In Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders, a village I visit regularly, there’s a gem of a place called Giacopazzi’s.
Photo gratuitously borrowed from Giacopazzi’s website. Please forgive me.
It’s a fish and chip restaurant and ice cream parlour that’s been serving the village since it was founded by Lorenzo Giacopazzi in 1900 and is still run by his descendants to this day. Their fish and chips are great, of course, but this story relates to their fantastic ice cream. Ever since Lorenzo set up shop 113 years ago, all their ice cream is made on site, and their recipes regularly win national recognition and awards.
I can’t claim to be a regular customer; I’m only in town a few times a year, and it’s not always warm enough for ice cream in the Scottish Borders. But when I was up at Easter I did pop in, and chose a cone of their Chocolate Fudge Brownie, unable to resist the claim on the sign that it was the “Best in Britain”. And, while the rest of the family were getting served, I snapped this photo on my iPhone.
And, as I tend to do, posted in over on Flickr, and pumped out a link on Twitter and Facebook, and promptly forgot all about it. And then, a couple of days later, Giacopazzi’s replied.
@trevorcoultart Brilliant photo! Would you mind emailing us a copy? There’s an ice cream or two in it for you ; ) What did you think of it??
— Giacopazzi’s (@Giacopazzis) April 9, 2013
An ice cream in it? Yes, I know there’s an ice cream in it. It’s a photo of an ice cream. Oh, wait… what? So I promptly made sure I got them a copy of the original, and assured them I’d be back in town soon.
And, last weekend, I was.
But not only was I in town, I was celebrating a family birthday with a meal in Oblò, a bistro restaurant that’s also owned by the Giacopazzi family, and which – of course – serves Giacopazzi’s ice cream. Well, somehow the connection was made (I, ahem, may have mentioned it somewhere along the way), and sure enough when it came to desert our waiter announced there was a free ice cream each on the house. We were a party of seven.
And all because of my little photo, and the magic of Twitter.
So thanks, Giacopazzi’s and Oblò, for fabulous customer relations. These are businesses that understand how to use social media.
To anyone else, if you’re ever in the Eyemouth, make sure you pay both venues a visit. Heck, if our anywhere in the Scottish Borders, pop in to town specially.
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Note. This is not in any way a “sponsored” post. I did not receive any payment – or indeed ice cream – for writing this: I am simply choosing to share the story. (And in case you’re wondering why I’m specifying this, I’ve learned recently that there are strict rules about declaring when a blog post is sponsored or if you’ve received a freebie for review or such like. As this may have looked like a sponsored post, I figured I should state that it isn’t. Just in case.)
