History of the Fund

In 1989 Members of the New Mexico Restaurant Association and the New Mexico Grocers Association joined forces to form the Food Industry Self Insurance Fund of New Mexico (FISIF), a group of like-minded, food industry businesses who would “pool” their resources to provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage to their employees. The Associations then appointed a Board of Trustees made up of four restaurateurs and four grocers to oversee the operation of the Fund and assure the Fund would be operated in the best interests of its Members.

In the first policy year, FISIF provided workers’ compensation coverage for 28 Member businesses, covering approximately $2 million in payroll.   Administration of the Fund was handled in-house while claims administration was handled by a contracted third-party administrator.

In 1996 FISIF hired the first of its team of claims experts and took claims administration in-house further benefiting our Members by reducing operating costs and employing specialized claims adjusters dedicated to effectively handling food-industry related claims and knowledgeable about the New Mexico statutes governing workers’ compensation.

Today, FISIF is the second largest self-insurance fund in the state of New Mexico, serving over 450 food industry businesses and covering more than $500 million in employee payroll. To date, FISIF has returned $18.7 million in surplus funds back to its Members and even more in the form of lower premiums.  FISIF’s wholly owned subsidiary, Adjusting Alternatives, LLC, now as a third-party administrator providing the same premiere workers’ compensation claims and administration services for other insurance carriers and other self-insured entities.

Known for its service, stability and no-nonsense approach to claims handling, in its more than 30 years of operation, FISIF has become the premiere workers’ compensation provider for New Mexico businesses in the food Industry.