Running someone else's kitchen · allergens · recovery claims
Liability insurance for a self-employed chef
During his shift a self-employed chef carries responsibility for a kitchen that is not his, including the people working in it that evening.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een zelfstandige kok.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
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- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Anyone running a kitchen on a self-employed basis is directing assistants who are employed by the venue. If such a person is injured through your instruction or through an action you ordered, the employer is liable under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code — and can then pass that loss on to you. That recovery claim is a claim against you personally and the public and employers' liability insurance is intended for it. Ask expressly, therefore, whether cover also applies when you direct someone else's staff.
The second point is the allergen information. You decide what goes into the dish, but the venue communicates with the guest. If it goes wrong and someone falls ill, the question of fault turns on who should have passed on which information. Pass your recipes and menu changes to management in writing and keep that message. Without those records it is your word against the client's and you help pay for a mistake you did not make.
What falls outside cover: preparing a dinner again or refunding it, because that is performance of the contract; a product recall of products you supplied under your own name; spoilage of your own purchases; fines from a regulator; and loss arising solely from a contractual penalty clause. If you cancel a booking because you are ill, the client's loss is pure financial loss and your own loss of income a matter for disability insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
What to look out for
Four points that determine whether a claim lands with you or with the venue.
You direct people who are not yours
A cut, a burn from the fryer or a fall on a wet kitchen floor is claimed from the employer first. He then seeks recovery from whoever gave the instruction. Agree in advance which tasks you leave to assistants, and bear in mind the protection employees have: Article 7:661 of the Dutch Civil Code limits their own liability, so that the claim reaches you sooner than them.
Equipment you operate temporarily
A burnt pan, a burnt-out oven, a damaged extractor hood or a ruined range is damage to the property you are working with. That falls under the care, custody and control exclusion. The damage that follows from it — fire in the building, smoke in the dining room — is a different matter and does fall within cover in principle. Report both and let the insurer separate them.
Cooking in private homes
Private dining means working in a domestic kitchen with no extraction for an open flame, no fire blanket and a wooden floor. A fat fire there quickly grows into damage to the whole house. Take your own fire extinguishing equipment, do not work with equipment you do not know and make sure cooking on location is expressly stated in the description of your business activity.
Do you only cook, or do you advise as well?
Menu development, cost price calculation and advice on a kitchen layout are not cooking. If such advice turns out to be wrong and the venue suffers a loss as a result, it concerns money with no injury or damaged property. That claim belongs on professional indemnity insurance and not on this policy.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the basis for a sole trader
- Work locations: fixed restaurant kitchens, changing venues or private homes
- Directing third parties' staff: this determines the chance of a recovery claim
- Buying ingredients yourself: this engages the product liability section
- Advisory and development work: this calls for separate professional indemnity cover
- Sum insured chosen: clients sometimes prescribe a minimum
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
Where the claim belongs
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| You let a pan of hot oil tip and a guest at the chef's table suffers burns | Yes | No |
| An assistant cuts himself on the slicer you let him use without instruction | Yes | No |
| At a private dining event you put a red-hot pan on the host's worktop | Yes | No |
| The venue's induction hob burns out because you left an empty pan on it | No | No |
| A catering guest falls ill from a starter that was left out of the fridge too long | Yes | No |
| Your cost price calculation for the new menu turns out to be too low and the venue runs at a loss for months | No | Yes |
As soon as you calculate, develop or advise as well as cook, the second column is no longer empty.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
The venue holds me liable for injury to one of their staff.
That is a realistic situation if you were in charge that evening. The employer first pays his employee under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code and then seeks recovery from you as the person who gave the instruction. Your liability insurance assesses whether that claim is well founded and conducts the defence. Check in advance whether directing third parties' staff falls within your cover.
A fire starts because of a pan I left on the heat.
The damage to the building, the fittings and possibly the neighbours is property damage to third parties and covered in principle. The pan and the range you were working with fall under the care, custody and control exclusion. Insurers set conditions about fire extinguishing equipment and supervision where there is an open flame. If you do not meet them, cover for that very fire can fall away.
A guest with an allergy falls ill after my dish.
Injury from a dish composed or described wrongly falls within cover, provided you made a mistake. What is crucial is who had the duty to inform. Pass your list of ingredients to the venue in writing and keep it up to date with every change. That moves the argument from your memory to a document.
I am off sick and the venue suffers a loss. Am I insured for that?
No. The client's loss is pure financial loss and that is excluded on public and employers' liability insurance, even where your agreement contains a penalty clause. Nor is your own loss of income covered; disability insurance exists for that. Include an arrangement for a replacement in case of illness in your terms.
Read more
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