Operator guides

The stuff nobody explains until it's too late.

Short reads on the coverage that actually decides whether a restaurant survives a bad year. No jargon, no scare tactics, no selling. Written by someone who spent twenty years on your side of the table.

• Insurance through a build-out: what to handle, and when

  Every insurance decision on a new location is triggered by something already on your project calendar. Here is the order, from the lease exhibit to the first pour.

• Is your insurance being handled, or just renewed? — ten questions, two minutes

  Each one a yes or a no you can answer from memory. The ones that come back no get a short note on what they usually mean, and what to do.

• Your build-out insurance timeline — interactive

  The guide above as a checklist. Tap where your new location stands and see what to do now and what comes next, step by step.

• What your certificate of insurance actually proves

  Your landlord asked for a million-dollar certificate. You sent it. Here's what that document does and doesn't tell either of you.

• The liquor liability gap

  The exposure that starts after a guest leaves your building — and the reason a general liability policy alone usually isn't enough.

• How much business income coverage a restaurant actually needs

  The most underinsured line on most restaurant policies, and a way to sanity-check yours in about ten minutes.

• The coverages restaurants forget

  Spoilage, equipment breakdown, EPLI. None of them exotic — all of them commonly left off by a generalist.