SLICE-ing Out a Piece of the Market – Insurance for Pizza Parlors

Any way you slice it, an insurance program called “safety, loss control, insurance, coverage, expertise” is likely to get the attention of pizza parlors.

Managing underwriter and program administrator EPIC Programs Group’s new insurance program for pizza restaurants and delivery operators—S.L.I.C.E.—is designed to address an exposure and risk management concern of pizza delivery operators everywhere: liability resulting from their delivery drivers.

S.L.I.C.E. focuses on reducing and mitigating these exposures through required delivery driver training and education and a risk management tools, according to EPIC.

The program offers comprehensive, bundled package protection in 40 states so far, said Seth Madnick, managing principal of San Ramon, Calif.-based EPIC Programs Group, part of San Francisco-based Edgewood Partners Insurance Center.

The idea of managing risk in commercial auto insurance isn’t unique, but the program’s name is catchy.

“We were looking at a lot of things in the pizza world,” Madnick said. “We were really trying to think of something that can relate to pizza, and how you get that message across in a branding name.”

Pepperoni? Pie? Dough?

“Slice just seemed to click, and it was a way we could come up with a program name we could match with that,” he said.

Seriously, Madnick emphasized that the program focuses on managing risk by improving driver safety, such as extensive driver training, teaching drivers to plan out routes before hand, an emphasis on safety.

There are several elements that make covering pizza delivery unattractive. The typical age of pizza delivery drivers, the amount of time drivers spend on the road, the unavoidable job requirement of having to find specific residences while driving—not to mention delivery in 30 minutes or less.

“Few carriers want to touch the exposure,” Madnick said, adding that pizza parlors have little choice but to manage their risk. “It’s not a risk that’s going to go away, but it’s one want you want to try and manage.”

According to EPIC, which in addition to driver exposure covers property liability for pizza restaurants, roughly one-fifth of the exposure pie is consumed by the delivery portion of pizza businesses.

“Typically around the country, about 20 percent of your exposure is delivery,” Madnick said.

S.L.I.C.E is new, but EPIC already has several clients on board and several more pizza parlors in their sights, he said.

“We’re rolling this program out now, but we have several producers on board who are in the pizza business and a few thousand we are looking at over the next few months,” he said.

As if it needed stating again, Madnick added: “We’re going to be rolling this out across the country.”

Topics Training Development Risk Management Human Resources