Grocery Stores Take on More Risk with Dine-In Services

Grocery store takeout and in-store dining is the fastest growing segment in the foodservice industry. Lockton, a privately held insurance broker, offers grocery stores with dining services insights on business risks.

Product recall expert at Lockton, Ian Harrison, explains what “grocerants” should look for to protect their business and their customers in the report, "Grocerants Are on the Rise, and So Are the Risks."

While millennial habits have led to the popularity of in-store meal preparation, consumer confidence that food in grocery stores is safe is decreasing. Food safety and sanitization methods are vital to this industry and so are protocols for handling food poisoning claims. Serious damage can be done to an entire chain of stores from a food contamination claim or FDA violations. 

Although the risks are broadening with this trend, so is insurance. Traditionally, economic loss protection insurance has been two separate policies; food manufacturing and food service. The rise of hybrid processing and service creates a new vertical integrated risk. 

The new insurance policy combines exposures like foodborne illness, supplier contamination and public health shutdown of retail locations in addition to processing exposures of accidental contamination.