exposing them to significant risk in the event of a foodborne illness outbreak. According to a study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a single foodborne outbreak could cost a restaurant millions of dollars in lost revenue, fines, lawsuits, legal fees, insurance premium increases. And that doesn’t even include damage to a restaurant’s reputation.

Unfortunately, for decades, restaurants of all sizes including diners, food trucks, cafes and many others that sell prepared, non-packaged food, have not had access to the proper insurance when it comes to legal and financial exposures regarding foodborne illness events.

Despite the industry’s seeming lack of preparedness, foodborne illness is nothing new. Perhaps the most prominent foodborne illness outbreak occurred at Jack in the Box locations back in 1994, killing four children and hospitalizing more than 170 people. Jack in the Box recovered, but it weathered the storm with the backing of major corporate resources.

Of course, not every restaurant and food service provider has this kind of financial backing. So why aren’t restaurants concerned about lacking significant coverage to protect themselves in the event of an outbreak? Without supplemental insurance that covers foodborne illness, restaurants truly risk it all.