“What insurance is a restaurant actually required to carry?” The honest answer has four layers — state law, your lease, your liquor license, and your lender — and confusing them is how owners end up either under-covered or over-sold. Here’s each layer, clearly. Get multiple quotes within minutes.
Layer 1: What state law requires
Workers’ compensation is the true legal mandate — required in every state we serve once you cross that state’s employee threshold (from the first employee in states like New Jersey and California, at higher headcounts in states like Florida and Georgia). Beyond comp, most states require unemployment insurance and, if you run vehicles, commercial auto at state minimums. Your state’s specifics: see our state pages, e.g. New Jersey, Florida, Texas.
Layer 2: What your lease requires
Nearly every commercial lease mandates general liability — the near-universal ask is $1M per occurrence with the landlord as additional insured — plus property coverage for your improvements. Not law, but you can’t occupy without it: the certificate of insurance is the enforcement mechanism.
Layer 3: What your liquor license expects
If you serve alcohol, liquor liability enters — by statute in a few states (South Carolina mandates $1M for many late-serving establishments), by dram shop reality everywhere else. Our liability guide links every state’s dram shop rules.
Layer 4: What lenders and contracts add
SBA and equipment lenders require property coverage protecting collateral; franchise agreements impose the FDD’s full insurance section (checklist here); delivery platforms and event organizers require liability proof. Each contract you sign is an insurance requirement in disguise — read them together and the “required” package practically writes itself.
Frequently asked questions
Is general liability legally required for restaurants?
Not by state statute — but virtually every commercial lease, franchise agreement, and vendor contract requires it, making it mandatory in practice for any restaurant that rents space or signs contracts.
What’s the only insurance restaurants are required by law to carry?
Workers’ compensation, once you cross your state’s employee threshold — plus commercial auto minimums if the business owns vehicles. Everything else is contractual: leases, licenses, lenders, and franchisors supply the rest of the “requirements.”
Ready for your number? Get multiple quotes within minutes from an independent agency that shops top carriers for your restaurant.