7 Reasons You Need Equipment Breakdown Coverage for Your Coffee Shop

Machines break occasionally. That's a fact of life. To best protect your business, you need to invest in equipment breakdown coverage. Read on for details. 

If you're running a coffee shop or considering starting your own coffee shop business, you'll need equipment breakdown coverage. Why? Imagine a coffee shop with no working espresso machines! That's no way to make a profit.

Keep reading to learn about some of those advantages, starting with what mechanical breakdown insurance covers. You’ll also see how essential it is, even if you already have other forms of business insurance in place.

1. Covers Machinery Repairs

When any of your machines break down, it means lost business. That’s why one of the things covered by machinery breakdown insurance is the repair of the equipment needed to run your business.

Since repairs for specialty equipment can be costly, it can set a small coffee shop back far enough to question whether or not you should call a repairman. But, when you know you’ll be reimbursed, you can have the necessary repairs made immediately.

2. Covers Machinery Replacements

When your equipment is beyond repair thanks to an accident, you'll need to replace it which will be even more costly than a repair. This can make it even more difficult for small businesses if they don't have insurance to cover this type of problem.

If you do have equipment breakdown coverage, then you can replace any coffee machine, oven, or refrigerator when needed and won't have to worry about losing business while waiting to save up for a new one or have to take out a business loan to replace broken machinery.

3. Covers Expedited Services

Whether a machine is in need of repairs or replacement, it's essential to get it done as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, that often means having to pay extra for expedited services. This increases your costs and can make it harder to recover from a loss.

However, this is one of the things that's covered by machine breakdown insurance. If your espresso machine stops working in the afternoon, you can't wait until the following day to repair it because you won't have it for the morning rush.

As long as the incident that caused the breakdown is covered by equipment breakdown insurance, these extra costs to expedite services will also be covered, helping you get your business up and running as quickly as possible.

4. Covers Lost Profits

In some cases, it's easy to quantify exactly how much money you lost thanks to a down machine. For example, if you consistently sell the same amount of iced coffees, then you can know how much you lost if your ice machine stops working.

When you're facing lost profits, you want to know that these are going to be taken care of. After all, it can be difficult to recover from these, especially if it ends up hurting your reputation. A hurt reputation can cost you far beyond the initial breakdown.

Although it's impossible to know how much you may lose from a damaged reputation, at least you can recover known losses if you have equipment breakdown insurance in place. This can allow you to put some extra work into repairing your reputation so your business can fully recover.

5. Covers Lost Products

When your refrigerator or freezer goes out, the biggest fear is lost products. Since you have to throw everything out if it even gets below a certain temperature, you may face hundreds or even thousands of dollars in losses thanks to a power loss or broken fridge.

This is yet another reason why so many coffee shops have machine breakdown insurance in place. If that happens, they get reimbursed for every product that spoils because of a covered event. This is often referred to as spoilage coverage.

Here at PolicySweet^®, we take things a step further and cover the cost of the product itself and the profit you would have made had you sold it. This helps your business keep moving forward financially as though the incident never occurred.

6. Variety of Machines Covered

In the past, a Business Owners Policy only covered large pieces of equipment such as boilers. This is why equipment breakdown insurance may still be referred to as boiler and machinery insurance (BM insurance).

However, today there is much more coverage available for all types of machines. This can include:

• Heating and cooling units
• Refrigeration units
• Specialty equipment necessary for running your coffee shop
• Cash registers
• Electrical systems

As you can see, this covers everything you need to run your business which is why equipment insurance is so important.

7. Flexible Policies

Your business is unique. Even if it's one of many coffee shops in your area, you still have your own specific needs based on how you run your business.

With a flexible policy, you can choose what type of coverage you want and need based on what you may already have in place. You can also choose what you want your business assets to be protected against.

For example, most business property insurance policies cover some of your equipment and assets. However, most of these policies won't cover everything and may not offer a comprehensive package. In this case, you'll also need equipment breakdown coverage to protect your bottom line.

Need Equipment Breakdown Coverage for Your Coffee Shop?

Now you know a few of the reasons you should get equipment breakdown coverage for your coffee shop. As you can see, there are several ways this type of insurance will protect your business.

For most coffee shop owners, equipment breakdown insurance is essential because it offers coverage for many things other types of business insurance don't cover.

If you need business equipment insurance, get a quote from us today. It typically takes less than five minutes for you to answer a few quick questions about your coffee shop and you can get all the information you need about how our insurance can help you.

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