Goodbye Tosci’s?
Everyone here at Chowder was dismayed (devastated?) to learn via Bostonist that beloved Cambridge ice cream parlor Toscanini’s had been shuttered this morning—seized by the Commonwealth for nonpayment of taxes. It was bad enough to lose the Harvard Square location in 2006. Could this be the end of the micro-sundae?
We’re (cautiously) happy to report that there may be reason for hope: Owner Gus Rancantore tells us that he’s hoping to have this matter sorted out very quickly, possibly within days. Though he didn’t get into details, he indicated that he’s spent the day running around, sorting through red tape.
Meanwhile, the Cambridge Chronicle is reporting that Rancantore owes the state $167,000 in back taxes.
Our fingers are crossed…
January 17th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I think it’s rude to publish the amount owed in back-taxes
January 17th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I think when you owe enough in back-taxes that the state seizes your property, it should be public information. After all, it is the important figure in a legal proceeding against the company.
Also, if the government is going to seize property from a corporation or individual, they should have to make clear to the public that it’s for valid cause.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:31 am
N-o-o-o-o!!!!! I promised my daughter Tosci’s when we get back from England! Good ice cream is a part of her bedtime ritual!
This would be like the time Mary Chung’s lost her lease. I hope Gus can bring things back to life much, much faster than Mary was able to.
January 18th, 2008 at 2:21 am
There is no excuse for breaking the law. That said, now is as good a time as any to point out that Tosci’s is a great community-centered place. My friends and I love the comfortable work space with free wireless and fun work staff. A couple times we’ve had 2-3 hr brainstorming sessions and the drinks and snacks just appear. They “let us” bring our dog in (sometimes he gets a little cup of vanilla ice cream; i think he enjoys eating the cup as much as the ice cream); I say “let us” because they’re so amiable about it: we swap pet stories. Gus is awesome! He has donated ice cream to community events (yeah!). He shovels the sidewalks himself when it snows. Tosci’s is great for the community and I love their ice cream (burnt caramel mixed with grasshopper is the best). If it got replaced by YAC (yet another cafe) or starbucks that would suck. Apparently this tax stuff has happened before; Tosci’s was back up in a week.
January 18th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Donate to save Toscanini’s!! With the community’s help, Toscanini’s will be back on track as early as next week!
January 18th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
http://www.savetosci.com
January 18th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
yeah, get out your wallet and donate to support tax fraud!
(eye roll)
January 18th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Toscanini’s has given a whole lot to the community and to people in general. Gus has donated a lot of ice cream and coffee to people for events that raised money for other causes. Maybe if Gus had been less charitable to others he would have been able to pay off the money. But Gus isn’t a selfish jerk. Gus gave and now Gus needs our help. I hope people will help him out just as he has helped others out.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
oh please. Toscanini’s isn’t a charity, or a relief organization. Gus gives away coffee - which costs almost nothing to prepare and serve - and you think he’s a saint.
Gus will be fine. Toscanini’s will open back up very soon. DOR wants their money, and if it came to auction, the junk in that store wouldn’t cover a quarter of that $167,000 they owe.
And don’t think you’re doing a good deed by “donating” to relieve their tax bill. He should have paid, or stuck to the original payment plan, or whatever it is. Maybe he could have hung on to his other businesses too.
January 19th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Gus gives hundreds and hundreds of cups of ice cream away to MIT functions, to people asking for donations so that they can raise money for their individual causes and much more. I’m talking 200 cups of ice cream here, 100 there, sometimes even as much as 350 or more. Ice cream costs a LOT of money to make. There are the ingredients to buy and milk is not cheap. There are nuts or raisins or fruit or sugar that go into the ice cream. There are the machines to run, the energy bills to pay, the production staff to pay, the rent (rent is like $80 a square foot or possibly more. In harvard sq it was like $140) and then also the front counter baristas and scoopers to pay. The money made off of ice cream is so crucial to Toscanini’s and to give it away to help other people is very generous of Gus.
Junk in the store? You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
As for his other businesses, there was a lot of stuff behind the Someday Cafe that the public didn’t know about. And as for Harvard Sq, they (who ever owns it, Harvard I believe) were renovating the building. When they were done the area Toscanini’s had been in had been made bigger. And due to rent being so much money and Gus not needing a space that large, he chose not to reopen in Harvard Sq in the same spot. It had nothing to do with how he ran that store.
