Local Café, Mixed in Brew-Ha-Ha, Will Reopen in Central

Ice-cream enthusiasts were whipped into action when over $100,000 in unpaid taxes and interest threatened to shut down Cambridge’s local Toscanini’s ice-cream and coffee shop.

The business was seized by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue on Jan. 17 because the store had not paid tens of thousands of dollars in food and payroll taxes.

In the days following the shuttering of the Central Square store, a blog entitled “Save Toscanini’s” opened with the intent of raising the dough needed to help the owners pay back their massive debt.

The amount owed could be as high as $167,000, according to the Cambridge Chronicle, which owner Gus Rancatore would not confirm or deny.

The shop’s financial troubles began at least six years ago, according to Rancatore. Struggling to pay rent, Toscanini’s left its Harvard Square location entirely during substantial renovations by the Harvard Square Real Estate Services in January 2007.

In a letter on the blog, Rancatore cited an “ill-[started] and very disorganized expansion,” as the cause of the store’s present woes.

“We definitely did not pay the taxes, which was colossally stupid,” he said.

Less than ten days after the store was seized by the Commonwealth, the blog had raised over $31,000 from donors around the world, according to Rancatore.

“We got a lot of small donations from people who didn’t have a lot of money,” he said. “Sometimes we got a lot of heartening support.”

The Central Square location was able to re-open their doors to customers on Jan. 25, after the donation financed down-payment was delivered to the Department of Revenue.

“We were hoping that we wouldn’t have to deal with this until the spring time when we were busier,” Rancatore said.

Rancatore, who is accustomed to glowing reviews from patrons and press alike, hopes to keep a low profile moving forward.

“My hopes for the future,” he said, “are to never be in the newspapers again, pay my taxes, and make good ice cream.”