Neapolitan pizza in the heart of Two Rivers

Rich Palzewic

Staff

July 14, 2025

TWO RIVERS – A shared vision that started separately, has led a pair of entrepreneurs down a Neapolitan pizza journey in Two Rivers.

Justin Ulness and Nathan Hulsey are the co-owners of Pop-Start Pizza, a new pizza joint on the shores of Lake Michigan.

The friends-turned-business partners said they worked at a brewery together, bonded over their love of pizza and one thing led to another.

“I had done something similar to this at a previous restaurant I was the chef at,” Ulness said. “Nathan and I got the idea to partner up, so we started looking for a location. We landed this property [at 1033 22nd St.] and felt like it fit the scheme and was perfect for us with this style of restaurant.”

The duo said Pop-Start focuses on Neapolitan pizza.

“Neapolitan is cooked specifically in this type of domed oven,” Hulsey said. “The dough ferments for two days, so it’s a long fermentation time. We make it all in house, so it takes time. When you make it, it’s a very fast cooking time. The oven gets to about 1,000 degrees, and the pizza only cooks for about 90 seconds.”

Ulness said Neapolitan pizza originated in Naples, Italy.

“It has a thin crust,” he said. “It’s not like the traditional pub-style pizzas you’ll typically see around here.”

A vision in the making

Hulsey said initial talks about opening a pizzeria began about four years ago.

“Justin worked in real estate, and I had worked in food and retail for a long time in Milwaukee, where I’m from,” he said. “We spent a long time honing our skills and looking for the space. Once we found it, it was a two-year process to get to where we are now.”

Hulsey said part of the reason they wanted to begin Pop-Start was because of similar childhood food memories.

“We want to create those same food memories for people,” he said. “Recounting our food memories as kids, it brings back those warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgia. Food brings people together, and sharing a meal is meaningful to both of us. We both have wives and young kids, so spending time together and cooking with each other is special.”

Location, location, location

Ulness said the location of Pop-Start is “perfect.”

“It is on [Highway] 42, so it’s a pretty main thoroughfare,” he said. “If you’re going up to Door County, Neshota Beach is about two blocks away, and we’re also right on the East Twin River. The space is really well lit and fits about 30 people – it’s small and intimate.”

The co-owners said the space was formerly a gas station many years ago, then a café and a Luigi’s.

Hulsey said additionally, Pizza Garden bought the space early in 2020, but it never opened.

“They did some renovations, but unfortunately the renovations didn’t meet our vision,” he said. “They had a new bar put in, but we transformed that area. We have the Neapolitan pizza oven up front, and we converted the bar into a pizza line. We also have an order counter. I guess you could say most of the work we did was cosmetic in nature. The kitchen was/is nice.”

Due to its location, Hulsey said a lot of local residents frequent the pizzeria.

“We’ve seen people walk from their homes and order pizza, and during their wait, they’ll just walk back home and come back when it’s ready,” he said. “It’s really nice for the community, and we’re just happy to be a part of it.”

The duo said the vibe of Pop-Start is casual with lots of pop culture references.

“We are both ’80s and ’90s kids,” Ulness said. “We decorated the interior with nods to pop culture, including giving the hallway toward the bathroom the vibe of walking into an arcade, which was found in plenty of pizzerias back in the day.”

Gearing up for more

The duo said they’ve had a few pop-up pizza events, with more on the way, until they eventually open full-time.

“We’re working on dialing in our systems and getting staffed up,” Hulsey said. “Right now, it’s just Justin and me and our wives, and we both have newborns at home who were born this spring. It’s been a busy spring and summer. We’re doing a lot of recipe development and really want to build our systems to make sure our product is as quality and consistent as possible.”

Ulness said they’ve classified their pop-up events as the soft opening, but “they’ve been anything but soft.”

“During our first one, we sold 155 pizzas in five hours,” he said. “We didn’t really expect or anticipate that, so we were going at about a pizza every two minutes – that was just Nathan and me and one of our wives on split shifts. We were caught by surprise.”

Ulness said the second pop-up event was even more successful.

“We tried to ramp up to see if we wouldn’t sell out,” he said. “We made 240 pizzas, and we sold out of those in six hours. At that point, we were putting out a pizza every 90 seconds. Again, it was just us and our wives, and one family member came in to help in the back.”

Ulness said at Pop-Start, customers can see their pizza being made.

“You come in, put your order in and watch us make your pies,” he said. “We’ve done our best to keep up, and we feel good about the 90-second turnaround – but again, we’re trying to adjust and get better.”

Ulness said that’s partly why Pop-Start has only been doing one or two pop-ups a week.

“Because we make everything in house, and we have only 1,700 square feet in our building, we only have so much refrigeration,” he said. “You can imagine the space that 200-plus pizza doughs in boxes takes up in the refrigerator.”

Both Ulness and Hulsey said they hope to open full-time to the public in the near future.

“We plan to be a more full-time restaurant that also does catering and private events in house,” Ulness said. “That’s part of the design and business plan. We just want to make sure we are ready to go full-steam ahead before we open full-time.”

Hulsey said it’s tough to train staff when it’s “complete mayhem.”

“Justin and I are both well-trained chefs who are built for this, so we can run it right now at a high pace, but to train somebody [right now], we wouldn’t be able to do what we can now,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a double-edged sword – we want to open full-time, but we don’t feel like we can quite yet.”

Ulness said there is more to running Pop-Start than simply making pizzas efficiently.

“There’s a lot more that goes into a business,” he said. “I know at some point, we’re not going to be selling 200-plus pizzas in half a day, but as business owners, we’re managing a lot on the back end, too – it’s building recipes, money management, our social media accounts and marketing. Plus, with new babies and families at home, we’re doing the best we physically can.”

Hulsey said Pop-Start also has a couple of sandwiches and salads on its menu.

“We plan to have a fuller menu that includes quality salads that are fun, interesting and seasonal for people,” he said. “We know that in Wisconsin, in our area, specifically, sometimes it’s hard to find a good salad. We’ll eventually be adding some snacks and appetizers to go with our pizzas. We also offer house-made cookies we’re pretty proud of.”

The duo said to keep an eye on their Facebook page to look for future updates on more pop-up events.