Blanket Insurance

What You Need to Know

If you own three restaurants with blanket coverage of $1.5 million, you can apply that full amount to any single location that suffers a loss, rather than being limited to a fixed amount per location. With specific (scheduled) limits, each location has its own fixed, guaranteed amount instead.

Blanket insurance:

• Single combined limit covers all locations, with flexible allocation
• Better for uneven property values across locations
• Simpler to administer, but one major loss can deplete coverage for all properties

Specific (scheduled) limits:

• A separate, fixed limit for each location
• Guaranteed minimum protection per location
• Losses at different locations don't reduce each other's coverage

Why It Matters for Restaurant Owners

Blanket coverage provides flexibility for multi-location operators. If one restaurant suffers a total loss, you're not artificially limited by a per-location cap — especially valuable when one location has more expensive equipment or higher property values than the others.

Requirements and trade-offs:

• Most insurers require at least 80% coinsurance on total property values
• Blanket coverage typically costs 5-15% less than the sum of equivalent specific limits
• The trade-off: one large claim at a single location could exhaust coverage for all your properties

Calculate your total insurable values across all locations, set your blanket limit at 90-100% of total value (minimum 80% to avoid coinsurance penalties), and review after every acquisition or renovation.