Betty Ann Food Shop was a family owned, second-generation bakery that had lived in the Bennington Street neighborhood of East Boston since 1931. Billy's father began to work as a baker around this time, opening his bakeshop on the bottom floor of a historic triple-decker house. The families traditional recipes for their famous donuts were brought to America from Cornwall, England, and trace back to earlier generations. Billy stayed true to his own traditions and uses a style of baking which involves one of the last remaining coal-fire brick ovens in the city. Billy grew up in the shop assisting his father, siblings, two uncles and their wives. They baked all types of donuts, crullers, pies and cakes, making Betty Ann a popular destination for baked goods. During high school, Billy worked on Sunday afternoons, and after college, took over the family business. Billy continued to make pastries in his shop until his passing in 2023, and he was the last generation baker in this lineage.
