Two couples with big ideas found a home—and success—in the Lost River Valley with Lost + Found Pizza and Provisions.
WHILE LIVING IN WASHINGTON, D.C., more than a decade ago, Chad Sandhas and Maxwell Hessman took a little escape to visit friends in West Virginia’s Lost River Valley. What they found was so much more than a weekend getaway. They loved it so much that they bought their own place here, making the trek back from D.C. as often as they could to visit.
During one of those trips, they were introduced to another transplanted couple, Kim and Jimmy Eggert, who had bought not only a home in Lost River but also a plot of land they hoped to someday develop.
Talk about good timing. Sandhas and Hessman, who had over 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry, were toying around with opening a new place themselves, so a partnership was born. The four entrepreneurs first opened a provisions shop to sell beer, wine, and snacks, then tore down an old car wash on-site in 2022 to construct a new restaurant with a custom-built wood-fired pizza oven that opened in 2023 amid much curiosity.
“The lot we wound up on had been abandoned for a long time, and someone had even spray-painted a hazard warning on the side of the car wash,” Sandhas says. “So that’s what you saw for the longest time when driving through the town of Mathias, this falling-down car wash next to a red building that was once a laundromat and gun shop. So when we razed the car wash and started building something new, it got everyone’s curiosity up.”
When it came time to name their place, that same theme of discovery popped up again. “After living in the Lost River Valley for so long, we really wanted a name that would honor the area but also give a nod to finding something new here. That’s what happened to all of us personally, so Lost + Found Pizza and Provisions was born.”
It’s a find their community has embraced, thanks in part to its ties to the past. Signs from the car wash and laundromat remain part of the decor, along with original bullet holes from the gun shop.
Food wise, the Neapolitan-style pies they serve can’t be found anywhere else around these parts. “We bring in cured wood every other day for our pizza ovens,” Sandhas says. “That really is a distinguishing factor.”
The pepperoni pizza is their top seller, hands down, but the pizza Sandhas finds most interesting is one called The Apple, featuring thinly sliced apples with white cheddar cheese and housemade onion jam. “It just offers a really great combination of flavors. The tartness of the apples, the salty creaminess of the melted cheese, the sweet-and-savory tang of the onion jam.”
With just over a year under their belts, Sandhas says Lost + Found’s focus is continuing to attract people who haven’t given it a shot yet. “Everyone from kids to grandparents love it, and once they come in, they’re eager to come back. We believe if the food is good, it will bring people together, and that’s what we’re trying to offer here.” 13357 WV-259, Mathias, lostandfoundlrv.com, @lostandfoundlrv on FB
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM WV LIVING’S WINTER 2024 ISSUE
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