Northeast San Antonio Metrocom Edition - January 2022

DINING FEATURE Mattenga’s Pizzeria Schertz small business caters to all lovers of the pie O wners Matthew (Matt) and Hengam (Enga) Staneld opened Mattenga’s Pizzeria in 2014. Before starting the restaurant, Enga was an electrical engineer and Matt a civil engineer. Throughout their college years, the two enjoyed hosting parties with food made from scratch and discovered their love for hospitality. With no restaurant experience, Matt and Enga took the risk and sold their house to buy the restaurant. “We had never worked at a restaurant before, both of us,” Enga said. “So, we didn’t know what we were doing. We just thought it would be a lot of fun even if we didn’t know anything about business at all.” The rst few years of the restaurant were dicult, Enga said. To help build their reputation, the two donated their food to churches and other groups, and became more involved in the community. “We realized early on, when the restaurant was very empty at the beginning, that we need to go where people are,” Enga said. “We cannot just sit and wait for people to come to us.” For their dedication to the community, Mat- tenga’s won Small Business of the Year from The Chamber (Schertz-Cibolo-Selma Area) four times. As for the food, the recipes mainly come from Enga’s family, and her parents work at the restaurant. “We make everything from scratch and roast all of our meats from scratch,” Enga said. “It is a lot of labor and a lot of love.” To set their pizza apart, Mattenga’s tries to cater to all customers, oering gluten-free, keto, lactose-free and vegan options, along with wings, appetizers, pasta and more. “We do try to serve anybody who wants pizza,” Enga said. “Last year, we added vegan oerings with vegan cheese, pepperoni and sausage.” Throughout the pandemic, Matt and Enga have seen a shift in the restaurant’s composition with fewer dine-in customers. “We used to be like 50% dine-in and now we are down to around 30% dine-in,” Enga said. “About 70% of our business is pickup and delivery. We have realized that we need to be creative about serving people.” In 2018, Mattenga’s opened a second location o O’Connor Road just inside Loop 1604, and they have plans to open a New Braunfels location soon. The couple’s pizzerias serve a 3-mile to 5-mile radius around each location, they said. “Our focus is to serve the people around the restau- rant, nomatter where we set up shop,” she said. The couple is hoping to add multiple locations every year moving forward, she said. BY JARRETT WHITENER

This 16-inch half and half pizza ($19.99) is half Santa Fe with green hatch chilis and half Molto Meat with four meats.

JARRETT WHITENERCOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

The pizza rolls ($5.99) are stued with mozzarella and pepperoni. They come four to an order.

COURTESY MATTENGA’S PIZZERIA

WINGS ANDMORE Mattenga’s Pizzeria oers six wing options, each with a distinct avor. Each order is 10 wings ($12.99).

Lemon pepper: tossed in a cracked black pepper and zesty lemon dry rub Bualo: tossed in a choice of mild, medium or hot tangy sauce

Butter garlic parmesan: tossed in butter and fresh garlic, and topped with parmesan BBQ: Tossed in a bold, smoky, sweet, rich barbecue sauce Plain: Crispy chicken wings with no sauce

Thai sweet chili: tossed in sticky, sweet Thai chili sauce

Matt and Enga Staneld opened Mattenga’s Pizzeria in 2014 serving to all pizza lovers.

COURTESY MATTENGA’S PIZZERIA

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Mattenga’s Pizzeria 6044 FM 3009, Ste. 290, Schertz 210-592-1138 www.mattengas.com Hours: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

NORTHEAST SAN ANTONIO METROCOM EDITION • JANUARY 2022