Hengam and Matt Stanfield share the story of Mattenga’s Pizzeria, Pizza Today’s 2025 Pizzeria of Year
Wednesday kicked off with a deep dive into pizzeria operations. Hengam and Matthew Stanfield got down to business sharing their story of purchasing a failed pizzeria and turning it into a seven-unit powerhouse in San Antonio, Texas. The expanding pizza company has hit its stride with a vision, culture and growth strategy to become a national model for independent pizzerias. In 2025, Pizza Today named Mattenga’s Pizzeria our Pizzeria of the Year.
The audience nodded with an acknowledgement of the bumpy road of pizzeria ownership. Matt and Hengam revealed their path from failed pizzeria to an operation treading water and ultimately a multi-unit with systems driving its success.
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It was a rough start for the Stanfields, from taking over the existing business with no restaurant experience to ops and staffing problems. “We complained about our problems, but we’re solving them,” Matt says.
That is when the couple began creating a frustration list. It was a move that would catapult the strategic approach they would take with their business moving forward. They began answering those problems, like management. “Management problems are solved with a clearly communicated disciplinary process and an accountability culture,” Hengam says.
At several moments in the life of their decade old business the couple made a decision to go “all in” with the business. We dive deeper into the tips and strategies the Stanfields presented here at PizzaToday.com.
Hengam conclude the Keynote with a call to pizzeria operators: “What if you went all in. Victory or death. What if you were the next Pizzeria of the Year on this stage… Because we cannot wait to cheer you on on this stage one day.”
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