The next few months are a busy time for restaurants and bars, as people celebrate or host events for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. While businesses get a big financial boost from customers celebrating the holidays, it also comes with added risk because of the increase of alcohol sales and consumption.

If you're a small business owner, you understand that there are many responsibilities and roles to juggle in order to keep your company afloat. You might be interviewing candidates for job openings, analyzing monthly financial reports, closing a big sale, communicating with vendors, and resolving client issues all in one day.

The United States is home to over 1 million restaurants, employing over 15 million workers a year in establishments both big and small. Regardless of the size, location, or type of restaurant, workers at these businesses often suffer a higher rate of injury and accidents than workers in other industries. Because of the higher risk of worker injuries, it's imperative for business owners to promote worker safety at all times.

Having a successful business depends on having a strong, reliable workforce, but sometimes the workplace can become a hindrance to employee health. For example, if your restaurant or retail space is in an older building or one in need of maintenance, your employees could be getting sick at a higher rate than employees at cleaner or newer facilities. An increase in employee illness can quickly result in a drop in both productivity and profitability.

Upgrades can be fun or rewarding opportunities, such as being bumped up on your flight from economy to first class, or being offered a luxury suite instead of a standard hotel room. However, there are sometimes when upgrades are a necessity in order to improve your company's daily operations and safety, or to boost certain areas of your business that need improvement. In today's Aegis blog post, we'll look at three upgrades that can help make your company safer and reduce liability exposure for your business.

More effective than a television, radio, print, or Internet ad, viral videos can instantly boost the profile of a business or business owner as it spreads online and is shared by thousands or millions of viewers. While some business viral videos might highlight the skills of a kind retail employee or talented restaurant chef, others might capture a waiter's rude customer service or unsafe contractor. The real question for business owners is: what kind of viral video would your business have?

Whether people are celebrating a birthday or anniversary, a new job or promotion, or just the end of a rough week, it's common for people to partake in an alcoholic beverage or two at a local bar or restaurant. Unfortunately, if people have had too much to drink and become intoxicated, this can lead to disastrous consequences such as altercations with other patrons or even a serious car accident. In these events, the bar or restaurant that provided them with alcohol could be held liable for damages and losses.

Although summer may mean a boost in sales or customer activity, it could also mean an increase in worker injuries, lost or damaged merchandise, or structural issues to your business. For a large number of businesses, summer can be the riskiest time of the year. Today's Aegis blog post looks at the ways businesses may be at a greater risk during the summer months, ways to minimize risks, and what kinds of Commercial Insurance may be needed.

A growing number of Americans now experience some form of food allergies or food sensitivities, making it a greater challenge for restaurant owners to safely serve customers without causing allergic reactions or illnesses. Although many with these allergies and sensitivities will be very upfront with servers and management when ordering, restaurants might still serve them a meal that triggers a reaction.

In a recent blog post, we looked at how restaurants may have different commercial insurance needs over time because of changes in size, business assets, and employee rosters. Today we continue on the same theme of restaurant insurance by looking at other liability exposures that are more prevalent in the restaurant industry, and how the right kind of coverage can help mitigate these risks.