The pandemic has forced thousands of restaurants to permanently shut their doors as dining restrictions keep customers away. But the unprecedented closures have created a business boom for commercial auctioneers that buy and sell used restaurant equipment. Bonilla’s family business, American Restaurant Supply in San Leandro, Calif., buys used appliances, furniture and other equipment when restaurants close in the San Francisco Bay Area. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced tens of thousands of restaurants to permanently shut their doors as dining restrictions keep customers away. A new report by the National Restaurant Association shows the pandemic’s devastating impact on the restaurant industry, which last year lost 110,000 businesses — about 17% of the nation’s total.