Insurance, it is a start.

Noam Levy offers this news from the National Restaurant Association

The association plans to announce Friday, at its annual convention in Chicago, a website and a menu of insurance plans in Pennsylvania and Colorado and then expand into California, Texas, Florida, Illinois and several other states within a year.

"This is a business issue for the restaurant industry," said Dawn Sweeney, chief executive of the influential restaurant group, which represents about 380,000 employers nationwide.

"Because of the narrow profit margins of the restaurant business, it has been an ongoing real challenge for our industry to find affordable [insurance] products they could offer to employees," Sweeney said.

Sweeney, who began the push to create an insurance partnership more than two years ago, said the association's members had identified healthcare as a top issue of concern.

Venture Capital Lawsuits:

Patrick Hosking, Times Online commentary The law is now an asset is very disturbing.

“The notion of litigation as a separate asset class is a novel one. It's hard to imagine fund managers one day allotting a bit of their portfolio to third-party lawsuits, alongside shares, bonds, property and hedge funds.

But some wealthy investors are starting to dabble in lawsuit investment, bankrolling some or all of the heavy upfront costs in return for a share of the damages in the event of a win.

Profiting from other people's lawsuits, a practice known as champerty, is illegal in some jurisdictions and risks accusations of ambulance-chasing, is concentrating on backing business plaintiffs, where the practice is better established and more accepted.

Pursuing legal claims can be frighteningly expensive. Plaintiffs have to commit management time and cash years into the future with no certainty of success. Getting an outside investor to share some of the financial pain can be very attractive. So can tapping their litigation experience. While most large companies are well resourced with in-house lawyers, few have litigation experience. “

An unfounded lawsuit can put tremendous strain on your restaurant, even if you are properly insured. The United States needs meaningful tort reform where genuine wrongs are righted and where cases brought about as a fishing expedition (cases taken on a flyer to see what shakes from the tree) are costly both to the plaintiffs and their attorneys.

(Link Marginal Revolution)

Crash Kits:

The storms that the ravaged the Midwest and caused extensive power outages bring to mind the need to have backup plans. Systemic power failures can shut down a business and the only real preparedness is adequate insurance coverage. Short-term one or two hour power failures can happen anytime and there are steps you can take to mitigate the effects. If you use a computerized Point of Sale system you should have a crash kit, handy.

The crash kit should be kept in a specific location and consists of the following:

1) Old manual credit card imprinter to make swipes of the card for reentry later, old credit card slips.

2) Flashlight with fresh batteries, an old manual register, manual checks, pens and candles.

Essentially everything you need to create and cash out a check before the advent of Point of Sale systems.

Power failures can happen at anytime, sometimes they happen at 8:00pm on a busy Saturday night, since you do not know the duration of the failure, at first you may choose to ride it out, keep everything moving along. Probably not seat anyone new, however do the best you can to get the current diners their meals.

If the duration exceeds the time that the emergency lights go dim then it is time for plan B. Comp everyone’s meal that is currently in the restaurant and make a candlelight party out of the evening. Initially people respond with camaraderie to a shared experience such as a power failure. Yes, the evening receipts are gone, however the amount of good will you will accrue is priceless. The hallmark of a great restaurateur is the ability to fabricate a memorable guest experience out of ambiguous circumstances.

When disaster beckons be prepared with Crash Kits!

Business Liability Insurance:

Insurance is a required business expense, whether you leased or bought restaurant space. Leases or mortgages come with extensive insurance language, that every employee, director, outside contractor, owner, manager and anyone else with a passing interest, be indemnified in case of a claim. Why all this hassle about additional insured you might ask? You as a restaurateur have purchased the requisite policy with the limits require. Everything is covered right? Wrong. The reason landlords, bankers and business owners have become so anal, is because unless someone is specifically, by name or title insured under the policy, they are not insured. Claims tend to cast a wide net around anyone with an interest in the restaurant, (bankers, accountants, landlords, directors, employees, owners, and managers). The effect of not being covered under the restaurant policy is that the individuals have to provide their own defenses, in a suit involving your restaurant. Having been seasoned in the crucible of experience, these participants now require coverage under your policy. An open discussion with your agent is necessary to insure that you, employees, investors, and outside contractors are in fully covered under the policy.