Three years ago, a Dallas catering company owner sat across from me with a folder full of policies.
She'd been in business for eleven years. Built it from weekend events out of her home kitchen to a full operation — staff, a leased commercial kitchen, refrigerated delivery vehicles, corporate contracts.
She was proud of that folder. She should have been.
"John, I've never missed a renewal. I review everything every year. Am I covered?"
I spent 45 minutes going through her policies.
Then I told her she had four significant gaps — and none of them were her fault.
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THE PROBLEM WITH GROWING A BUSINESS:
Her original policy was built for a weekend caterer.
A home-based operation. Small events. No employees. One personal vehicle used occasionally for work.
That policy made perfect sense in year one.
But by year eleven, she was running a completely different business. And nobody — not her previous agent, not her renewal process — had stopped to ask one critical question:
*Does your current coverage reflect the business you actually run today?*
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HERE'S WHAT WE FOUND:
**Gap #1 — Her leased commercial kitchen wasn't properly scheduled.**
Her General Liability policy still described her as a home-based caterer. The commercial kitchen lease required her to carry coverage naming the landlord as Additional Insured — with specific limits.
Her policy didn't list the location. Didn't name the landlord. And the limits were half of what the lease required.
She'd been in that kitchen for two years.
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**Gap #2 — Her delivery vehicles were on a personal auto policy.**
Two refrigerated vans used exclusively for business deliveries — both insured under a personal auto policy because "that's how it's always been."
Personal auto policies exclude commercial use. If either driver had an accident on a delivery run, the claim would have been denied on the spot.
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**Gap #3 — Her employees weren't covered the way she thought.**
She had Workers Compensation. But when she added two part-time event staff the previous spring, she forgot to report the payroll change to her carrier.
Her policy was underreporting her actual payroll by 40%.
At audit time, that's a retroactive premium bill. During a claim, that's a coverage dispute.
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**Gap #4 — No Food Contamination or Product Liability coverage.**
She was catering corporate lunches for 200+ people per event.
One contamination incident — one — could generate claims from dozens of people simultaneously. Her standard GL policy had a products/completed operations sublimit that wouldn't have covered a fraction of the exposure.
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NONE OF THESE GAPS HAPPENED BECAUSE SHE WAS CARELESS.
She reviewed her policies every year.
But reviewing a renewal isn't the same as re-evaluating your risk structure.
Every time her business grew, her exposure grew with it. And the policy underneath her stayed exactly the same.
That's how the gap forms — not from neglect, but from momentum.
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WE FIXED ALL FOUR GAPS.
It cost her $1,240 more per year.
That's $103 a month to properly cover an eleven-year business generating six figures in annual revenue.
She called me two months later. One of her delivery drivers had a fender bender on the way to a corporate event.
Claim approved. Covered in full.
"That $103 a month just paid for itself."
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YOUR ACTION ITEM THIS WEEK:
Ask yourself three questions about your current coverage:
1. **Does my policy still describe the business I actually run?**
(Same address? Same operations? Same number of employees?)
2. **Have I added anything in the last 12 months that my agent doesn't know about?**
(New location, new vehicle, new service, new equipment, new staff)
3. **Do my current contracts require coverage my policy doesn't have?**
(Lease agreements, vendor contracts, client service agreements)
If you can't answer all three with confidence — it's time for a review.
Reply to this email and I'll tell you what to look for.
John Crist
Founder, Prestizia Insurance
28 Years Protecting What Matters
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===============================================
Is your policy still built for the business you run today?
This week, Protection Circle Insider members received:
✅ The Business Growth Coverage Checklist
12 trigger events that mean your policy needs an immediate review
✅ The Commercial Auto vs. Personal Auto Guide
How to tell if your vehicles are properly covered — and what to do if they're not
✅ Workers Comp Payroll Audit Prep Sheet
How to calculate your actual exposure and avoid retroactive premium surprises
✅ Lease Agreement Insurance Requirements Decoder
What landlords actually require — and how to make sure your policy delivers it
✅ The Contract Review Checklist
Five insurance clauses buried in most service contracts that can leave you exposed
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PLUS — this month's Insider war story:
"The Catering Company That Reviewed Her Policy Every Year — And Still Had Four Gaps"
The full breakdown. Every gap. Every fix. Every dollar.
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FOUNDING MEMBER RATE: $29/month — locked in forever.
Regular rate goes to $39/month on June 15, 2026.
That deadline is two weeks away.
Not ready yet? No problem. Free protection tips keep coming every week.
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📖 Want to go deeper?
The Prestizia Protection Playbook walks through real-world coverage failures — and the exact steps to make sure yours doesn't become one.
Available on Amazon →
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P.S. — If your business has grown, changed, or added anything in the last 12 months and you haven't had a coverage review — reply to this email. Tell me what changed. I'll tell you what to check.