Restaurant Operator · 2026-06-09 · 23 min
How does an independent pizza brand with zero initial restaurant experience scale to seven - and soon nine - locations while going head-to-head with venture-backed national chains? In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb, sits down with Enga Stanfield, co-owner of Texas-based Mattenga's Pizzeria, to uncover the tech stack driving their massive success. Stanfield shared how shifting from a grueling, hands-on survival mode to a tech-forward strategy completely changed the game, specifically highlighting their tech partnership with Owner.com. Discover how automated SEO, frictionless custom-branded apps featuring 8-second reordering and rapid text-based customer feedback loops helped Mattenga's capture passive local sales and maintain a steady 10% to 15% growth rate - proving that independent operators don't just have to survive against the big chains, they can out-innovate them. Stanfield said her favorite part of Owner.com is the reviews segment of the software. "Those reviews and those rankings, those are forever," she said.
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