Kazoopy's Pizza & Grinders opened its fourth location on Tuesday at 6040 S. 12th St., right on the Texas Township-Portage border, and this one comes with a twist: half the building is now devoted to a brand-new ice cream brand called Buttercup's. The shop offers the full Kazoopy's menu of pizza, grinders and calzones on one side, while Buttercup's serves floats, flurries, sundaes and 16 flavors of ice cream on the other.
It's the first Buttercup's location ever, but owner Scott Strawhun has effectively been testing the concept for years, according to MLive. Strawhun previously paired Kazoopy's with Frosty Boy Ice Cream at a location on 5030 Gull Road in Comstock Township, a setup that served as the template for the new dual-concept store. Frosty Boy has operated in Kalamazoo since 1984, and Strawhun's earlier experience running it alongside a Kazoopy's counter helped prove that pizza and ice cream could share a roof profitably, according to Discover Kalamazoo.
From Marketing Client to Family Pizza Empire
Strawhun didn't start out as a pizza man. He worked in marketing and promotion for small businesses and counted Kazoopy's among his clients before he and his family bought the restaurant outright in 2013, when founder Mark Rogers was preparing to retire. Rogers had opened the original Kazoopy's on South Westnedge Avenue back in 2007, building a reputation that included a 2017 nod from MLive food writers naming the shop's grinders among the top 10 sub sandwiches in Michigan, per Catering by Kazoopy's Pizza & Grinders.
The idea to pair pizza with ice cream at the new Texas Township store came from Maria Strawhun, Scott's partner and co-owner, per the MLive report. The building itself had a complicated history before Kazoopy's moved in — it previously housed an insurance company, a coffee shop and a real estate agency, and Strawhun's earlier attempt to inquire about converting the space while it was still a real estate office was turned away, the outlet noted.
A Barn-Themed Selfie Spot and 16 Flavors
Inside, the new location leans into a farmhouse design theme, with indoor seating that includes two high tops and multiple tables, plus outdoor benches scattered in multiple spots around the building. The exterior now features a mural covering an entire wall, painted by local artist Kristina Wood, who works under the business name I Create MI and has taken part in regional public art efforts including the Thornapple Arts Council's annual Arts & Eats tour. The mural depicts a red barn with a cow serving ice cream through a barn-door window, and per the same account, Strawhun hopes it becomes a community selfie wall.
Buttercup's ice cream itself comes from Kemps Dairy in Wisconsin, a company that has made dairy products for more than a century since its 1914 founding in Minneapolis by William Henry Kemps and W.S. Lathrop, according to Kemps. Kemps has operated as a subsidiary of Dairy Farmers of America since 2011, a farmer-owned cooperative representing more than 12,500 member farms, and the company runs five manufacturing facilities across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa according to Wikipedia. Buttercup's makes two rotating in-house flavors each week alongside its standard 16-flavor lineup, per the MLive report.
Growing Alongside a Booming Township
The new store lands in a township that has been expanding fast. Texas Township's population grew more than 20% between 2010 and 2020, climbing from 14,697 to 17,691 residents, with municipal estimates now placing the population above 18,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Visitor tracking presented to the Texas Township Board in March showed out-of-town visits rose 1.4% in 2025, backed by $771 million in total tourism spending across Kalamazoo County in 2024, according to data shared with the Charter Township of Texas board.
Strawhun sees Buttercup's as more than a one-off experiment tacked onto his fourth Kazoopy's — he's framed it as a brand that could expand on its own, and has said Buttercup's may eventually be added to other existing Kazoopy's locations, per MLive. Whether that means converting current shops or hunting for new real estate for future dual-concept stores remains unclear.
For now, the combined Kazoopy's and Buttercup's shop is open Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The pizzeria has also built loyalty over the years with regional specialty items rarely found in Southwest Michigan, including a St. Louis-style pizza made with Provel cheese, according to SW Michigan Dining.
