Boston brand-to-retail marketing platform Promoboxx bought $500 worth of Chinese food from Sichuan Garden last week after the family-owned Brookline Chinese restaurant found itself in a fiery exchange with a Harvard Business School professor over $4 worth of takeout.
"We should be supporting local retailers by helping them with matters such as this, not sue them," urged Promoboxx CEO Ben Carcio at the time, before inviting the community to stop by the office for some grub — even an apologetic Ben Edelman.
Ran Duan, whose parents own Sichuan Garden, was "overwhelmed with the response and support" the family received in the wake of his back and forth with Edelman, which ended in the professor threatening legal action (and a shake-up at Boston.com). Although clear the restaurant is "not a business in financial distress," Duan was appreciative — and also not the only one overwhelmed by the public's response.
"Our site broke all sorts of traffic records, we received hundred of tweets and thousands of Facebook shares," Carcio told BostInno via email. "But the best thing, many of our brand clients reached out to say, 'Nice job.'"
And that response, which worked in Promoboxx's favor, means the goodwill also won't be stopping at Sichuan Garden.
Promoboxx unveiled Thursday a new initiative called ShopRescue, a rescue service for local independent retailers "who could use a bit of a pick up." Promoboxx will choose one shop a month and provide them with one of four things: a friendly group of retail experts; digital marketing services; store branding assistance; or a helping hand and receptive ears.
"We just love seeing local retailers thrive," Carcio said, in reference to what Promoboxx gets out of the initiative. "From a business perspective, despite our traction, people sometimes struggle to 'get' Promoboxx. With ShopRescue, we're making crystal clear what we do, which is to help local independent retailers."
Retailers welcome to share their story with Promoboxx are family businesses, owners with a passion, companies with strong community involvement or shops with one to three locations. The startup's advisory board will select the initial shops, and others are being told to submit their story online.
Carcio would personally like to help more family businesses — it's that connection that drew him to the Sichuan Garden story initially. The Promoboxx chief executive is the second generation of his family's business, Cold River Package, so is in a position similar to Duan.
"When I saw Mr. Duan graciously defending his parents' business, it really hit home with me," Carcio said. "All of this has just given us the inspiration to do more than just buy some amazing Chinese food."
Image via ShopRescue
