toscanini’s benevolent rule
How much do people love Toscanini’s ice cream? $30,000 worth? Indeed, YES! Early in January, everyone’s favorite ice cream shop was closed down by the Mass. Department of Revenue. In a candid letter on the Toscanini’s blog, owner Gus Rancatore confesses that this hullabaloo was caused by his not paying taxes in the middle of a busy and expensive year. The community banded together, lit the midnight oil, and solicited for web donations to help raise the money to pay off a portion of the back taxes so that Toscanini’s could re-open. And $31,406 later, Toscanini’s was back in business! So, what other business or industry could ask for this kind of support and love from the community?Although perhaps a sordid moment in Toscanini’s business history, it seems to be a huge monument to the brand loyalty and dedication of Toscanini’s fans that this amount of funding (for an ice cream shop in wintertime!) could be raised. In an age when it is very difficult to retain customer loyalty, when edibles are becoming less and less localized, and in a situation where an error has an obvious source (i.e. Rancatore’s “stupid mistake”), it seems more likely that folks would scoff and then head towards Cristina’s. However, Toscanini’s situation seems to have excited the empathy of the community, with donations coming in for anything from $5 to $500. Brand Ambassadors, “trustmarks” and “lovemarks” (I am quoting from Kevin Roberts’ lexicon in “Trust in the Future” Fast Company, August 2000, during my intern days), Toscanini’s seems to have captured the hearts of its buying public (let’s not forget how much one pays for a scoop of ice cream at this neighborhood establishment), and has made a remarkable achievement with this infux of adoration.How did Toscanini’s so captivate their loyal customers? Was it Burnt Caramel? Or the microsundae? I am going to make a study of the sweetshop’s strategy in the coming months, involving many research field trips and taste tests, and promise to report back the results.