Saving Toscanini’s means a lot to me. I could never fully explain how much Gus and Mimi and Toscanini’s in general have helped me. I know other people feel the same way. Its a shame that you can’t get that through your thick skull to see that. If you don’t want to donate, then don’t. But don’t discourage others from helping. Keep your black heart to yourself.
January 19th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Fellow Friends of Toscanini’s Ice Cream,
From a series of digital images–made from the ingredients in Toscanini Ice Creams—stuff to buy to raise money for them.
On CaféPress, buy a tile coaster, a journal, a bib and other objects with Khulfee images.
http://www.cafepress.com/jmotzkin
On Etsy, limited edition, highest quality digital prints from 6” to 30” printed locally.
http://jmotzkin.etsy.com
On Imagekind you can order small prints, matted or framed from this series
http://motzkin.imagekind.com
Buy Art, Help our Community.
Proceeds of sales to support Toscanini’s!
January 19th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
You’re basically saying that Toscanini’s is in this tax trouble because Gus gave away too much product, right? The guy will probably mismanage your “donations” too. hey, do what you want with your money, but don’t act like it’s a good cause.
save your money, Gus will be fine. He’s donated to enough people that the state will forgive him.
also, please enlighten me about these secret goings-on about the Someday. Let me guess, mean ole landlord picking on nice-guy owner who just can’t seem to get the trash picked up or rent paid on time?
January 19th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
PS maybe start up a fund for his workers instead. That is a much better cause IMHO.
January 20th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Toscanini’s supports many community charities and schools. They sell great products, and always treat customers with the utmost courtesy. They spare no expense in making the best ice cream. Gus and Mimi live very modestly and plow all earnings back into the business. They have not stashed away the tax money, as the State now realizes. In years past their bookkeepers were incompetent and taxes didn’t get paid. Nobody knows how much, so the State made up their own figure–does anybody doubt they chose a highball number? (Gus is too polite to say this publicly.) In fact, they have stayed current with tax payments for several years, despite losing 2 of their 3 stores. They have already caught up with money owed the IRS, and now are dealing with the State. The total owed to the State is mostly for penalties and interest, NOT sales tax collected or payroll tax withheld. Gus did not choose bankruptcy, which would have allowed him to wash his hands of all taxes owed. If the store reopens, employees keep their jobs, the State gets both back and current taxes, and we get great ice cream.
Toscanini’s has cleaned up their act. Let’s help them over this last hurdle. If you can, pay them back for what they have given the Community over 27 years–see www.savetosci.com.
And by the way, they have NOT been charged with a crime (let alone convicted.)
January 21st, 2008 at 3:27 pm
It is not my place to talk about the Someday Cafe and what happened with it. But the Someday Cafe was not what Gus, nor the landlord, nor most of the community wanted in a coffee shop. It closed, that is the past, and it has nothing to do with the present situation.
As for setting up a fund for the workers, I am a worker. I have been working at Toscanini’s for over 2 years. I love my job, I love the atmosphere, and I would and will fight for Gus. I have donated an entire weeks paycheck, which is a little under $300, to this cause. Call me foolish if you want, but it is nothing compared to how much Gus has helped me in the past. He is a pretty understanding boss, and no where else that I know of would do the things he does for his employees. A lot of the kids who work there have not been there long enough to see that, and some that have are still too selfish to see how nice a boss he is. They are too concerned with their own problems to help others, and for them I feel sorry. But that is getting off topic.
He donates ice cream so people an raise money for their needs, which is pretty selfless. He does not just ‘give away’ ice cream unless it is for a good cause. Or unless they are good people. Gus can see the good in people that a lot of people otherwise can’t (myself included) and I think thats admirable.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:29 pm
PS. Thank-you Henr for everything you said in the above statement. It’s very true and informing, and I hope $$$ can get his/her head out of his/her ass long enough to read it.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:53 am
whatever dude. you figure out if its foolish or not. but I still say save your money.
good bye and good luck with everything.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:36 am
i hope your selfish attitude catches up with you, $$$
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I was hoping I could stop, but no.
My selfish attitude? Nothing selfish about it, sweetie. Maybe you don’t know what selfish means. I’m only presenting an opposing view - one shared by many other people - and suggesting that “donors” start a fund for Gus’s now-unemployed workers. If that is really all that offensive to you, then I guess I am “sorry.”
I think also you may not understand how karma works. See, I haven’t really done anything wrong.
To clarify: an example of someone doing something wrong is charging their customers for meals tax, spending that money on something else, and then asking for more cash to cover the deficit while trumpeting their “community service.”