A giant moving truck filled with lobster tanks, giant refrigerators and freezers, industrial ovens, microwaves, coffee makers, bars, patio heaters, tables and chairs and more, all for under $5,000.
This is what the winning bidder for all the contents of the store on Hawthorn Boulevard in Torrance, California, paid for the hundreds of items.
In fact, the entire contents of 48 of Red Lobster’s nearly 100 closed restaurants were sold at auction on Thursday.
The troubled seafood chain is on the brink of bankruptcy after its $20 “endless shrimp” deal was so popular it cost the chain millions of dollars. It is closing stores in an attempt to stem its losses.
Buyers of the lots were seen on Friday collecting the products in giant vans. What they paid ranged from just under $2,000 to $15,000.
Chairs taken from Red Lobster in Torrance
Patio heaters were among the items purchased at Red Lobster in Torrance.
In Torrance, outside Los Angeles, winning bidders filled a Budget rental truck with all the equipment from the city’s closed Red Lobster, purchased for $4,886.
Meanwhile, in Colombia, Maryland, shoppers who paid $10,101 filled a U-Haul. They got a similar selection and also five vintage 37-inch televisions.
It wasn’t until Monday night, after a full day serving customers, that the staff had any idea what was happening. Many didn’t find out until their shift the next day.
But with brutal efficiency, on Wednesday the shares of 48 of the outlets were all listed on an auction site.
It was online-only and the contents of each establishment were sold as a batch of work that would likely attract other restaurant owners rather than customers.
Fans of the chain were able to get an idea of how abruptly the restaurants closed thanks to images posted online by the auction house.
Some showed leftover food still on trays and fresh food ready for the next day.
In total, nearly 100 restaurants in 27 states closed Monday night.
Auctions of restaurant contents, run by Restaurant Equipment Bid, took place online Thursday.
The company, which specializes in selling equipment from restaurants that are closing and need to be liquidated quickly, posted images of items up for grabs at some of the locations on Wednesday.
No fresh food or alcohol was stale at any of the auctions. And while lobster tanks were sold, the creatures themselves were not.
At a third Red Lobster in San Diego, dumpster divers were seen collecting items that were not included in the auction lots.
A U-Haul can is seen outside the now closed Red Lobster in Colombia, Maryland
Red Lobster auction winners remove kitchen equipment and furniture from Red Lobster restaurant in Columbia, Maryland
A lobster tank goes on the back of a truck in Maryland
A man picks up items from a trash container in front of a closed Red Lobster restaurant whose entire contents are up for auction in San Diego, California, U.S., May 15, 2024.
A trash container is displayed in front of a closed Red Lobster restaurant whose entire contents are up for auction in San Diego, California.
The images of the items at stake in some of the locations were fascinating.
At the Grand Forks location in North Dakota, products included a fish tank that still contained live lobsters.
Potatoes left on trays ready to be cooked, milk in refrigerators and cutlery scattered on tables are also seen in images advertising the contents of Grand Forks.
Other newly released images show a fully stocked refrigerator on the Council Bluff Red Lobster auction page in Iowa.
Fresh lettuce and fruit, as well as packaged sauce and baked bread, suggest the speed with which restaurants were closed and auction managers hired.
The struggling chain is considering a possible Chapter 11 filing to restructure its debt, allowing it to scrap long-term contracts and renegotiate new leases.
Live lobster still in its tank at Grand Forks Red Lobster in North Dakota
Potatoes left on trays ready to be cooked as seen in images advertising Grand Forks contents
The chain, which began as a single restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968, has about 650 locations in nearly every state.
An image posted by auctioneers at the Colonial Heights, Virginia, restaurant shows a large refrigerator with a pineapple, juice and plenty of liquor, including beers and wine, still in place.
Other images from Colonial Heights appear to show leftover food on trays, meals prepared in a food warmer and dishes waiting to be washed on a rack, likely from restaurants that were serving the last day on Sunday.