Town Pizza a True Stroke of Luck

Bill Shehata’s immigration to America, and subsequently coming to Town Pizza in Wrentham, was quite a lucky chance, very lucky in fact.

“You apply for a lottery and they pick about 55 citizens from around the work,” he said. “My luck definitely got me there.”

Shehata said he originally worked in a bus manufacturing plant in Egypt, and upon coming to the U.S., found manufacturing to be in short supply in 1995.

“The job I found when I came was cooking pizza,” he said. “I was cooking in pizza places for about five years. They taught me the business.”

Shehata said about that time he was looking to open his own business.

“The guy before me, he was here 10 years and he wanted to get rid of it,” he said.

Now, almost 15 years later, Shehata said he’s found a home in Wrentham at the pizza place.

Shehata said he loves to cook, and cooked for his parents back in Egypt.

“When I was in Egypt, my father would always ask me to cook for him,” he said. “He loved the way I made this special pasta and sauce.”

Shehata said although he started his life building and assembling buses in a factory, he’s now found cooking to be a major part of his life.

“I don’t really find myself away from cooking,” he said. “It’s part of my brain, I mean I’ve been doing it for almost 20 years and it would be really hard to give it up.”

He added he loves to experiment with different ingredients, sauces and spices to find new things to put on the menu.

“If it turns out I like it, I’ll broaden the menu,” he said. “If I don’t like it, I don’t make it.”

Out of that, Shehata said they made a new pizza called Tony’s Special, made with chicken, bacon, onions, tomatoes and a distinct kind of sauce.

“We created it ourselves and nobody else has it,” he said.

Shehata said ever since he found himself owning a business in Wrentham, he’s tried to help the community he is now a part of. He said he sponsors youth soccer and donates pizza to local events whenever he can.

“We sponsor Wrentham day with pizza for the common,” he said. “For the Wrentham DARE program graduation, we give them a very big discount on the pizzas. They order about 50 pizzas a year for the graduation in May.”

Shehata added he also used to have Scott Brown as a regular customer before he became a senator.

“He’s a really nice guy,” he said. “I tried to help [his daughter Ayla] with her music, we used to sell her CD here. Her father would come in all the time. I’ve known Scott since 1999.”

Shehata added he proudly hangs Brown’s picture on the wall of the restaurant.

Town Pizza is located on 60 South St. in Wrentham and is open Monday - Thursday, Sat, 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.; Sunday, closed.