General Liability Basics for Food Carts

General liability is the policy nearly every market, landlord and organizer means when they ask a food cart for insurance. It responds to third-party claims of bodily injury, property damage, and personal and advertising injury arising out of your operations.

What it typically covers

• Bodily injury. A customer slips near your cart and is hurt. The policy can respond to their medical costs and to your defense if they sue.
• Property damage. Your cart damages someone else's property — a parked car, a neighboring storefront — and the policy can respond to the repair.
• Products and completed operations. Someone says the food you served made them ill. For a food business this is the coverage that matters most.
• Personal and advertising injury. Claims like libel, slander or copyright issues arising from how you advertise.

The exclusion to check first

Some cheaper general liability quotes are written premises-only, meaning products and completed operations are excluded. For a cart selling food to the public, that removes the exposure you were buying the policy for.

Before you compare two quotes, confirm both include products and completed operations. If one does not, you are not comparing like with like.

What general liability does not cover

It is not equipment cover. Damage to your own cart, your generator, your smoker or your stock is a separate thing — usually written as inland marine or business personal property. It is also not commercial auto: towing a trailer or driving a truck needs its own policy.

Workers compensation is separate again, and required in most states once you have employees.

Limits

$1,000,000 per occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate is the most commonly requested combination, though plenty of venues ask for a $1,000,000 aggregate instead. Take the number from the agreement in front of you rather than from what another vendor bought.