Ghost kitchens insurance checklist: what a ghost kitchen should carry

The ghost kitchen insurance checklist

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Ghost kitchens usually carry business owner's policy, workers' compensation and hired & non-owned auto. A ghost kitchen cooks for delivery apps only, often inside a shared facility under a licence agreement, with several brands from one line and a customer it never meets who complains through the app. The delivery platform and your landlord ask for proof of each. The checklist below says what every item does, who requires it and how to check it on the policies you already have.

Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 12, 2026 Updated Oct 14, 2026

Who asks a ghost kitchen for what

Who	What they usually want to see
Delivery & gig platforms	Commercial auto or hired and non-owned auto plus general liability
Landlords & commercial leases	General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation
Enterprise clients & vendor onboarding	General liability, professional or cyber liability, workers' compensation and often an umbrella

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.
Hired and non-owned auto. Look for the symbols 8 and 9 or an endorsement by that name on the auto or general liability policy; without it, staff in their own cars are uninsured on company business.
Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.
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.
Products–completed operations. The aggregate, any vendors endorsement naming buyers as additional insureds, and exclusions for specific products or markets.
Business income. The limit or actual-loss-sustained wording, the waiting period, the period of restoration and whether extra expense is included.
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).
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.

What usually goes wrong for ghost kitchens

Several virtual brands under one policy that names one.
A shared-facility licence agreement with insurance terms nobody read.
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.
A hood-cleaning or suppression-service condition in the property policy with no record it was met.
Employees delivering in their own cars with no hired and non-owned auto.

What underwriters will ask a ghost kitchen

Number of brands and platforms, whether the kitchen is shared or leased, and delivery volume
Square footage, whether you own or lease, the building's age and sprinklers
Replacement cost of the equipment, fixtures and stock on site
Seating, hours, cooking methods and the hood and suppression system's last service
Delivery: your own drivers, third-party platforms or both
Payroll by class of work, headcount and turnover

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.

Questions people actually ask

We run four brands from one kitchen. Does the policy need all of them?

Yes, as named insureds or DBAs. A claim arrives under the brand the customer ordered from, and a policy that names only the operating company leaves the carrier an argument it may make. List every brand and keep the list current.

What does a shared kitchen facility require?

A certificate naming the facility operator as additional insured, usually with workers' compensation and a stated general liability limit, and sometimes property coverage on your equipment in the space. The licence agreement is the checklist.

Doesn't my landlord's insurance cover my ghost kitchen?

It covers the building. The lease almost always makes you responsible for your own improvements, equipment and stock, for injuries inside your space, and for naming the landlord as additional insured on your liability policy. Read the insurance clause; the contract checker in the wallet will pull it out for you.

Does my policy cover food that spoils when the power goes out?

Only with a spoilage endorsement or a package built for food businesses; standard property forms exclude it. Contamination coverage, which pays for a health-department closure and the cleanup, is a separate endorsement too.

Can workers' compensation be billed from each payroll run?

Usually, yes. With carriers that offer pay-as-you-go, CoverMatch sets the billing to run through your payroll company, so premium follows actual payroll instead of an annual estimate and there is less to settle at audit. Ask for it on the quote request.