It's a little sad, though, to be bidding on someones defunct dream. I mean unless a restaurant owner is retiring to Florida or upgrading there equipment, you assume most of these items have been repossessed by the leasing companies or are salvage from a belly-up operation. In any case, it feels like you're grave digging for gold fillings. But once you get passed that there are some amazing deals to be had.
Now the auction itself took about 8 hours. There were roughly 500 lots, everything from tables and chairs to walk-in coolers and a BBQ smoker the size of a small trailer home. Actually, the smoker retailed for $26,000 and someone picked it up for $10,000. Oh, and this thing had been used maybe 4 times, it was spotless. This company fills up their warehouse every two weeks. A little scary if you ask me.
Our list of items included bowls, bins, knives, cutting boards, spatulas, pans, whips, a blender and soup warmer, a 5' deli cooler, and a host of other nic-nacs and whatnot, all for the low low price of about $2k. Brand new this stuff would easily cost double, especially the equipment. We're hooked. If anyone is planning on opening a restaurant, you would do yourself a disservice by not attending a few of these.
Our friend Diane told us that she used to be an auction house plant and was paid to bid on items to drive up the price. Once we got savvy to that game we were a little less aggressive to jump into the fray until we felt confident the price wasn't artificially inflated. Lesson learned. Thanks Di!
-JK
1) Video from the 8 hour auction today
1) Cleavers: Cyrick and I have a fascination and subsequent collection of cleavers mostly from Asia. We passed on this lot. Too small. 2) Cyrick was the official recorder of everything we bought.
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