Ghost kitchens in Maryland typically need general and product liability for food made for delivery apps, hired and non-owned auto for any driving done for the business, property and spoilage coverage for the kitchen, and workers’ compensation, which Maryland requires once you have even one employee. Tenants in shared commissaries also need certificates that satisfy the facility operator’s lease.
This page is for delivery-only operators in Maryland: a single virtual brand working out of a leased commissary bay, an existing restaurant running app-only concepts after the dining room closes, or an operator stacking three or four brands on one line in Baltimore City, Montgomery County or Prince George’s County. With no dining room, the exposures shift away from customer slip-and-falls and toward the food itself, the handoff to drivers, and the contract you signed with whoever owns the kitchen.
Maryland licensing, driving and employer rules for delivery-only kitchens
A ghost kitchen is still a food service facility. Maryland’s county health departments and the Baltimore City health department license and inspect kitchens under Maryland Department of Health regulations (COMAR 10.15.03), and some jurisdictions, Baltimore County among them, require a Certified Food Service Manager on site during all hours of operation at medium- and high-priority facilities. If several virtual brands will run under one permit, ask your local health department how it treats multiple menus before you launch, and make sure every brand name also appears on your insurance.
Most ghost kitchens rely on app couriers, but many also send their own people out for corporate lunch drops, supply runs or overflow orders. Maryland’s minimum auto liability limits are 30/60/15 (in thousands of dollars): bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. Those minimums sit on the vehicle’s own policy, they are thin for a commercial operation, and an employee’s personal auto policy may exclude business delivery altogether. Hired and non-owned auto liability is what protects the business itself when a crash involves a car it doesn’t own.
Maryland also requires workers’ compensation for every employer with one or more employees, with few exceptions. You can buy it from a private carrier or from Chesapeake Employers’ Insurance Company, the state’s guaranteed market. Our Maryland restaurant workers’ compensation guide covers penalties and how premium is calculated. If a brand wants to add beer or wine to delivery orders, that is a question for your county liquor board first; see Maryland liquor liability before you add alcohol to an app menu.
Where delivery-only kitchens get hurt: scenarios carriers underwrite for
The cross-brand allergen. A customer orders a nut-free bowl from one of your brands, but the same prep station handled peanut sauce for a different brand an hour earlier. The reaction claim comes to your kitchen, not the app, and most platform agreements ask the restaurant to indemnify the platform as well. Product liability and a clear allergen protocol per brand are the defense.
The overnight outage. A summer thunderstorm cuts power to an Anne Arundel County commissary, and the walk-in you share with four other tenants warms up before anyone notices. Whether your inventory loss is paid depends on spoilage coverage and on whether the policy includes utility service interruption from an off-site power failure.
The fire in someone else’s building. A fryer flare-up in your bay scorches the hood and ductwork the facility operator owns. Your license agreement probably makes you responsible, which is why the damage-to-rented-premises limit on your liability policy matters far more for a tenant than for an owner.
The favor run. A line cook takes a personal SUV to drop a catering order and rear-ends a commuter on the Beltway. The injured driver’s attorney will name the kitchen, and only hired and non-owned auto coverage speaks for the business in that suit.
Policy lineup for a Maryland virtual brand
- General liability — third-party injury and property damage claims, including damage to the commissary space you rent.
- Product liability — foodborne illness, foreign objects and allergen reactions from meals eaten miles away from your kitchen.
- Hired and non-owned auto — protects the business when employees drive their own or rented vehicles on company errands.
- Commercial auto — needed if the business owns a van or car used for deliveries or catering drops.
- Business personal property — your fryers, combi ovens, tablets and packaging stock, even inside someone else’s building.
- Spoilage and equipment breakdown — refrigeration failure and power interruptions are among the most common losses for delivery kitchens.
- Workers’ compensation — required in Maryland with one or more employees; burns and knife cuts are routine on a busy line.
- Cyber liability — order tablets, app integrations and payment data make a compromised account a real business interruption.
Why two ghost kitchens get very different quotes
Carriers look at annual sales and how many brands run through one kitchen, the cooking methods on the line (fryers and open flame rate differently from cold prep), whether you own the space or license a bay, the fire suppression system and hood cleaning schedule, and how much of the delivery is done by your own staff versus app couriers. Years in business, prior claims and payroll by job class round out the picture.
Practical ways to improve pricing: keep written allergen and labeling procedures for each brand, retain hood cleaning and suppression service records, install temperature alarms that text a manager when the walk-in drifts, check motor vehicle records before letting anyone drive for the business, and consider a higher deductible on property if cash flow allows. A clean, organized submission often opens up more carrier options.
Quoting a ghost kitchen through Provident Financial Group
US Restaurant Insure is the restaurant site of Provident Financial Group, an independent commercial insurance agency. One application covers every brand you run; we then compare quotes from several carriers side by side so you can weigh limits, exclusions and deductibles rather than just price. Once you bind, we issue certificates naming the commissary operator or a platform as additional insured when your contract calls for it. Call (866) 964-6660 to talk it through.
Frequently asked questions
Does the delivery app’s insurance cover the food my kitchen makes?
You should not count on it. Platform coverage, where it exists, is written to protect the platform and its couriers, and most platform agreements require restaurants to carry their own liability and indemnify the platform.
Can one policy cover several virtual brands in the same Maryland kitchen?
Usually, yes, as long as each brand name is listed on the policy as a named insured or trade name. A brand that isn’t listed is a gap a claims adjuster may question.
Is my commissary’s master policy enough for tenants?
Generally not. The operator’s policy is built to protect the operator, and most license agreements require each tenant to carry its own liability and name the operator as additional insured.
Do I need workers’ comp if my only helper works weekends?
Maryland requires coverage for employers with one or more employees, and part-time workers are employees. If you have an unusual owner or officer arrangement, ask us how carriers will treat it.
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