Got a cafe, or setting one up? Thinking of buying in some second-hand cafe equipment for your day to day operations? You might be looking at used gear because it’s a cheap alternative to a lot of the new products on the market. The problem is, the second-hand stuff is nowhere near as good as those new products, and could actually cost you more money in the long term. We advise you to think carefully about buying something that is a few years old, as used equipment might not be all that useful after all.
In our industry, we know this to be very much the case. We’re often contacted by cafe and bakery owners, as well as people working in all other parts of the hospitality industry, and they have a similar story to tell: the second-hand equipment they bought to store food and drinks has broken down yet again, or has stopped working completely. This leaves them with a real predicament as they scramble to find some way to store all of that expensive produce they have on hand.
This usually occurs because used equipment hasn’t been serviced as well as it should. It might look presentable when you go and see it, and it could be in working order upon purchase. But a lack of regular service and maintenance means it is invariably going to fail sooner rather than later. This means constant repairs, which add up over the course of a year to become major and unwanted expenses. Or, worse still, the unit just gives up completely, and a replacement is required. Many people will swap a second-hand unit with another second-hand unit - and that is just going further down the track of more repairs, or another unit that’s just about ready to give up working altogether. It becomes a vicious cycle.
Another problem with older and used cafe equipment is it doesn’t operate at optimum efficiency. This is reflected in higher power bills or substandard storage. This means food isn’t kept as fresh as it should be, and this leads to you serving an inferior product to your customers. They can taste the difference, and it isn’t a pleasant one. They’ll vote with their feet knowing only too well that there are a lot of cafes, bakeries, restaurants or bars out there providing a superior dining experience - probably because they have better equipment.
We reckon that if you were to buy a new piece of cafe equipment from us, instead of something second-hand, then our product will actually save you money in the long run. It will work much better, won’t need nearly as many repairs, will last for so much longer, and keep food fresher - much to the delight of your customers. So, if you’re thinking of buying used gear, why not get in touch with us first? We believe you’ll be far better off buying new!