New Canaan High School senior Catherine Granito had been sitting at her accustomed corner table at Baskin Robbins last week when she heard a woman’s raised, angry voice from the other end of the ice cream and candy shop.
L-R: Gunner Granito, Zoe Jones, Catherine Granito and Justin Clark at Baskin Robbins for BOGO Tuesday on April 5, 2015. Credit: Michael Dinan
Down near the coolers, a local woman was throwing a fit that would swiftly become the talk of the town, yelling at the teenage workers behind the counter because an ice cream sundae with two hot toppings that her husband had brought home later melted—a sweet treat that had been free as part of a popular buy-one-get-one-free or ‘BOGO’ promotion—and demanding her money back. As captured on surveillance video, she would throw the dessert on the floor behind the counter, then the bag it came in, and returned the following morning to demand a “refund” again, plus gas money for her trouble.
“She was loud,” Granito recalled Tuesday from the same table. “You could hear her from across the street.”
Baskins raised $89 for an anger management group through a suggested donation. Credit: Michael Dinan
Anna Valente, a 1987 NCHS grad who has owned Baskin Robbins for 24 years, considered doing away with the BOGO promotion as a result of the incident, which upset her workers, reasoning that it tends to bring in non-regular customers who are more likely to create such problems.
Instead, Valente turned this week’s promotion into an appreciation night for her employees, and put out a jar to raise money for a New Haven-based nonprofit organization that hosts anger management groups.
This week was “extremely busy” for BOGO Tuesday at Baskin Robbins, owner Anna Valente said. Credit: Michael Dinan
“We were extremely busy,” Valente said as closing time neared. “People were very grateful. They thanked us.”
So BOGO Tuesdays will be back, Valente said. The Main Street fixture also raised $89 for the nonprofit organization’s anger management program, called The Connection.
Gunner Granito, 15, a NCHS freshman, said he joins friends at Baskin Robbins every week for BOGO.
“We’re like a little family,” he said. “There’s something about the place, the vibe. You’ve got the TV here, you’ve got your friends and 31 flavors of great ice cream. I don’t know what else could top it off, to be honest.”
Zoe Jones, 16, a NCHS sophomore, said Baskin Robbins has “a great atmosphere.”
“It brings everyone together,” she said. “You see everyone at once.”
Catherine Granito called it her “favorite place, especially on Tuesdays,” though she’s there other nights of the week.
BOGO Tuesdays are “the main attraction,” she said.