ForumsStarting a Business

I owned and operated a restaurant, plus worked in the industry years prior. You received some excellent input as to the types of insurance that you will need to cover your business and options for finding and comparing rates, so I will quickly just focus on what to do about covering your staff.

Many restaurants do not offer health insurance to employees - especially if the employees only work part time. It's unfortunate, but it is a way to keep costs down since many restaurants operate on a very narrow profit margin.

Offering insurance with a nominal deductable as part of an employee's overall compensation package can be a great way to keep quality people. If you can afford it, that's great.

Some local chambers of commerce offer bulk discount rates to their members.

The other option that some restaurants offer is to cover flat-fee doctors in their areas for low cost coverage (but sometimes nominal services like covering common colds, etc..). You will have to check for doctors in your area to see what they actually cover for their fees. Here's an article that talks about it if you are unfamiliar with the practice:

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2009/03/06/98454.htm

Hope this helps.

All the Best,

Doug Dolan

The Solopreneur's Guide

http://thesologuide.com/