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Power outage

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daisy

New member
Well for the first time in many many years we are shut down for about 3-4 days due to a severe storm that came thru on Wednesday nite, I was able to open yesterday for about 5 hrs to make a little money, but by hr 5 my walk in cooler which only had the dough left in it was at 60 degrees, I am so sadden by this, I had to throw away almost $800 in supplies and will end up loosing over $2000 is sales over the weekend, only good thing is my insurance compnay is going to cover all lost sales & lost product. I soooo pray we can get back up & running by Monday, Pray for me 😦
 
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Hang in there! I know that sucks - although I have never been down that long with exception to when I moved my one shop into a new location and we had to wait 3 extra days for the dang health dept to actually show up.

I did have a freezer, Under Counter 2 door cooler, A/C and Swamp Cooler all go out on the same day and had to toss out $500 worth of food 2 weeks ago.
 
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As a former insurance adjuster I can not think that putting in a claim that small will be good for you in the long run…
 
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You dont think a $2800 + claim is worth it, how could it hurt me in the long run?? just curious
 
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Insurance companies rate you on your claims history…Best to ask your broker for some advice and make sure they are telling what you need to know versus what they think you want to hear…Some brokers will tell you that a claim is no problem and then when your renewal comes in, your premium and/or deductible has increased…

As far as your claim, I doubt they will give you your actual lost sales…They usually settle this type of claim on the basis of lost profit…Which will be a much lower number…
 
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I spoke to my agent & what they do is go back 4 months on say todays(Friday) sales & take the average of that days sales & thats what they cover, along with yesterdays sales & food spoilage which is at least $800 becuase I just received in my truck on Tuesday, we were closed Wednesday & thats when the power went out around 3 in the morning, plus it did not help that the temp Wednesday & yesterday was well over 100 degrees, that took a hugh toll on my walkin cooler full of food, my dough looked like basketballs last nite
 
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Often a broker and adjuster will have a little different spin on how a claim is calculated so I hope he has advised you correctly…Most business interruption claims are settled on a “profits” basis…Not saying “loss of sales” is not covered but that is a settlement I never saw…

Good luck…
 
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Daisy… having the other half of my family in insurance I will have to agree with Royce. Yes you have coverage for actual lost of goods…ie: cooler items… you say around $800 and then lost sales of $2k but will they actually pay lost profits or total sales? It would be rare to cover the lost raw goods and finished products together. Now you are talking a combined guesstimate of $1300 or so.
What is your deductible… $500… $1000? Even at $500 you net $800 and like Royce said… they will take note of this at renewal time. Might cost you a lot more than it is worth.

I know every loss hurts but even small operations need to start putting aside just a little for emergencies like this. Put 2% a day in a special “NO-TOUCH” fund. It is just a small amount but helps for things like this and the other ones like compressors go out or oven needs a motor…etc. Just the emergency slosh fund.

I just read your post… all I would add is verify what exactly they are covering and your deductible. Also ask directly what your agent thinks will happen to your rates. Question a lot!
 
Daisy if they only give you net profit and actual food value lost… you could be looking at around $1000 less $500 deductible… so a net check to you around $500. I would take the lost profit. Then eat the $300 difference of raw material value to deductible… and then I would call my suppliers and ask for a break on a new quick order. Explain that you are eating the loss and would appreciate a great price just this one time on an order to replenish your stock. Might get a little help…maybe free shipping and extra 10-20% off or something. Get a little sympathy from them. It never hurts to just ask! Best of luck too you. Save the claims incase you have a month of no power. I would also say…save for a backup natural gas generator. You then might be one of the few places that could actually supply hot and fresh food in a natural disaster situation. :idea:
 
qcfmike:
I would also say…save for a backup natural gas generator. You then might be one of the few places that could actually supply hot and fresh food in a natural disaster situation. :idea:
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Funny Story Mike, I did buy a generator a few months ago, went & picked up all the clamps & wire I needed, I could not get ahold of my electrician at all, I was soooo disappointed with him yesterday. So I am talking to another electrician tomorrow, he is coming up to hook up my wiring to my panel, & mark everything so next time this happens I can do it myself. I was so attempted to do it myself yesterday, but did not, because being that it was my first time doing it I wanted a professional there to make sure I did it correctly.
 
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There ya go! So long as you can cover power to the cooler, prep table, and exhaust hoods… and deck ovens dont use much power… belts might eat a lot more of your available… the cooler is really the only thing that NEEDS 100% power… can run a mixer with other units off… and open with just the cooler, exhaust, ovens, and a few lights on. Like I said…and I have been through a couple week long outages… finding a place with hot food and power to cook it… the lines are out the door. Oh, and keep is ice maker going!!!
 
Spoke to my insurane guy, we are not filing a claim, going to eat what we lost, really sucks but I suppose it will do us good in the long run, on the flip side we had our power back late Friday nite, but could not reopen till Saturday afternoon after having to replenish all lost stock, and we were slammed all nite into Sunday nite, becuase the town north of us still did not have power going into Sunday late nite, so we were getting all new customers coming in looking for food, becuase they could not cook haha, that made my weekend. :lol:
 
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I thought you would probably come down to just a couple hundred dollars spread and the long run cost could cost that many times over. Great to hear about the new and hungry customers! :mrgreen:
 
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