Workers’ Comp and Occupancy Cost Leaks: A Checklist for 20+ Unit Restaurant Groups

Why lines get ignored

Workers’ compensation and occupancy costs sit across payroll files, loss runs, policy schedules, lease exhibits, landlord reconciliations, tax notices, and utility bills. No single owner sees the whole record, so a stale input can carry from one renewal or reconciliation to the next across every location.

For a 20+ unit group, the first task is not another broad quote. It is assembling the source documents by legal entity and location, matching each billed input to its governing worksheet or agreement, and recording every deadline. Basis Point Hospitality performs this diagnostic at no cost to the operator; participating programs compensate us from the value they create.

Workers’ comp checklist

Reconcile payroll by class code and legal entity. Confirm that clerical, management, delivery, kitchen, and service payroll sits in the proper class, and that overtime is reported on the correct premium basis for the applicable jurisdiction. Tie the final payroll file to the policy audit rather than relying on a payroll summary.

Pull the current experience-mod worksheet and the underlying loss runs. Check for stale reserves, subrogation recoveries not credited, closed claims left open, and claims assigned to the wrong entity after an acquisition or reorganization. Review corrections before the rating date so the next policy year reflects accurate inputs.

Compare deductible or retention terms with actual loss history and cash-flow tolerance. Then review return-to-work procedures, reporting timing, and claim ownership as documentation controls that affect duration and reserves. Classification and mod accuracy come before any decision about program structure or market shopping.

Occupancy & pass-through

Reopen each lease’s CAM, insurance, and tax provisions alongside the annual reconciliation. Confirm the audit-right window, exclusions, caps, administrative-fee basis, and pro-rata denominator. Test whether capital work was passed through as maintenance, fees were stacked above contractual limits, or vacancy and re-tenancy changed the proper allocation.

Build a property-tax calendar by jurisdiction and location, including notice, appeal, and payment dates. For utilities, compare tariff class, demand structure, supply arrangement, and meter assignment with the account’s actual profile. The companion guide to restaurant utility costs explains tariff, demand, supply, and metering reviews in more detail.

Review insurance program design only after the exposure records are clean: named entities and locations, values, limits, deductibles, retentions, and umbrella layers should reflect the current portfolio rather than an inherited schedule.

Recommended sequence

First, correct workers’ comp classification and experience-mod inputs. Second, exercise lease and reconciliation document rights before their deadlines, while correcting tax calendars and utility account data. Third, once every exposure and billing input is supportable, compare program structures and shop the market.

That order prevents inaccurate payroll, claims, occupancy, or location data from being priced into every proposal. It also separates corrections supported by existing documents from prospective choices about structure.

What this is not

This is not a four-wall operating program. It does not change the guest experience, menu, staffing model, service steps, or restaurant routines. The work stays in payroll records, policy and claims files, leases, reconciliations, tax calendars, and utility account documents.

In our 70-unit, $105 million restaurant-group case study, workers’ compensation, occupancy, insurance, and utilities were among the categories reviewed. That scope is context, not a workers’ comp-only or occupancy-only savings claim.

This checklist is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm interpretations, deadlines, classifications, policy choices, and lease rights with qualified counsel and your broker.

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