Tutti, Gambino’s most colorful customer, goes missing!

Next door to our Baton Rouge bakery lived a beautiful, two-foot-tall macaw named Tutti. The rare parrot was valued at $3,000 in 1992 and was kidnapped that year. This is the harrowing tale of how Tutti was recovered.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of our 75th anniversary has been rediscovering three-quarters-of-a-century worth of stories! Sometimes we’re the main character of these stories, such as how we looked into how our job ads have transformed over time, or tracked the many different locations of Gambino’s bakeries through the years.

In other cases, however, we show up as a support character in someone else’s incredible tale. It’s exciting to see how Gambino’s Bakery fits into the important moments in our state’s history, or — as in this case — our neighbors’ lives.

The saga of Tutti, the stolen three-year-old pet macaw, is one of our favorites.

This story takes place more than 32 years ago, back in November 1992. Like today, back then we operated a Baton Rouge bakery, though our old location in Louisiana’s capitol city was at 8888 Airline Highway. Next door, at 8894 Airline Highway, was Haghighi Oriental Rugs, which also still exists today, though also in a different location.

Haghighi Oriental Rugs was owned by Rachel and Ali Haghighi, a Persian couple, and this is where our journey begins.

The couple’s colorful, two-foot-tall pet macaw, Tutti, was often at the shop, delighting neighbors and visitors. The predominantly red parrot loved engaging in a handful of daily routines. One such routine was a daily visit to Gamino’s bakery next door, described in The Advocate. Tutti’s wings were clipped, so the macaw would often walk down the sidewalk to our bakery where he would tap on the door with his beak. Our clerk would oblige him with a cookie, and then he’d be on his way back to the rug shop.

Another beloved routine was that Tutti would sit on his perch in the plaza outside of his owner’s store. This is exactly what he was doing on Monday evening, November 2, 1992, when disaster struck.

Tutti was not just any ordinary bird. Macaws are rare, and his value back then was $3,000. (That’s nearly $6,700 in today’s currency!)

That evening, three college-aged men were seen walking in the plaza. A witness in another shop, said the men snatched the bird, hopped into their black Acura and sped away.

The Haghighis were devastated and feared for the bird’s life. Rachel told the newspaper that macaws don’t adjust well to changes, and also require a complex diet that can’t be deviated from.

“It’s not like having a dog that we would miss,” she explained in an interview. “This bird will die if not returned to us.”

Tutti was missing for seven days and Rachel and Ali were losing hope. Then, on Tuesday, November 10, Rachel received a phone call from a friend. The friend said someone they knew had overhead guys in a Baton Rouge-area bar bragging about finding a strange bird. The men said they had brought the bird to a New Orleans pet store.

Rachel hung up the phone and jumped into action. She loaded her 8-year-old-son into the car and headed to New Orleans. 

“We got a map and we got the Yellow Pages,” she told a reporter, saying her and her son began checking all the area’s pet stores.

After four futile attempts, the duo arrived at a pet store in Kenner.

There was Tutti.

“As soon as we saw him, we knew it was him,” Rachel was quoted as saying in The Advocate.

The police had told her not to attempt to get the macaw back herself, however, so she approached the shop’s owner, asking questions as if she was shopping for a Christmas present. Tutti heard her voice, however, and almost blew their cover.

The parrot started saying, “Baba, baba!” which means “daddy, daddy” in Persian. “Baba” is the nickname the bird calls Ali at home.

Rachel excused herself and went with her son to a pay phone next door, where she called the Kenner Police. The skeptical officer asked how he could know for sure that it’s her macaw. 

Rachel’s response was unique and convincing: Tutti knew about 25 words, several of them in Persian!

When the police arrived on the scene, Rachel showed them an article from the week prior about the missing bird, as well as a photo. When Tutti rattled off some of his Persian phrases, the police ordered the pet shop owner to return the bird.

No arrests were made as the pet store owner was unaware the bird was stolen. He said two men had come in saying the bird was inherited from their grandmother. They asked him to sell it on consignment for $1,800.

Tutti was quiet on the ride back to Baton Rouge, worrying Rachel. But when the macaw got back to the shop’s parking lot and Ali opened the car door, the bird erupted in excitement.

“He started rambling,” Rachel laughed. “‘Baba! Baba! Pretty Tutti. Hello. Come here.’”

“He knew he was home and he was glad to be here,” she added.

He wasn’t the only one who was glad. By lunchtime on Wednesday, 36 people had stopped by to welcome Tutti home.

“Hello,” Tutti greeted them as he played with a set of brass keys and munched on grapes.

One customer burst into tears when she saw the macaw was home.

Ali said Tutti was in a bit of shock from the ordeal and had lost weight. He would recover, and Gambino’s helped! Our workers walked over with a tray of the bird’s favorite cookies. 

We were, after all, happy to have our favorite neighbor back.