Restaurant Equipment: Treasures Hidden in Plain Sight
As a restaurant owner, your daily challenge is to stay appealing. From your soup of the day to your early bird special and your customized private event menu — capturing that eager audience of eaters who might be making a split decision on where to dine as they meander down the street is, well, your bread and butter.
Part of that appeal is your restaurant’s ambiance. Whether you’re a fifties-style diner or a chic French bistro, you’ve invested in everything from the stools to the signs to the kitchen sink. But as seating gets worn, equipment begins to show wear and tear and warranties expire, revitalizing your look and feel becomes an important part of your business plan.
Replacing equipment or furniture throughout your restaurant requires a serious commitment of time and money. But, once your café or sports bar is sparkling new again, you may have a lot of items left over, in various states of wear and tear. Before you call to haul it all to the dump, consider the possibility of getting a fair chunk of your money back. Instead of junk, you may actually be sitting on a gold mine. Using a full-service online auction site is the quickest and easiest way to hit pay dirt.
Who Would Buy Your Junk?
There’s an old famous saying that goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Buyers of secondhand restaurant equipment are looking for deals on items that might be gently used or still operational. Auction sites specialize in creating a secure online environment for both sellers and registered buyers. Rather than buying one-off pieces on eBay or Craigslist, interested bidders can acquire entire inventories of furniture, equipment, and appliances through professional auction companies.
While buyers may be interested in joining online auctions to pay less than full price on equipment, sellers can expect to recoup up to 80% of an item’s new retail value – in other words, not just chump change. It’s not unusual for liquidations of lots to yield tens of thousands of dollars.
Who’s Going to Do the Work?
Although the concept of auction sites is not new, posting items for bid on your own typically involves a lot of photographing, description writing, question fielding, and even haggling. The time and effort it requires can something completely negate the final monies earned.
Most individual purchasers will gravitate toward the newer, more valuable equipment. This often leaves the seller to contend with items that are more difficult and time-consuming to offload, such as smallwares, hoods, and walk-in coolers, the cumbersome nature of which makes them difficult to move and can require detailed logistical attention.
Full-service auction sites take the entire process off the shoulders of restaurant equipment sellers. Without any out-of-pocket costs to you, your items will be transported, stored, marketed, and sold online through an interactive environment that connects thousands of vetted and interested bidders. Although you’re not doing the work, you’re reaping all of the rewards. Sellers are kept informed throughout the auction process and are guaranteed payment quickly after auctions close.
Whether you’re remodeling, closing one or more locations, or just doing a spring cleaning, working with an auction site can relieve the headache of clearing out old furniture, equipment, or even silverware while putting money back in your pocket. Look around and see what treasures are hiding in plain sight — it’s time to cash in.
PCI Auction Group makes selling restaurant and other industrial equipment safe and easy. With warehouses throughout the country, we're able to market your assets to a wide audience through our easy-to-use, exciting interactive environment. Learn more at pciauctions.com or call (888) 883-1388 for a free appraisal.