The Most Common Liability Claims for Bakery Owners

What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself, Your Staff and Your Business

Yum! Who doesn’t love baked goods? According to bakemag.com, the most popular items sold in bakeries are cakes at 24%. For full line retail bakeries, these cake products can be found in their traditional form, by the slice and as cake pops. With new bakery innovations comes new equipment and training which can present new risks and exposures. Running bakeries can be demanding enough, so we at Gild Insurance decided to take researching the most common types of liabilities you do face off your plate.

The Most Common Liability Claims for Bakery Owners

A liability claim occurs when a customer is harmed physically or otherwise due to the fault of the bakery. A part of owning a bakery is experimenting with new tastes and textures but what you shouldn’t experiment with is protecting your business interests and assets. It starts with being informed about what could happen. Below are some examples we’ve prepared for you:

• Slips, Trips and Falls – This is one of the most common injuries that occurs in a bakery. What a beautiful, freshly mopped floor. Jill, your employee, did an amazing job getting it done right before open and the morning rush. Who needs an old “Slippery When Wet” sign? The doors burst open with customers flooding in and one takes a tumble due to the wet floors. What now?
• Falling Objects – With no shortage of shelving in your bakery to show your beautiful pastries off nothing could go wrong, right? Especially since you’ve leaned in to the open shelving trend! As a customer reaches for the top shelf piece they sturdy themselves on another and all comes tumbling down on top of the customer causing an injury. Was this your fault? Either way this is heading to trail, cost of defense can be crushing even if you win.
• Employment Practices – If you have employees, this exposure is ever present. Should a current or former employee accuse you of wrongful termination, discrimination, or workplace harassment and retaliation, it can prove to be very costly.

Business Insurance is Your Friend

If the scenarios we mentioned above made you more than a little concerned about all your potential losses, don’t fret. Everything we listed above was simply meant to outline the most common claims we see in the baked goods industry so that you can do your best to prepare yourself for them.  

To learn more about business insurance risks for small business owners, check out “The Gild Guide: Most Common Small Business Insurance Questions”.
 
Remember, if you need help preparing yourself, your friends at Gild Insurance are never more than a click away. We combine the latest technology with experience to provide business insurance options that fit your business. We help bakery owners like you find the insurance coverages they need!