Yes. We can review your insurance programme and risk information as part of your wider transaction planning, including property, liability, business interruption, product recall, cyber and management liability. Our M&A specialists can also support you through the transaction.
From artisan bakeries to large-scale manufacturers supplying major retailers, wholesalers and foodservice customers, bakery businesses face a complex mix of operational, property, supply chain, product and people risks.
Marsh works with some of the UK’s leading bread and bakery manufacturers, placing around £8 million of premium into the UK insurance market for clients producing baked goods. As one of the world’s leading insurance brokers, we work with a broad range of insurers, including Lloyd’s of London. This helps us develop solutions that reflect the scale, complexity and ambitions of your business.
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From flour to finish
Bakery manufacturing is about far more than ovens and ingredients. Production can depend on complex machinery, temperature-controlled environments, specialist processes, multiple suppliers and distribution networks. A single contamination event, fire or equipment failure can quickly disrupt production and affect customer commitments.
Our specialist team works with you to understand how your business operates and identify where disruption could have the greatest impact. We can help protect your:
- People and premises. Including employee risks, fire, buildings, machinery and stock.
- Production and supply chain. Including equipment breakdown, ingredient supply and business interruption.
- Products and reputation. With liability and product recall solutions tailored to the products and customers you serve.
- Vehicles and distribution. From ingredient collection through to delivery to customers.
- Growth and investment. Supporting new production lines, acquisitions, expansion and changes in ownership.
Understanding the risks bakeries face
Bakery manufacturing brings specific risks that require specialist knowledge. These can include:
Food safety and contamination
Allergens, foreign bodies, supplier contamination, pest infestation and hygiene failures can result in product withdrawal, recall, lost production and reputational damage. They may also lead to insurance claims and serious customer concerns, including allergic reactions.
Fire and heat
Ovens, hot surfaces, electrical equipment and cooking processes create significant fire exposures. Flour dust can also create a combustible atmosphere in some production environments.
Machinery and production
Ovens, mixers, proofing cabinets, chillers and packaging lines are critical to production. Failure of a key piece of equipment can quickly become a business interruption event.
Protecting business equipment and reviewing potential accidental damage exposure can be an important part of the overall programme.
Health, safety and occupational exposure
Flour dust, cleaning agents and production chemicals, including COSHH-controlled substances, can create significant occupational health risks. We can support businesses with practical risk management alongside their insurance programme. This is especially important where businesses employ people in production, warehouse and distribution roles. It also matters where an employee or visitor could be injured in the event of a slip, fall or other workplace incident.
Supply chain disruption
Dependence on ingredients, packaging, utilities, specialist equipment and logistics means disruption upstream can quickly affect production and customer commitments.
More than insurance
We bring together insurance, risk management and specialist expertise to help bakery businesses understand and manage their most important risks. This includes reviewing:
- the right level of protection for your operations, assets;
- potential expenses following a loss;
- business insurance arrangements;
- and identifying gaps in standard cover.
We help ensure your programme reflects the scale and complexity of your operation rather than using a generic market approach.
How we help
We design and place insurance programmes covering key risks such as:
- property;
- business interruption;
- equipment breakdown;
- stock;
- product and public liability;
- motor and goods in transit;
- product recall;
- cyber;
- management liability;
- and credit risk.
Where appropriate, we can also provide specialist solutions for cold storage, contamination and other risks specific to food manufacturing. This may include public liability insurance, public liability cover, stock cover, protection for theft, and cover for loss or damage affecting property, finished goods and operational assets.
Our risk specialists can work alongside your business to identify opportunities to reduce risk and improve resilience. This can include food safety, health and safety, hygiene, allergen control and operational reviews.
We can also support the delivery of IOSH Managing Safely and IOSH Safety for Senior Executives and Directors courses. Insurer funding is also often available to help offset the cost.
