# Insurance for coffee roasteries with roaster, shop and online store in Germany

> A coffee roastery works with a hot drum, flammable chaff and green coffee worth tens of thousands of euros. Add a shop, an online store and café customers. A fire in the roaster or a foreign body in the coffee can stop the business for weeks. This page shows which insurance roasteries in Germany need and what it costs.

Quelle/Source: https://www.nammert.com/en/business-insurance-coffee-roastery.php  
Updated: 2026-10-15

## My roaster caught fire but the room is barely damaged. Does my contents insurance pay?

A fire inside the roaster is often restricted in fire insurance when only the machine is affected; many policies exclude damage to items that are meant to be exposed to fire or heat. That is what machinery insurance is for, and it also covers operating errors, overheating and material defects. Business interruption cover protects the time when you cannot roast.

## At a glance

- **Coffee tax:** Under § 2 of the Coffee Tax Act, roasted coffee carries €2.19 tax per kilogram; anyone running a tax warehouse needs a permit under § 6
- **Product liability:** If a defective product injures someone, the producer must compensate under § 1 of the Product Liability Act, even without fault
- **Biggest risk:** Fire in the roaster or exhaust, caused by chaff and oil, with production stopped afterwards
- **Basic cover from:** around €300 a year public liability for a small roastery with shop, a guide figure from our quoting work
- **Berufsgenossenschaft:** For food producers, the BGN is the statutory accident insurer; the Berufsgenossenschaft decides the exact classification
- **Often forgotten:** Machinery damage to the roaster, which contents cover against fire and burglary does not include

## What goes wrong in this trade

- **Fire in the roaster:** Chaff in the cyclone, oil in the exhaust, a roast left too long: roasteries have a higher fire risk.
- **Machinery breakdown:** Drum, burner, controls or grinder fail. Spare parts often come from abroad.
- **Foreign bodies:** A small stone survives cleaning and breaks a customer’s tooth.
- **Spoiled green coffee:** Damp or a burst pipe in the store ruins sacks worth thousands of euros.
- **Production stops:** After a loss, subscriptions, cafés and retailers go without coffee and customers drift away.
- **Online store:** Subscriptions, customer data and payment run online. An attack stops sales.

**Risk radar** (Compared with other trades, 1 low to 5 high.): Liability 4, Fire and water 5, Theft 3, Cyber 3, Downtime 4, Health 2

## The insurance you need

- **Business liability** (Essential): With product liability for harm caused by your coffee, also when sold on through retailers and cafés. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-liability.php
- **Business contents** (Essential): Insures roaster, grinders, packaging, green coffee and finished goods against fire, burglary and burst pipes. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-contents.php
- **Machinery breakdown** (Strongly advised): Covers damage to the roaster and grinders from operating errors, overheating and material defects. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-machinery-breakdown.php
- **Business interruption** (Strongly advised): Replaces lost income when you cannot roast after a fire or machinery breakdown. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-interruption.php
- **Cyber insurance** (Depends on the business): For the online store, coffee subscriptions and stored payment data. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-cyber-insurance.php
- **Cargo insurance** (Depends on the business): For goods on the way to cafés, markets and fairs. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-cargo-insurance.php
- **Business legal expenses** (Depends on the business): For disputes with suppliers, landlords and customers. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-legal-expenses.php

## What it costs: example prices

Because of the fire risk, roasteries are not among the cheapest businesses to insure. Roasting volume, extraction and cleaning, stock value and whether you supply retailers all matter.

| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Business liability | Small roastery with shop and café, €3 million cover | around €300 to €800 a year |
| Business liability | Roastery supplying retailers and cafés, product liability | around €800 to €2,500 a year |
| Business contents | Roaster, grinders and stock worth €150,000 | around €600 to €1,800 a year |
| Machinery breakdown | Drum roaster, replacement value €80,000 | around €400 to €1,200 a year |
| Cyber insurance | Online store with coffee subscriptions | around €400 to €1,200 a year |

For comparison: For roasteries we mainly compare how fire and heat damage inside the roaster are handled, whether machinery and loss of income cover fit and how far product liability reaches.

