Market research

Check the whole internet before you decide

Our market research starts with your program and it's objectives. From there, our technology pulls the relevant data from competitive filings, public records, local and national data sets, and any other relevant data sources. We then analyze and synthesize that data to provide you with actionable steps to improved underwriting results.

Step 1

Your program and goals

Your structure, coverage, results and objectives are the starting point.

Step 2

Competitor filings

Every rate, rule and form filing for your line across the surrounding states.

Step 3

Bespoke datasets

Public records on the businesses you insure, built into custom datasets for your continued use.

Step 4

Underwriting judgment

Reading the three together, with clear limits on what the data can show, we construct a comprehensive view of the market.

Example study · October 2026

A New York restaurant program

An independent study of a small business program in New York: where it could grow, how its competitors are moving, and which exposures it may want to control first. Built entirely from public filings and public data. The program and its competitors are not named here.

700+

New York businessowners filings reviewed

competitor programs read in depth

20+

city, state and federal datasets

22,000

NYC restaurants followed, 2017 to 2026

What it uncovered Coverage gaps New markets Growth strategy Competitor map

Coverage gaps

Three gaps in the program's coverage, each with New York precedent

The program's New York forms were built on an ISO edition from 2006. Comparing them line by line with competitors' forms and manuals turned up gaps that match risks rising in the city's own data.

Coverage gap matrix

This table shows which safeguards each program has filed in New York.

Filed Optional or partial None filed

Safeguard	Market leader	Comp. 2	Comp. 3	Comp. 4	Comp. 5	The program
Kitchen fire suppressionHood and duct system must be kept working to keep fire coverage
Delivery auto restrictedNo hired or non-owned auto for restaurants that deliver
E-bike and scooter exclusionRiding, storing and charging
Communicable disease exclusionHalf: optional, or keeps food and drink illness covered
Restaurant coverage packageSpoilage, food contamination, sewer backup
Outdoor dining coverageNot yet filed by anyone

Sources: New York businessowners forms and manuals filed by each carrier, 2010 to 2026.

From the filingsThe program's own results and competitors' forms

112%

the program's five-year loss ratio on food delivery auto

62%

of those delivery losses from large claims

2006

the edition of the industry forms the program still uses

2 of 5

competitors that don't offer delivery auto to restaurants that deliver

“In NYC alone as of 5/10/23, the FDNY has linked 76 fires to these lithium batteries.”Competitor 7, answering the regulator while filing its e-bike and scooter exclusion. Approved November 2023.

From public dataFDNY fire records and battery fire releases

+88%

NYC restaurant and bar fires, 2019 to 2023

~9×

rise in NYC lithium-ion battery fires, 2019 to 2024

NYC lithium-ion battery fires by year

~30

104

220

268

277

20192021202220232024

All battery firesInside buildings (reported from 2023)

Early 2025FDNY reported building battery fires up 53% through early April. The city's one battery-fire death that year was in a Queens pizzeria.

Source: FDNY figures and press releases. 2020 not reported.

Conclusion

Two of the gaps, kitchen fire and communicable disease, close with one action: moving to the current industry forms. Restricting delivery auto coverage, as the closest competitors do, may be easier to put in place than a large rate increase. An e-bike exclusion has direct precedent: a competitor got one approved by citing the same FDNY battery-fire figures. And no one has filed outdoor dining coverage yet, which leaves an opening.

New markets

Year-round outdoor dining becomes a new market in NYC

Our analysis discoverd that in August 2026, just a few months before we began our research, New York City made roadway dining legal year-round. The data suggests full-service restaurants, the more profitable segment, are the main applicants.

No carrier has yet brough an endorsement for outdoor dining to market in New York City or is pricing for the exposure. Permitting data shows high demand.

Conclusion

Our recommendation was to grow the full-service classes, and this emerging exposure creates a unique way to differentiate in a crowded market.

Outdoor dining licenses issued in NYC

This chart shows the running total of Dining Out NYC licenses, by quarter.

2,515

licenses issued by late October 2026

929

issued in July to September 2026, the most of any quarter

5 of 5

competitors offering a restaurant package

Sources: NYC DOT Dining Out NYC licenses (NYC Open Data); competitors' New York forms and manuals.

Also in the study

More of what the research uncovered

Growth strategy

Where the program could win profitable accounts while competitors reprice, who to target, where to find them, and which segments to grow through rate instead.

Available upon request

Competitor map

How the five programs that set the terms in New York run their books: focus, results, rate history and the moves behind them.

Available upon request

What you get

The same research, built around your program

A competitor mapWho matters in your segment, how each one structures its program, and the rate history and results they've filed.
A coverage gap matrixThe safeguards, exclusions and packages peers use to manage risk that could strengthen your program too.
Market trendsWhere exposure and demand are moving, from public data matched to your underwriting characteristics.
Clear next stepsOne report with the findings above and a practical path forward for your program.

Talk through your next state or program

Expanding into a new state, asking for capacity, or reviewing results? Send a short note about what you're deciding.

kyle@emler.io Email Kyle