A typical day for Russell Cross goes something like this.

He's sitting in his warehouse office in Cleveland and the phone rings.

And it'll be, you know, Mr. Jones and he's had a pizza shop, we'll say, and COVID pretty

much put him out of business.

A restaurant out of business is Cross's business.

He runs an online auction company called Auction Factory that will work with a diner owner

or pizza shop guy to basically sell off what's left of their business.

We come out there, we assess the situation, we look at what it's going to take to extract

all that equipment off the property so he can hand over the keys to the landlord and

get out from paying that rent any further because chances are he doesn't have it anyways.

If he can't afford to buy cheese, he's not going to be able to afford to pay the rent.

If a pizza shop can't afford cheese, they can't afford rent.

That is a situation so many restaurants are in right now.

Coming to a September survey from the National Restaurant Association, 100,000 restaurants,

nearly one in six have closed their doors this year, either permanently or on a long-term

basis, which is why Russell Cross's Cleveland warehouse is packed full.

Oh, everything from charboarders, grittles, ovens.

Cross collects equipment from a dozen states where his business operates.

Conception ovens, ice machines, ice cream machines.

He repairs it.

Those chairs, booths, plates, dinnerware, stemware, plateware.

And will eventually help the original owners sell it.

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