77 of QuoteSweep's 553 registered commercial carriers publish appetite for restaurants — making restaurants the third most-competed class in our registry, behind manufacturing (103 carriers) and construction (95). But there's a catch: only 24% of carriers quote online, so most of these markets are reachable only through an agent-submitted application.
This is a first-party dataset. The names below come from QuoteSweep's own carrier-appetite registry — 553 US commercial property & casualty carriers normalized from their public appetite guides, coverage pages, and state filings into one machine-readable corpus. When we say a carrier "writes restaurants," we mean its published appetite includes the class — not that it will bind any given restaurant.
How we built this
We enriched 553 US commercial P&C carriers into a single schema capturing, per carrier: the coverage lines they write, the industries they target, the states they're available in, and whether they offer online quoting. Every field traces to that carrier's own published materials. This is an appetite analysis, not a market-share or premium ranking — it answers one question: which carriers say they will write restaurants. The count below is the number of carriers, out of 553, whose published appetite includes the restaurant class.
Restaurants are the 3rd most-competed class
Carriers cluster around a handful of large, well-understood industries. Restaurants sit near the top — more competed-for than retail, contractors, or healthcare, and behind only the two biggest commercial categories.
| Industry | Carriers writing it |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 103 |
| Construction | 95 |
| Restaurants | 77 |
The practical read: restaurants are not a hard-to-place class in the aggregate. Dozens of carriers publish appetite for them. The friction isn't whether markets exist — it's reaching them, because most won't return an online quote.
Which carriers write restaurant insurance
Here are 30 of the 77 carriers whose published appetite includes restaurants. They range from national standard-market writers to regional mutuals and specialty carriers:
| Acuity | AmTrust Financial | Arbella Insurance |
| Atlantic Casualty | Attune | Auto-Owners |
| Capitol Specialty | Central Insurance Companies | Cerity |
| Employers | Essex Insurance | Evanston / Markel Specialty |
| Gallagher | Grange Insurance | Grinnell Mutual |
| Guard (Berkshire Hathaway) | The Hanover | Liberty Mutual |
| Main Street America Group | Nautilus Insurance | Ohio Mutual |
| Peerless | Safeco (Liberty Mutual) | Safety Insurance Group |
| Selective | Texas Mutual | Thimble |
| United Fire Group (UFG) | Utica National | Wesco Insurance |
The remaining 47 include additional regional mutuals and farm-bureau carriers, workers' comp specialists, and E&S names — from American National General, Badger Mutual, Concord General Mutual, Cumberland Mutual, and Greater New York Mutual to Harford Mutual, Oregon Mutual, Pekin, Steadfast Insurance, and Tennessee Farmers Mutual. The complete list of all 77 is searchable in QuoteSweep's free appetite checker.
One thing to note about the mix: appetite for restaurants is spread across national carriers, state and regional mutuals, and specialty writers. Which of the 77 will actually look at a specific restaurant depends heavily on the state it operates in, its size, and its exposures — a full-service restaurant with a bar and a fryer is a different risk than a coffee shop, and carriers filter accordingly.
How to actually get covered
Because only about a quarter of commercial carriers offer online quoting, most of these 77 markets can't be reached with a self-serve form. For most restaurant coverage, a human still has to touch the submission — which is exactly why the class feels harder to shop than personal auto, even though the market is deep.
Two practical paths:
- Work with an independent agent. Independent agents carry appointments across many of these carriers and can submit your restaurant to several at once. This is the standard route for anything beyond the simplest micro-risk, and the only route to the specialty and E&S markets on the list.
- Check appetite first. Before anyone submits an application, use the free appetite checker to see which carriers publish appetite for restaurants in your state. It turns a blind shotgun submission into a targeted one — you (or your agent) approach the markets that have already said they write the class.
Frequently asked questions
Which insurers cover restaurants?
QuoteSweep's appetite registry lists 77 carriers that publish appetite for restaurants. Recognizable names include Liberty Mutual, The Hanover, Selective, Auto-Owners, Acuity, Grange Insurance, Utica National, Guard (Berkshire Hathaway), and United Fire Group (UFG), alongside specialty writers like Nautilus, Atlantic Casualty, and Essex, and digital carriers like Cerity, Attune, and Thimble. The full list is in the free appetite checker.
How many carriers write restaurant insurance?
77 of the 553 US commercial carriers in QuoteSweep's registry publish appetite for restaurants. That makes restaurants the third most-competed class in the registry, behind manufacturing (103 carriers) and construction (95) — so restaurants are a comparatively well-served class, not a hard-to-place one.
Can I get restaurant insurance online?
Usually not directly. Only about 24% of the commercial carriers analyzed offer online quoting at all, so most of the 77 restaurant markets require an agent-submitted application rather than a self-serve quote. The fastest first step is checking appetite, then routing the submission through an independent agent.
Is restaurant insurance hard to get?
Not because of a shortage of carriers — 77 publish appetite for the class. The difficulty is procedural: most carriers don't quote restaurants online, and the right market depends on your state, size, and specific exposures. Matching the risk to a carrier that writes it is where an independent agent earns their keep.
About this data
These figures come from QuoteSweep's proprietary carrier-appetite registry, normalized from carriers' own published appetite guides, coverage pages, and state availability. It powers the free appetite checker. Appetite reflects what carriers publish, not a guarantee any carrier will bind a given risk. We'll refresh this analysis as the registry is re-enriched. Questions or corrections: agent@quotesweep.com.
