A bakehouse starts work at three in the morning with ovens running above 250 degrees and closes in the afternoon when the last customer leaves the café table. In between lie the typical losses: the oven that will not fire up, the metal shaving in a bread roll, the fryer fat that catches light. This page sets out what should be insured and what it costs.
Will insurance pay if the oven simply breaks down?
Contents insurance will not, because it only covers fire, burst pipes, storm and burglary. If the control unit burns out, a heating element cracks or someone operates the oven wrongly, you need machinery insurance. The takings you lose in the days until the repair are then covered by machinery business interruption, provided you added it to the policy.
What goes wrong in this trade
01
Fire in the bakehouse
Ovens, deep fryers and flour dust: bakery fires often start at night, when a single baker is working alone.
02
The oven goes down
No oven, no sales. Repairs and parts for a deck oven quickly run to five figures, and every day without bread costs takings in every shop.
03
Foreign objects in the baking
A metal shaving from the dough machine, a scrap of film, a small stone in the flour: a customer's broken tooth is a classic liability claim.
04
Allergens
Nuts in a cake sold as nut free, or missing allergen information at the counter, can trigger a severe allergic reaction.
05
Accidents and baker's asthma
Burns at the oven, cuts on the bread slicer and respiratory illness from flour dust affect owners and staff alike.
06
Deliveries before dawn
Branches, hotels and canteens are supplied early, often by drivers who have been awake for hours.
Pays for broken teeth from foreign objects, allergic reactions and falls in the café, as long as products liability for goods you bake yourself is included.
A company pension helps you keep bakers and counter staff when good people are hard to find.
What it costs: example prices
Bakeries pay little for liability cover and considerably more for their machinery and business interruption. What matters is turnover, the number of shops, the value of the ovens and whether there is a café.
Insurance
Example
Typical range
Business liability
Bakery with one shop, turnover up to 100,000 euros
around 100 to 350 euros a year
Business liability
Bakery with café or small branches, turnover around 250,000 euros
around 140 to 1,300 euros a year, depending on the insurer
Business contents
Bakehouse and shop with fittings and stock worth 150,000 euros
around 400 to 1,000 euros a year
Machinery breakdown
Deck oven, refrigeration and dough machines worth 100,000 euros
around 300 to 900 euros a year
Business interruption
Loss of income for up to twelve months, combined with contents insurance
around 150 to 450 euros a year
For comparison: Basic cover of liability and contents insurance costs about as much a year as you take for 1,500 bread rolls.
Guide figures excluding insurance tax, as of September 2026.
The liability figures come from public price comparisons,
where the most expensive insurer charges more than five times the cheapest for the same turnover.
Machinery and business interruption are guide figures from our own quoting practice.
Six losses that bakeries really suffer, all packed into one Saturday. Tap through from lighting the oven to closing time and see who pays.
Damage so far€99,000
The control unit of the deck oven burns out. The oven stays cold; a replacement board and a weekend call out for the engineer.
€8,500 · Paid by: Machinery breakdown
Because the oven is down, the shops stay half empty until midday. Saturday's takings are gone.
€4,200 · Paid by: Business interruption
Manoeuvring outside a branch, the delivery van slides into a parked car.
€3,800 · Paid by: Fleet insurance
A customer bites on a metal shaving in a multigrain roll and breaks a tooth. Implant and compensation for pain and suffering.
€5,500 · Paid by: Business liability
A customer goes into anaphylactic shock after a slice of cake, although she had asked about nuts.
€12,000 · Paid by: Business liability
The fat in the doughnut fryer catches fire. The bakehouse is covered in soot, fittings and ingredients are ruined.
€65,000 · Paid by: Business contents
Which package would you have had?
Paid by insurance: €0
Out of your own pocket: €99,000
Illustrative amounts before any excess.
What is paid depends on the policy terms.
Practical tips from your broker
Include products liability for goods you bake yourself, and ask about recall costs if you supply retailers or hotels.
Alongside machinery insurance for the oven, agree loss of income after machinery breakdown, or nobody pays for the days without bread.
Name every branch and every mobile sales van in the policy, including the stall at the weekly market.
Insure ingredients and stock with extra headroom for the weeks before Christmas, when stollen and biscuits fill the storeroom.
Check that fat fires and flour dust explosions are not excluded, and ask which fire safety conditions the insurer sets.
Have your income protection policy written for your actual job in the bakehouse, not for office work.
Why NAMMERT for your business
We compare the terms, not only the price
For the same bakery, the most expensive insurer can charge several times what the cheapest does. As a broker we obtain several quotes and tell you where the real difference lies.
We know claims handling from the inside
Because we handle claims ourselves in boat insurance, we know how an insurer examines a machinery claim and prepare your notification accordingly.
Bakehouse, vans and family in one place
Your business, vehicles, staff pensions and personal cover sit with one contact who knows your situation, reachable on +49 3375 29 12 77.
A family business ourselves, since 1989
We know businesses that pass from one generation to the next. Our work costs you nothing; the insurer pays our commission.
Frequently asked questions
Questions and answers
Which insurance does a bakery really need?
Public liability with products liability, contents insurance for fittings and stock and,
because ovens are expensive, machinery insurance.
With several shops, business interruption and motor insurance for the delivery vans come on top.
What does liability insurance cost for a bakery?
For a small bakery it starts at around 100 euros a year.
At 250,000 euros turnover, quotes in comparisons range from about 140 to over 1,200 euros,
so comparing pays off.
Is a broken tooth from a foreign object covered?
Yes, through the liability policy,
provided products liability for goods you make yourself is included.
Keep the object and record what happened straight away.
Will insurance pay if flour dust causes an explosion?
Explosion is usually covered under contents insurance.
Even so, ask the insurer to confirm in writing that dust explosions are not excluded.
Is my stall at the weekly market covered?
Only if it is named in the policy.
A stall, trailer and stock away from the premises often need to be added separately.
Who pays if someone is hurt at work in the bakehouse?
The BGN, the statutory accident insurer for food businesses, covers your employees.
As the owner you are not automatically insured there;
ask about its voluntary cover for business owners or take out private accident insurance.
NAMMERT insurance broker
Request quotes for Bakery
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