A Second Life for Panini Makers

Situation

A national retail food and beverage company needed to replace older panini makers at hundreds of locations. Each store had two units that had reached the end of their depreciation, and the company wanted a cost-effective way to remove and replace them. 

Challenges

Although the equipment was non-proprietary, corporate management did not want local teams listing the units for sale on sites like Google marketplace or eBay. Nor did they want to offer them to employees or have them sent to the landfill. The client needed a partner to:

• Schedule each pickup to coincide with the drop-off of each new unit. 
• Recover some of the value of the depreciated assets.
• Ensure each store would not spend unnecessary time marketing or disposing the assets.
• Provide a sustainable solution to divert the panini makers from landfills.

Solution

Becker360 reached out to its partners in the secondary kitchen equipment industry. After being provided the listing of stores, Becker360 marketed the older panini makers to buyers across  multiple U.S. regions. These units were cleaned up to be resold. Key actions included:

• Single point of Contact: Provided with a set schedule of when and where to pickup the 2 units, our team successfully reached out to the secondary buyers for timely scheduling. 
• Pickup Service: Each store was successfully serviced according to the list provided and the time/date requested. 
• Nationwide Coverage: Handled several hundred locations in all parts of the country. 
• Repurpose/Resell: Because most units had secondary value, we not only diverted them from the landfill but we also provided a per unit rebate to our client regardless of what shape the units were in.

Takeaway

There is more than one way to achieve sustainability. Reselling or donating your depreciated assets is a great way to avoid the landfill while recovering some value at the same time. Becker360 can facilitate this process from start to finish-=even if each store has a small number of items – allowing clients to maximize returns while supporting a more sustainable approach.