Get Rid of Restaurant Equipment Without Wasting Time or Money with Restaurant Equipment Auctions

Restaurant equipment auctions are a great choice for restaurants with equipment and tools they no longer need. Whether you’re going out of business, remodeling an existing restaurant, or simply have a space filled with equipment you no longer need, you have options for cleaning out the area both quickly and cost-effectively.

The first thing to know: Everything in a restaurant is worth money. From the seating packages (think tables, chairs, booths) to the large kitchen appliances, to the pots, pans, dishes, sinks – you name it — it all has value.

To remove equipment from your space, you have a few options to consider, including:

1.    Auctioning Restaurant Equipment

Auctioning your equipment is a convenient and cost-effective way to get rid of your restaurant equipment quickly. Auctions give you access to buyers you might not typically encounter. The more people who see your listing, the higher the potential demand for your item. Also, if you have more than one or two items for sale, an auction is an efficient way to get rid of them in one swoop. Instead of potentially setting up several different individual sales if you had many items, an auction gives you one centralized place to sell them all.

2. Private Sale

Sometimes you have the opportunity to sell your used equipment back to the distributor or manufacturer so they can refurbish it for resale. You also can contact other companies or restaurants in your industry to see if they’re interested in purchasing your used equipment. This approach can work, but keep in mind that selling equipment privately most likely means selling piece by piece, a process that can take money, time, and an element of being in the right place at the right time — all things that you may not have if you’re trying to quickly unload your equipment without spending a bunch of money. Plus, there’s a good chance your listed equipment will get cherry-picked, leaving you with a hodgepodge of leftovers and nowhere to store them. 

3.    Scrap It

If your equipment is really old or too rundown to repair, scrapping is an option, although it’s not the most cost-effective solution. Most restaurant equipment is comprised of mixed metals, so if you dump it at a scrap yard you’ll get mixed pricing for it. (Translation: a couple of dollars per hundred pounds.) Most restaurant equipment is between 300 and 700 pounds, so you're getting a couple bucks for the effort which barely pays for gas. 

4.    Make a Donation

If you’re not trying to make money on your old equipment, you may be able to make a donation for a tax credit. For example, you could give your used kitchen equipment to a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter. This is a nice idea, but remember, if your equipment is industry-specific, it could be hard to find a place that will accept your donation. 

5.    Throw Your Equipment Away

In addition to these options, you can always just throw your equipment away. However, throwing away equipment will actually cost you quite a bit of money; a large dumpster costs $400 on average to rent and you’ll also need to fund the manpower to remove everything from your restaurant. 

THE AUCTION SOLUTION

At PCI Auctions, we handle the equipment removal, asset marketing, and sale of the contents of 50 to 100 restaurants and businesses each month. This is a highly specialized service that many people don’t even know about before working with us. In fact, upon finding us and realizing that they threw away money in the past, almost every one of our new clients says, “I wish I had known about you guys years ago!”

The Benefits of Auctioning Equipment

What makes PCI Auctions stand apart is that we do all the work for you, from start to finish. We’re also experts at selling and auctioning, so we know how to get you the most bang for your buck. With our high volume of restaurant clients, long history of experience and track record of happy buyers, we have what it takes to assemble the right buyers for your equipment. We bring the greatest number of buyers to your auction to make sure you get the best return on your equipment.

If you work with a company like PCI, we’ll handle everything. The stuff that is truly scrap will sell for about scrap price either way, so why not let us do the heavy lifting?  

Other benefits of selling through the PCI Auction Group include:

• Online restaurant equipment auctions are an exciting, interactive environment for buyers, which lead to a greater return on your assets.
• Sellers get extensive marketing for the equipment/property being sold.
• Sellers know exactly when their items will be sold and when they will receive their overnight payment.
• As auction experts, we have tens of thousands of registered bidders who want to purchase your items now.

Getting Started

If you’re a restaurant owner, demo company, or landlord that’s strapped with leftover equipment, give us a call. During this initial conversation, we’ll discuss your space and what you need removed, and ask you to send some pictures of the items. From just a few photos, we can quickly assess what you have and get back to you with an accurate appraisal and contract.

We then come out and remove all of the agreed-upon items. While there are some instances when we won’t accept everything you show us, we almost always take everything. Even the most worn-down items can be repurposed, and we have plenty of clients who buy equipment just to repurpose it or to harvest parts, so nearly everything is worth taking.

The removed equipment is then transported to one of our 15 facilities across the country. There, it’s cleaned, stickered, and put on our website for online auction. After the auction ends, we take care of sending everything to the new buyer — a stand-out service that helps us get top dollar for your equipment — and you receive a check with a percentage of the earnings. 

Ready to get started? Visit our website for more information about PCI Auction Group and our services.