Do you handle restaurant insurance claims in Illinois?

Yes. We represent business owners and owners of commercial buildings across Illinois, and a restaurant's kitchen, stock, build-out and lost income fall within that work.

Does business income insurance pay from the day the kitchen closes?

Not on the common form. Lost income is paid from 72 hours after the damage, and extra expense from the first hour. Your policy may set a different number of hours, so check the declarations.

Is food that spoiled in a power outage covered?

It depends on why the power went out. Food ruined by a covered fire in your building is usually stock under business personal property. A utility cut off the premises or a compressor failure usually needs a spoilage, utility services or equipment breakdown endorsement.

Can the carrier deny a kitchen fire claim over the hood suppression system?

If the policy carries the Protective Safeguards endorsement with symbol P-5, fire damage is excluded when the owner knew the system was impaired and did not tell the carrier, or did not keep it in complete working order. The inspection reports and cleaning certificates are the evidence either way.

What does a restaurant claim cost me?

No retainer and no hourly bill. Our fee is a percentage set in the contract before work starts, and it comes out of what your carrier pays the restaurant. A claim that recovers nothing costs you nothing.

Restaurant insurance claims in Illinois

A grease fire on the line, smoke through the dining room, a walk-in full of food that has to go. Each of those sits in a different part of your commercial policy. We are licensed Illinois public adjusters, and we prepare and present the whole claim for the restaurant owner.

Free Restaurant Claim Review (630) 297-8136

You pay nothing to start. Our fee is a share of what the carrier pays on the claim, and we work for you, never for the insurer.

Cook line under the hoodRanges, fryers, flat top. The hood, duct and wet chemical system above them.Your equipment

Walk-in coolerThe box is often part of the build-out. The food inside is stock.Stock, maybe spoilage

Dry storageCases of product, paper goods, chemicals.Stock

PrepTables, mixers, slicers, shelving.Your equipment

DishMachine, sinks, racks.Your equipment

Dining roomTables and chairs are your contents. Walls, ceiling and floor are the building, or your build-out if you rent and paid for them.Contents and build-out

BarBack bar you installed, coolers, liquor on the shelves.Build-out and stock

EntranceGlass, doors, vestibule.Building

OfficePOS, computers, records.Your contents

RestroomsFixtures and finishes.Building

Which part pays for each room is set by your declarations page and, if you rent, by your lease. The closed doors add a further line: lost income.

Hour 0 Hour 72

72 hbefore lost income is paid

Hours 0 to 72: income lost in these hours is not paid on the common form
Hour 72 to day 7 and on: business income paid, through the period of restoration

The first 72 hours of a closed kitchen are not paid as income

Most Illinois restaurants that carry business income coverage carry it on the insurance industry's standard form, CP 00 30, or on wording built from it. As the IRMI commentary on that form sets out, lost income is covered from 72 hours after the physical damage, while extra expense is covered from the time of the damage.

Extra expense: From the first hour. The rented refrigerated trailer, the night crew that cleans the line, the overtime to open a second location's kitchen for catering orders.
Business income: From hour 72. Net income you would have earned, plus the payroll and bills that keep running while you are closed.
Where it ends: When the restaurant should be repaired with reasonable speed. That date is an estimate, and it is argued: how long the hood maker takes, when the city inspects, when the health department lets you reopen.

Your policy may print a different number of hours. We read it first, then build the income figure from your sales history and the weeks you lost. The full method is on our business interruption claims page.

SERVICE TAG

Wet chemical system, cook line

Last serviced: month / year
Next due: six months later
Fusible links: replaced on
Hood and duct cleaned: date of report
Technician: name and license

The tag on your hood system can decide a fire claim

Many restaurant policies add the Protective Safeguards endorsement, form CP 04 11. Its symbol P-5 stands for the Automatic Commercial Cooking Exhaust and Extinguishing System: the hood, the grease removal device, the duct and the wet chemical equipment. Look for P-5 in the schedule of your policy.

Keeping that system in working order becomes a condition of the insurance.
Fire damage is excluded if, before the fire, you knew the system was impaired and did not tell the carrier, or did not keep it in complete working order where it was under your control.
If part of the system was shut off by breakage, a leak or freezing, the form lets you skip the notice when full protection is back within 48 hours.

So a carrier's first requests after a kitchen fire are usually the suppression inspection reports and the hood cleaning certificates. The schedule fire officials apply for cleaning, from NFPA 96 as the Utah State Fire Marshal publishes it:

MonthlySolid fuel cooking, such as wood or charcoal

QuarterlyHigh volume: 24-hour kitchens, charbroiling, wok cooking

SemiannuallyModerate volume cooking

AnnuallyLow volume, such as churches and day camps

Your local fire department enforces the edition it has adopted. When the reports are in order, we put them in front of the carrier on day one. When a date is missing, we find out what the service company's own records show before anyone writes a denial.

Four hours above 41°F, and the food has to go

Health departments apply the Food Code rule for cold food: time and temperature control foods held above 41°F for more than four hours are thrown out. Oregon's power outage fact sheet for food businesses puts it plainly, and it also tells operators to think about the evidence an insurance claim needs before anything is discarded.

