TAGeX Brands on a mission to save restaurants with efficient aftermarket of equipment
Rochester, NY – November 8, 2017: Thanks to what many are calling a restaurant recession, restaurant closures and bankruptcies are the highest they have been since 2011, according to New Generation Research. Sales are down and no restaurant is safe; even huge names like Applebees, TGI Fridays, Dairy Queen and McDonalds have made serious cutbacks in the number of restaurants they operate. Market saturation and minimum wage hikes have been cited as primary factors in declining restaurant performance, but what can restaurants do to overcome these hurdles?
Neal Sherman, President of TAGeX Brands, believes the solution is a more efficient aftermarket of restaurant equipment. The cost of restaurant equipment has long been an overlooked way to save money. It’s not uncommon to spend $300,000 outfitting a commercial kitchen with new equipment, and if something breaks during a restaurant’s operation, it can be an extraordinary event to replace it. “A pizza oven, for example, can be the size of a car and cost upwards of $20,000. Most restaurants aren’t prepared to eat that cost if it were to break. On the used equipment market, there are perfectly functioning units that can be purchased for less than half that cost. It’s just a matter of connecting buyers and sellers in a common marketplace, which hasn’t been done until now.”
TAGeX Brands and its subsidiary company, RestaurantEquipment.bid, aim to make the restaurant industry more efficient by getting used equipment into the right hands. Often times, equipment from failed restaurants sits idle in a warehouse, or worse, in the dump. Meanwhile, other restaurant operators empty their cash registers purchasing brand new equipment. “We’ve built a network between restaurants that reduces waste and allows more restaurants to stay open,” Sherman says.
The used equipment market is not new, but its prominence has been taken to new heights in recent years thanks to TAGeX Brands. “The mom-and-pop operations have taken advantage of restaurant auctions and liquidation sales for a long time,” Sherman says, “but even bigger chain restaurants who are strapped for cash are taking part now.” TAGeX Brands has played a role in the closure of more than 1000
restaurants in the past year alone and all of them have equipment they need out of the building. By connecting closing restaurants with buyers nationwide, businesses entering, exiting and surviving in the restaurant industry stand to benefit.
Despite the grim fate of restaurants in recent years, Sherman is hopeful that the industry can bounce back: “When restaurant operators start taking advantage of the resources in front of them, I think we’ll see some industry-wide signs of improvement. The used equipment market has come a long way since we started doing this 30 years ago. Within the ashes of failed restaurants in the United States is a goldmine of equipment that can breathe life back into the industry.”
TAGeX Brands is a nationwide company specializing in restaurant closures and equipment liquidation. Utilizing six unique sales channels, including online auction platforms, storefronts and direct sale, TAGeX Brands connects buyers and sellers of restaurant equipment in a common marketplace for the betterment of the industry.