Betty Ann’s is Back in the Family

Owner: Pete Rakip

Business:

Location: 7 Hobart St.

Phone: (978) 774-0085

No worries, the famous tuna salad recipe is still safe and sound. After selling the business four years ago, the original owner has re-purchased the long time sub shop on Hobart Street.  

Betty Ann’s Sandwich Shop has for over 50 years. It is a little hole in the wall where subs are prepared the old school way: simple, but delicious.
 
Customers claim that the tuna sub at Betty Ann’s is the best anywhere, so when owner Pete Rakip decided to sell the sub shop to his long-time employee Joanne Burnett four years ago, they struck up an agreement: if she was ever to sell the business, Rakip had the right of first refusal.  

"She’d worked for us for over 20 years. Actually, she worked for my dad when he owned it," Rakip said. "I was in construction, and the company was slow, so I decided it was time for a change. I called her and she was ready, so here we are!”   

Feedback from customers has been hugely positive, especially with regards to the extended hours. "Everybody seems to be happy we’re back," Rakip said. "We put the hours back to 9 p.m. which people have been really excited about, and now open Sundays, 9 to 9. It takes its toll but I have some good college kids to help-that’s what it is to have a business.”  

Pete Rakip learned the business from the ground up after his father purchased the sub shop from the original Betty Ann in 1973.

“We bought it in my junior year of high school...I worked it all through high school and college; all my sisters and my two kids worked here.  They still fill in now and then for me," he said. Rakip’s father Jack Rakip, also of Jack's Barber Shop next door to Betty Ann’s, passed away in September.

So how does it feel to be known for having the most revered sub shop in town?  “It’s kind of a running joke. No matter where we are, someone knows about Betty Ann’s," he said. "It's funny how people get so attached to a sub shop. I’ve heard so many people [from out of town] say the first place they have to stop after they leave the airport is Betty Ann’s.”

Customers can still get their favorite Italian, turkey, roast beef and ham and cheese subs with shredded lettuce and all the fixings, and that famous tuna salad, just like they have been for generations.

"Same way we’ve been doing it for 52 years," Rakip laughed.