That log is the evidence. It shows when the food crossed the line, which is why it had to go, and the invoices show what it cost you.

Fire in your buildingFood ruined by a covered fire is usually your stock, under business personal property, with no extra endorsement.
Utility cut off-siteUsually needs a utility services or spoilage endorsement. Read its limit and its waiting hours.
Compressor or wiring failureUsually needs equipment breakdown or spoilage coverage. A failure caused by a lightning surge reads differently, as our power surge damage page explains.

Walk-in temperature log, one night

A sample made up for this page. Times and readings are illustrations, not a real restaurant.

Time	Walk-in	Note
10:40 PM	37°F	Power out, door kept shut
11:50 PM	39°F	Manager on site, photos taken
12:55 AM	42°F	Above 41°F from here
2:30 AM	46°F	No ice left to buy
4:10 AM	49°F	Power still out
5:00 AM	50°F	Over four hours: discard, list every case first

What the carrier will ask for, written as tickets

A restaurant claim is proved with paper the owner already has, scattered across the POS, the bookkeeper and the service companies. We pull it into one file and send it before the carrier has to ask twice.

Ticket 1POS sales reports
Daily sales for the 12 months before the loss, and the same weeks a year earlier, so a slow January is not mistaken for a normal month.
Ticket 2Payroll register
Who stayed on payroll while you were closed. Keeping your cooks is a cost the income line can pay.
Ticket 3Supplier invoices
The last deliveries before the loss, to price the stock in the walk-in, the freezer and the bar.
Ticket 4Hood and suppression reports
Cleaning certificates and the last two inspection reports, for the safeguards condition above.
Ticket 5Your lease
Who insures the hood, the walk-in and the build-out. Many leases put the improvements you paid for on your policy.
Ticket 6Temperature logs and photos
Every case of food photographed with its label before it goes in the dumpster.
Ticket 7Emergency receipts
Board-up, the refrigerated trailer, the cleaning crew, the electrician. Extra expense is paid from receipts.
Ticket 8Equipment list
Make, model and age of each range, fryer and cooler, from invoices or the plates on the units.

Where a kitchen fire goes after it leaves the line

A grease fire that the wet chemical system puts out in seconds still leaves a long trail. The carrier's estimate often prices the cook line and stops. We follow the fire, the smoke and the water to the end of their path, and write each stop into the claim.

Smoke that settles on the dining room's ceiling tiles, upholstery and ductwork is its own part of the loss, explained on our smoke and soot damage page and in our guide to a commercial smoke damage claim. If you rent, the split between your policy and the landlord's is set out on our commercial property claims page.

The appliance and the hoodMelted filters, a scorched hood, the suppression agent sprayed over every surface on the line
The duct run and the roof fanGrease that burned inside the duct, the fan on the roof, the roof deck around the curb
The rest of the kitchenResidue on prep surfaces, smallwares and shelving, food in open containers
The dining room and the barSmoke in fabrics, acoustic tiles and the HVAC system that carried it there
WaterFrom a fire hose or sprinkler heads, into floors, walls and the basement storage below
Wiring and gas linesHeat damage behind the line that an electrician or gas contractor has to sign off

Ask for a review of your restaurant's claim

We read the policy and the carrier's letters free, and tell you plainly where the claim stands. Our office is in Lincolnshire and we are open seven days a week, Monday through Friday 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We are rated 4.9 from 33 Google reviews, all on our reviews page.

The date of the loss and the address
The policy with its declarations page and endorsements
The lease, if you rent the space
The carrier's estimate and letters, if any have come

What the State tells a business owner to check before signing

The Illinois Department of Insurance requires a public adjuster to be licensed and to use a written contract approved by the Director. You can confirm a license at (866) 445-5364 before you sign anything.

Start with four fields

First name *

Last name *

Phone *

Email *

Prefer to write more? Use the full form. We use your details only to review your claim.

What restaurant owners ask us

Do you handle restaurant insurance claims in Illinois?: Yes. We represent business owners and owners of commercial buildings across Illinois, and a restaurant's kitchen, stock, build-out and lost income fall within that work.
Does business income insurance pay from the day the kitchen closes?: Not on the common form. Lost income is paid from 72 hours after the damage, and extra expense from the first hour. Your policy may set a different number of hours, so check the declarations.
Is food that spoiled in a power outage covered?: It depends on why the power went out. Food ruined by a covered fire in your building is usually stock under business personal property. A utility cut off the premises or a compressor failure usually needs a spoilage, utility services or equipment breakdown endorsement.
Can the carrier deny a kitchen fire claim over the hood suppression system?: If the policy carries the Protective Safeguards endorsement with symbol P-5, fire damage is excluded when the owner knew the system was impaired and did not tell the carrier, or did not keep it in complete working order. The inspection reports and cleaning certificates are the evidence either way.
What does a restaurant claim cost me?: No retainer and no hourly bill. Our fee is a percentage set in the contract before work starts, and it comes out of what your carrier pays the restaurant. A claim that recovers nothing costs you nothing.