Who asks a chocolatier for what
| Who | What they usually want to see |
|---|---|
| Landlords & commercial leases | General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation |
| Banks, lenders & SBA loans | Property or auto physical damage with the lender as loss payee, and liability proof at closing and every renewal |
| Franchisors | The brand's minimum limits across general liability, property, auto and employment practices |
Each of them wants a certificate, and most want it again at every renewal. A live certificate link from the wallet shows today's coverage to every holder and tells them when it changes.
How to check what you already have
- Business owner's policy declarations. Liability limits on the first page, then the property section: building (if you own), business personal property, business income and the named extras such as spoilage, equipment breakdown or employee dishonesty. Confirm the property values are current.
- Workers' compensation information page. Item 3.A must list every state you work in, item 4 must carry the right class codes, and the employers' liability limits should meet what contracts ask. Check that the estimated payroll is close to this year's.
- Crime declarations. Employee theft, forgery, funds-transfer fraud and social engineering each have their own limit; third-party coverage if you work in clients' premises.
- Cyber declarations. The headline limit matters less than the sublimits: social engineering, funds-transfer fraud, ransomware and business interruption, plus the regulatory coverage and the panel of breach vendors.
- Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.
- Liquor liability declarations and forms. The limit, and the forms list checked for an assault-and-battery exclusion, which removes the most common claim.
- Products–completed operations. The aggregate, any vendors endorsement naming buyers as additional insureds, and exclusions for specific products or markets.
- Equipment breakdown. The limit, the covered equipment, spoilage and business income under breakdown, and the deductible.
- Property section. Limits for building, business personal property and tenant improvements against replacement cost, the coinsurance percentage, the deductible, and whether flood and earthquake are excluded (they usually are).
- Business income. The limit or actual-loss-sustained wording, the waiting period, the period of restoration and whether extra expense is included.
What usually goes wrong for candy stores and chocolatiers
- Holiday inventory and shipments insured at a slow-month value.
- Allergen cross-contact in a kitchen that works with nuts, dairy and soy every day.
- Tenant improvements insured by nobody, because the lease says one thing and the policy another.
- Property values set when the doors opened and never raised.
- Inventory at its holiday peak insured at its January value.
- A workers' compensation estimate set low in January and settled with a large audit bill in the spring.
What underwriters will ask a chocolatier
- Share of made versus resold product, peak inventory value, shipping volume, and the allergen program
- Square footage, whether you own or lease, the building's age and sprinklers
- Replacement cost of the equipment, fixtures and stock on site
- Average and peak inventory values, and who handles cash and deposits
- Payroll by class of work, headcount and turnover
- What you sell, who makes it and where it is made
Have the answers in the wallet before the renewal and the quote request fills itself in; CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier and lines the quotes up against what you have.
Renewal timing
Workers' compensation is audited on actual payroll and liability on sales, so a busy year ends with a bill unless the estimates were kept honest; pay-as-you-go billing through your payroll company removes most of that. Renewal autopilot starts the comparison sixty days out, prefilled from the wallet.