When a loss occurs, our claims specialists support you throughout the claims process. They can help you navigate complex claims and focus on getting your business back up and running. We can help you understand key details, relevant policy documentation, potential legal costs, and how cover may respond where stock is damaged, equipment is stolen, or a third party alleges loss, injury or damage.
As your business grows, your risks change too. Whether you are investing in a new production line, expanding your facilities, acquiring another business or preparing for a sale, we can bring insurance, risk and specialist advice together to support your plans.
Our wider capabilities also include employee benefits and pensions, mergers and acquisitions, and other specialist advisory services. We can also help businesses review how insurance should evolve as operations expand across new sites, routes, customer channels and ownership structures.
A common misconception is that product liability insurance will cover the costs of a recall. In reality, product liability insurance typically responds only to claims involving bodily injury or property damage caused by your product.
To address this exposure, Marsh has developed a market-leading product recall facility called ‘RecallPro’. It is specifically designed to cater for food and beverage businesses, from start-ups through to businesses with up to £200 million turnover.
What insurance does a bakery need?
There is no standard bakery insurance programme. The right combination of cover depends on your products, production processes, customers, locations and supply chain. The objective is not simply to buy bakery insurance cover. It is to make sure the programme reflects how your business actually operates, the exposures you carry and the financial impact if something goes wrong.
A typical programme may include:
- Property. Buildings, machinery, equipment, stock and contents.
- Business interruption. Protection against lost income and increased costs following insured damage or certain specified non-damage events.
- Product and public liability. Protection against third-party injury, property damage and product-related claims.
- Employers’ liability. Legally required for businesses employing staff.
- Equipment breakdown. Protection for critical machinery and equipment beyond standard property cover.
- Product recall. Financial protection following the recall or withdrawal of products, including contamination and allergen-related incidents.
- Motor fleet and goods in transit. For vehicles and goods moving between suppliers, sites and customers.
- Cyber. Protection against incidents that can disrupt systems, production, sales and customer operations.
- Management liability. Including directors’ and officers’ liability, employment practices and crime.
- Credit insurance. Protection against the risk of customers failing to pay for goods supplied on credit: UK Food & Beverage Trade Credit Insurance Guide.
For many bakery businesses, this may also mean reviewing employers liability, protection for mobile equipment and delivery trips, and whether the programme remains appropriate as the business grows beyond the legal minimum requirement.
The key question is not simply what covers you have. It is whether your programme reflects how your bakery actually operates and where the biggest financial exposures sit. That can include loss of margin, contractual penalties, replacement prices, crisis management costs and wider uninsured expenses.
How can Marsh help?
We start by understanding your business, from production and premises through to suppliers, customers and distribution. We then help identify the risks that could have the greatest financial impact and build an insurance and risk management programme around them.
Talk to our bakery specialists
If you would like to discuss your bakery’s insurance and risk needs, our specialists are ready to help.
Get in touch
Get in touch with our manufacturing insurance experts to see how we can help you and your business.
Frequently asked questions
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Equipment breakdown can have an impact far beyond the cost of repairing the machinery. Depending on your policy, business interruption cover can help protect income and additional costs while production is restored. We can help assess your critical equipment and the potential financial impact of a failure.
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Yes. We can review the insurance implications of extensions, new production lines and major plant upgrades, including contract works, property, equipment and liability arrangements.
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Insurers may ask for business details, turnover, locations, products, security arrangements and claims history. They may also ask what steps you take to keep premises secure, and whether your records and policy documentation are up to date.
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Smaller firms, including independent bakers, businesses with a shop, and those selling online through a website, may need a simpler form of bakery insurance cover or business insurance.
If you prepare home baked goods, and need home baking insurance, work as a cake decorator, or attend markets and fair events, your needs may be different from those of larger manufacturers. The cover needed can depend on how you are trading, where you sell, and whether you travel for events or delivery trips.
Our sister company, smei caters for smaller bakery businesses and home bakers: https://www.smeinsurance.com/shop-retail-insurance/bakery-insurance.html
