Tavolini. Taaaa vo leeee nee. But what the heck does it mean?
When Amanda and I bought “The Gelateria” in April of 2009, we felt that it was important for us to change the shoppe’s name, both to acknowledge the change of ownership and also to help us create our own identity.
We quickly decided that “Gelateria” needed to stay, to help give a sense of continuity (since there is QUITE a bit of continuity between “The Gelateria” and “Gelateria Tavolini” as a whole) but that we wanted to add a new descriptive to the name, one which would help shape our direction as both a business and as a café.
When Amanda and I moved to St. Louis, it was to be part of the community that was coming to life in the downtown. I had visited in 2006 and had become very excited about the possibilities as this neighborhood was coming to life, and so we moved here in 2007, just as we were getting married.
It is that same sense of community involvement that inspired us to become the new owners of The Gelateria. We had often visited before for the same reasons that many other guests come: great ambience, delicious gelato, and hours that fit my schedule. One of the things we loved about the ambience was the open and relaxed atmosphere that lent itself to conversation. Above all, it has been our goal to nurture and grow that atmosphere. We envision our little shoppe becoming a social hub, not only a place where you are known, but where you can come and get to know others in your community.
But how do we put that into a NAME?
Gelateria Come Hang Out? The Neighborhood Gelateria? Community Gelato?
None of them seemed right, and all of them seemed to ALSO communicate other things that didn’t quite fit what we envisioned.
But wait, Gelato is Italian, as is Espresso! So maybe we should take our inspiration from our origins?
So I turned to my friend Dan, who grew up in Italy and is currently residing in the city of Perugia (home of Perugina chocolates, creators of the Baci candy for which our Bacio Gelato is named!), and batted the idea around with him over Skype and Facebook. Time and again, he threw out Italian words for things like “Gelateria Come Hang Out”, “Neighborhood Gelateria”, and “Community Gelato” (well, ok, Italian for Gelateria is…Gelateria, but you get the idea), but still none of it seemed to fit. Finally I told him, “We need a metaphor. An Italian word that is a metaphor for community.”
Long pause….
“Well, any time we want to talk about something important, we go down to a streetside café and sit around these little tables, tavolini, and sip espresso and talk…”
“That’s IT!”
Little Tables….not because we have a lot of little tables (though we do)….but because of what takes place AROUND those little tables….the meaningful conversations, the deep discussions, the belly-laughs between friends….being involved in one another’s lives on a level that goes beyond a simple polite nod and greeting, instead taking the time and spending the time to know your neighbor, and to be known.
So really, our name, Tavolini, is an invitation to you. Come pull up a chair around one of our little tables and let us get to know you while you get to know us.