_Guide figures from our own quoting work, October 2026, excluding German insurance premium tax. Extraction, cleaning intervals and fire protection strongly affect the premium. Coffee tax and product liability details come from the statutes._

- [Gesetze im Internet: § 2 Coffee Tax Act, tax rates](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/kaffeestg_2009/__2.html)
- [Gesetze im Internet: § 6 Coffee Tax Act, tax warehouse permit](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/kaffeestg_2009/__6.html)
- [Gesetze im Internet: § 1 Product Liability Act](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/prodhaftg/__1.html)

## Our suggestions: three packages

- **Shop and roaster** (small roastery selling in its own shop): Business liability, Business contents, Machinery breakdown. Together: around €1,200 to €3,000 a year
- **Roastery with trade** (roastery supplying cafés, with online store): Business liability, Business contents, Machinery breakdown, Business interruption, Cyber insurance. Together: around €3,000 to €7,000 a year
- **Several sites** (roastery with several cafés, subscriptions and export): Business liability, Business contents, Machinery breakdown, Business interruption, Cyber insurance, Cargo insurance, Business legal expenses. Together: individual, usually from around €7,000 a year

## The worst day at the roastery

Six losses coffee roasteries really go through, all on one Friday before the Christmas rush. Tap through and see who pays.

- 06:45: Chaff in the cyclone catches fire; exhaust and ceiling are covered in soot. (€28,000, Paid by: Business contents)
- 08:00: The roaster burner has overheated and must be replaced. (€14,000, Paid by: Machinery breakdown)
- 09:30: No roasting for three weeks; subscriptions and cafés go unsupplied. (€22,000, Paid by: Business interruption)
- 12:15: A customer breaks a tooth on a small stone in the coffee. (€2,500, Paid by: Business liability)
- 15:40: The online store is hacked and customer data is affected. (€8,000, Paid by: Cyber insurance)
- 18:20: A pallet of coffee is damaged on its way to a café. (€1,200, Paid by: Cargo insurance)

**Damage so far:** €75,700

## Practical tips from your broker

- Ask explicitly whether a fire inside the roaster is covered or excluded as heat damage to the machine.
- Record cleaning of cyclone and exhaust; insurers ask about it.
- Insure green coffee at replacement cost and adjust the sum as prices rise.
- If you supply retailers or export, check product liability for export and recall.
- Match the indemnity period to the delivery time of a new roaster.
- Keep retained samples and batch numbers; they help with complaints.

## Why NAMMERT for your business

- **We read the roaster clauses:** Whether a fire in the roaster is covered is in the small print. We compare those clauses, not just the price.
- **Claims experience from boat insurance:** We know engines and machinery from boat insurance, where we handle claims ourselves.
- **Business and private in one place:** Roastery, shop, home and pension with one contact person.
- **Family run, brokering since 1989:** Norman Nammert acts as an insurance broker and we can advise you in English. Our work is free for you; the insurer pays our commission.

## FAQ

### Which insurance is compulsory for a coffee roastery in Germany?

There is no specific compulsory insurance law for roasteries. Still essential are public liability including product liability and contents cover for roaster and stock.

### Is a fire inside the roaster covered?

That depends on the policy terms. Many fire policies exclude damage to items meant to be exposed to fire or heat. Machinery insurance closes that gap.

### What does insurance for a coffee roastery cost?

From our quoting work, around €1,200 to €3,000 a year for a small roastery with shop, and around €3,000 to €7,000 with trade customers and online store.

### How high is the German coffee tax?

Under § 2 of the Coffee Tax Act, €2.19 per kilogram of roasted coffee and €4.78 per kilogram of soluble coffee. Anyone running a tax warehouse needs a permit under § 6.

### Am I liable for harm caused by my coffee?

Yes. Under the Product Liability Act the producer must compensate when a defective product injures someone, even without fault. Product liability cover pays for that.

## Request quotes

We obtain quotes and come back with a comparison, free of charge. You can write in English. https://www.nammert.com/en/business-insurance-coffee-roastery.php#anfrage

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Your broker: Norman Nammert, trading as NAMMERT. Insurance broker licensed under section 34d(1) of the German Trade Regulation Act. Broker register no. D-C08Q-TOSD4-37. NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH is a separate company. It does not arrange your contract.

NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH, Karl-Marx-Straße 4, 15711 Königs Wusterhausen, +49 3375 29 12 77, info@nammert.com. Wikidata: Q141141479.