Tommy’s Sold To New Owner

The ownership of Tommy’s House of Pizza has changed hands again.

Mian Iftikhar, the owner from last February until Tuesday, sold the eatery to G. S. Gill—a Boston-based restaurateur—but retained ownership of the nearby Tommy’s Value convenience store.

Iftikhar cited several reasons why he was unable to profitably operate the pizza restaurant, including a possible increase in racial bias after last year’s terrorist attacks.

“Nobody has said this to my face, but possibly my Pakistani origin kept people away after Sept. 11,” he said. According to Iftikhar, sales dropped by almost 40 percent after the terror attacks.

“It could be the economy, it could be my origin, but Sept. 11 was really the last nail in the coffin,” he said.

Iftikhar’s brother-in-law Sardar Zahid Shuja, who also works at Tommy’s, said it was not profitable to run an eatery in Harvard Square since students are not on campus for much of the year.

“It’s just not profitable, and there’s too much competition,” Shuja said.

“I couldn’t pay my bills and keep up with things,” Iftikhar said.

Iftikhar said he bought the store under the assumption that it would remain open until 3 a.m., as it was under previous ownership. He said that when the Cambridge License Commission told him he had to close by 2 a.m., he lost out on 15 to 20 percent of daily sales.

Gill, who is now running the pizzeria with his sons, said he does not foresee any problems.

“[Tommy’s is] near Harvard, it’s on the main street—sales and business should be great,” he said.

Gill said he plans to revamp the decor of Tommy’s and to expand the restaurant’s menu, hoping to introduce new items such as fish and chips, wraps and fish sandwiches.

Pointing at the chairs and stools—torn and old—Gill said he feels that with improvements in decor and the quality of food and service, Tommy’s could regain the clientele it once had.

Gill said he thought the staff’s inability to speak fluent English hampered customer service.

“You have to be able to speak good English or customers will say, ‘They are dumb people,’” he said.

Gill said that while he expects to make $300 less per day over the summer, he feels that summer-school students will provide enough business to keep the eatery open.

An immigrant from the Western Indian state of Punjab, Gill has been living in Boston for 20 years. He used to own a Hancock Street eatery called New England Daily, New York Style.

But Iftikhar is not planning to sell his convenience store, which he says is doing “good business.”

Iftikhar, who came to America 12 years ago from Lahore, Pakistan said he has been working since then with a particular goal—that his children can come and study at Harvard after completing their high school education in Pakistan.

“I have no savings or any kind of insurance,” Iftikhar said. “I don’t want to buy a Mercedes or a Rolls Royce, I just want to work hard and get my children a good education.”

Shuja, who is still around the pizzeria teaching the new owners how to manage it, said he might have to go back to Pakistan if he cannot find a new job in America. Shuja said he used to run a daily newspaper in Lahore called Sadakat, but was forced to leave the country after General Pervez Musharraf staged a coup in 1999 and effectively took control of every national newspaper.

—Staff writer Ravi P. Agrawal can be reached at agrawal@fas.harvard.edu.