When to Buy New vs Used?

We often get asked by our customers, when to buy new and when to buy used, concerning restaurant equipment. I usually answer with my standard rule, and that is, “If it’s going to close your doors, or keep you from making your main or core product, go new”. So let’s say you have a standard hamburger & fries type restaurant.

 Your main pieces of restaurant equipment will be your char-broiler and your fryers. Best bet would be to get those items new. If your char broiler breaks down for any reason, you’re not making any burgers and are pretty much closed until you get your char broiler repaired or replaced. Now this is not to say that new restaurant equipment never fails, but the likelihood of that happening with new restaurant equipment is far less. The same goes for refrigeration, don’t go out and purchase a used cooler for a few hundred dollars and plan to put $1200.00 worth of meats in it. If the fridge should fail for any reason, that meat is garbage. Used coolers are perfect for cans or bottles of pop, so if the unit was to fail, the worse that you have is warm pop unit the unit is repaired, or go buy some ice and put them in a cooler, the point being, you have not incurred any loss of money or product. Now we do understand that in certain situations or for limited budgets, going new may not always be an option for a new restaurant. But by keeping this rule in mind, you should focus your funds on your main cooking and food storage equipment. And like anything else in this world, you get what you pay for. If you need help deciding between new and used equipment for your restaurant or store, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to assist you in selecting the best ballance of new and used for your location, and are able to provide you with either. We look forward to hearing from you!