​Restaurants battle for business protection and recovery

If you spent years paying business interruption insurance premiums in case your ability to conduct business was ever compromised, you have likely been unpleasantly surprised to find that your policy does not cover pandemics – even, perhaps, when there is no language in your policy excluding them. Now, a number of world-renowned chefs are fighting for that protection. Thomas Keller, Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and many others recently teamed up with the attorney and insurance specialist John Houghtaling to file the country’s first court action to recoup losses from insurers, according to a report from Keller on NBC. They formed the non-profit Business Interruption Group (BIG) (https://werbig.org/) in an effort to help restaurant businesses, large and small, collect insurance claims on the losses they believed would be covered by their business interruption policies. (Foodable conducted this interview with Houghtaling about how restaurant operators can understand their insurance cover and navigate denied claims.) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkdA9bxoNkg&feature=emb_title&utm_source=Foodable+Report+Downloads&utm_campaign=48c90208c4-Foodable_On_Demand_19_015_copy_02_7_29_2019_9_46_C&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_402dfc13cf-48c90208c4-78342785&ct=t%28Foodable_On_Demand_19_015_Wed_9_4_19_9_3_2019_COPY%29 ) BIG has already gotten the attention of the White House, with President Trump urging insurers during a recent press briefing to pay business interruption claims if pandemics are not specifically excluded. (Follow BIG’s progress here.) (https://twitter.com/werbigorg) Meanwhile, the White House has invited number of the founding members of BIG to participate in one of 17 Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups intended to kick-start the foodservice sector.