Manry Heston is the oldest property and casualty insurance agency in Atlanta. The agency opened the business downtown in 1887, and in 1898 the agency became one of first tenants in the old Grant Building on Broad Street. Early on, William F. Manry had various partners, but in the mid-1890’s, he was joined by his brother, James Manry. During this time, the company was known as W.F. Manry & Co. When William F. Manry’s son-in-law, William Heston, joined the firm in the early 20th century, the agency was renamed Manry Bros. & Heston.
Individual attention is a cornerstone at Manry Heston, and the agency has operated with the same core tenets for over 135 years: service, experience and integrity. Charles McCollum, President of Manry Heston, shared a bit about the industry and his experience in a conversation with What Now.
How did you come into this particular career/industry?
My degree is in risk management and insurance, so I’ve been in the insurance industry my whole career. I secured my degree from the University of Georgia, graduated in 1994, and from ‘94 to 2001, I worked in the claims sector. And then in 2002, I joined Manry Heston. I became a minority shareholder in the agency in 2014 and president of the agency in 2017.
What do you find unique about the F&B industry right now?
Well, there’s a lot. Even though I’ve worked at Manry Heston for a while, I owned a restaurant for around nine years. I’m not just some insurance guy; I know a ton about restaurants because I was in the throes of it for almost a decade. Today, especially post-covid, much has changed. What I’m hearing from my clients and my friends still in the industry is the struggle with labor…finding labor, keeping workers; as the labor force in this industry is transient by nature. You have to walk the fine line between having too many folks on your staff, and not enough people on your staff. If you have too many, employees can’t get enough hours, and they go somewhere else to work. But if you don’t have enough workers, then the ones you do have are working too much. So right now in the industry, finding that balance is tough.
Something that’s also unique in this post-covid world is there are way more restaurants offering to-go orders which wasn’t as common before covid. Higher-end restaurants, establishments that didn’t have the infrastructure for online ordering or to-go orders, have pivoted to take-out; they had to be adaptable. It’s stuck around because the market has dictated it.
Another thing that’s been unique is the number of different concepts and variety now in Atlanta. More fast-casual, food halls and higher-end chains from different parts of the country are coming here now. It’s all different types of cuisine too; it’s not just the same flavors that we’re accustomed to in this area. Atlanta has become more of a restaurant hotspot due to the influx of growth in the downtown area over the last 10 or 15 years.
What is a service that your company provides to the F&B industry that has a big impact but can be initially undervalued or overlooked?
As an insurance agency, we recognize the premium our clients pay is obviously important to them. Everybody wants to save money on their insurance, and everybody wants to talk about price when they’re buying insurance, but it’s just as important to discuss coverage before there is an actual claim. We take more of a consultative approach to the insurance buying process. We want to sit down with the business owner and discuss claim scenarios. We’ll evaluate your current coverage and advise whether or not your policy would actually provide coverage for the claims examples we discussed.
For example, may you have an employee who uses their own personal vehicle to drive on the job. Let’s say the employee drove to the bank, they got into an accident, and the other party is injured. During the claim’s investigation, it’s discovered the employee was working when the accident took place. The injured party secures an attorney, and they sue the driver, who is your employee, and since the employee was working, the attorney also names the restaurant in the suit. What’s your insurance going to do? Is it going to cover that or not? If an employee alleges wrongful termination, sexual harassment, or employee discrimination, does your policy cover that? Or if a patron alleges discrimination? Do you have coverage for that? If you have a fire resulting in the restaurant closing, now you’re losing your revenue, but you still have recurring expenses, does your insurance provide coverage for that? We go through various scenarios, but we aren’t necessarily telling people what coverage to buy. We want the business owner to be aware of the exposures, so they can make an educated buying decision.
It isn’t just some cookie-cutter policy straight off the shelf, each scenario is different. We try to have those conversations on the front end and take a consultative approach. We talk to the owner about exposures on the front end and identify any uninsured exposures before there’s a claim.
What’s one restaurant you would recommend to somebody visiting from out of town, a place that’s locally loved in Atlanta?
I’m personally a barbecue guy. There are tons of options in Metro-Atlanta, but specifically I love Old Hickory House in Tucker, Georgia. There’s also Sweet Auburn BBQ, which has a little different twist to their menu. There’s a place in College Park called Hattie Marie’s. That’s a great Texas-style barbecue restaurant. And Fox Bros. on DeKalb Avenue in Atlanta. I’d recommend any of these places. Pick one of those and you can’t go wrong.
To connect with Charles from Manry Heston about your insurance needs, email him at [email protected]
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