Arizona Produce Store Insurance

With many locally grown commodities like leafy greens, melons, lemons, oranges, dates, and pecans, there is an abundance of fresh produce available for sale in Arizona. If you sell these fresh food products, you may benefit from the protections offered by produce store insurance.

When you are shopping for coverage for your produce store, a local independent insurance agent can help. These agents are here to answer your insurance-related questions and can shop around to find you great coverage at a competitive price. Contact an insurance agent near you to get started.

What Is Produce Store Insurance and Why Is It Important in Arizona?

Produce store insurance is a general term used to describe a business owners policy (BOP) or a business insurance policy package that has been customized to meet the specific coverage needs of stores that sell fresh produce.

Businesses in Arizona collect nearly $7 billion a year in business insurance claims. That is a lot of things going wrong in this state. The need for business insurance is not limited to large corporations. Even a small produce store can be at risk. Take, for instance, the following examples.

• A customer falls and is seriously injured after stepping on some fruit that dropped on the floor of your store.
• A windstorm leads to an extended power outage, and several perishable food items that require refrigeration must be thrown away.
• One of your former employees accuses your business of wrongful termination and files a lawsuit.
• A wildfire tears through the town where your store is located, and thousands of dollars’ worth of property and produce is destroyed.

These are just a few examples of the potential hazards that a good produce store insurance policy can cover against.

How Much Does Produce Store Insurance Cost in Arizona?

The only way to find out how much coverage will cost for your particular produce store is by contacting a few insurance providers and requesting customized quotes.

Here are some of the factors that can influence your produce store insurance rates.  

• The size of your store and its expected annual revenues
• The estimated value of your produce store’s property and assets
• The number of workers you employ
• The age and condition of your mechanical equipment
• Whether your business owns and operates vehicles
• The crime rate and weather risks where your store is located
• The coverage options you want to include in your policy

Every insurance company has its own way of calculating costs. This means that it is likely that all the quotes you receive will be different. That is why it is to your benefit to compare a few rates before deciding which policy to purchase.

What Does a Produce Store Business Owners Policy (BOP) Cover?

For the owners of most small businesses, the most cost-effective way to purchase coverage is by buying a BOP and then supplementing it with additional commercial insurance products as needed.

A BOP will provide you with three types of coverage.

• Commercial property insurance: This can cover your business-owned property such as produce, shopping carts and baskets, scales, cash registers, and outdoor signs if any of this property is lost or damaged by a covered event such as the following.
  • Thunderstorms
  • Windstorms
  • Monsoons (but not the flooding they may cause)
  • Tornadoes
  • Accidental fires
  • Wildfires
  • Property crimes
• Commercial general liability insurance (CGL): This is designed to cover your produce store against many of the most common liability risks businesses face. Here is some of the coverage it provides.
  • Premises liability insurance: This can cover third-party injuries that occur on your business property, such as if a customer or delivery person slips on a wet floor.
  • Product liability insurance: This can cover third-party injuries or illnesses caused by a product sold in your store, such as if some of your produce is contaminated with E. coli and customers get sick.
• Business interruption insurance: This can provide your produce store with a continuation of income if it must shut down for an extended time while repairs are made following a covered event like a severe storm.

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What Additional Liability Insurance Products Can Help Produce Stores in Arizona?

Liability insurance is one of the most important components of any business insurance policy. It can cover expenses like court costs, legal fees, settlements, and judgements if your produce store is sued for a covered event.

A business owners policy can provide you with commercial general liability insurance, but CGL isn’t enough to cover against all of your liability exposures. You may therefore want to consider also purchasing some or all of the following.

• Employment practices liability insurance: This can cover your produce store if a current, former, or prospective employee makes an accusation of illegal employment practices like discrimination, harassment, or wrongful termination.
• Cyber liability insurance: If you electronically store personal or financial data about your employees or customers, and this data is accessed by hackers, this can cover your financial obligations to affected individuals. It can also provide coverage if criminals successfully install skimmers on your store’s credit card readers.
• Commercial vehicle liability insurance: If your produce store offers delivery services or owns the trucks used to make deliveries to your store, this can ensure that it has sufficient liability coverage if one of your drivers causes an accident.

Having the right liability insurance products in place can save your business thousands of dollars if it ends up on the wrong end of a liability lawsuit.

What Additional Property Insurance Products Are a Good Idea for Arizona Produce Stores?

The commercial property insurance included in your BOP provides a lot of coverage, but it has a few limitations. You may therefore want to supplement it with additional policies such as the following.

• Equipment breakdown insurance: This can cover the cost to repair or replace your produce store’s well-maintained essential machinery (such as refrigerators and freezers) if it breaks down or malfunctions.
• Spoiled food insurance: This can cover your losses if perishable foods are spoiled due to problems with your store’s cooling systems. This coverage is often included in your equipment breakdown insurance.
• Commercial flood insurance: This can cover damage your store may sustain in a flood. This supplemental insurance is important because commercial property insurance specifically excludes flood damage from its coverage, and floods pose a very real risk during Monsoon Season.

You will want to be sure that you are purchasing sufficient amounts of the right insurance products to ensure that all of your produce store’s valuable property is fully covered.

What Is Workers’ Compensation Insurance and Is It Required for Produce Stores in Arizona?

Workers’ compensation insurance can cover your employees’ medical treatments and lost wages if they are injured on the job.

This provides your employees with a safety net so they do not experience large financial losses as the result of an injury. It has the added benefit of shielding your business against potential liability lawsuits related to these injures.

Workers’ compensation insurance is required in Arizona if you have at least one employee. You must cover all employees including part-time workers, family members, and minors.

It is not necessary to purchase coverage for business partners or sole proprietors, but you can if you want to.

Independent Agents in Arizona Can Help You Find the Best Produce Store Insurance

When you are looking for the right coverage for your Arizona produce store, you can turn to a local independent agent for help. These agents can save you time and money by comparison-shopping on your behalf as they search for the best available coverage at the most competitive price.

There are more than 400 independent agents in the Grand Canyon State. Contact an insurance agent near you to schedule an obligation-free consultation. You will soon discover how easy it can be to find great produce store insurance.