The Classroom in Nelson has opened its cafeteria and is serving up pizzas, smash burgers and made-to-order bakery items.

Owners Dave and Tracy DeVries added Papa’s Pizza and The Classroom Bakery to The Classroom in August 2025. It’s located in the former elementary school at 207 Pope St., where the Nelson natives run a bar and event center and now serve food as well.

The couple quietly opened the business Aug. 15, 2025.

“We didn’t tell anybody. We didn’t make a big splash. I didn’t want people waiting outside for, you know, waiting two hours for pizza,” Dave told Shaw Local. They held a grand opening Oct. 10.

“We’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneurs” and a few years ago, the couple began experimenting with making pizzas at home, Dave said: “Just started doing some of that stuff and playing around.”

“With what’s going on here [at the bar], we just thought it’d be a good fit,” Dave said.

Papa’s Pizza is open Fridays and Saturdays from 4-9 p.m. The menu features build-your-own options or specialty pizzas such as “The Overachiever,” which Dave said is their best seller, “Honor Roll” and “The Fire Drill”, among others. The sauce and dough for all pizzas are made from scratch and the cheese is freshly grated.

The menu also includes crowd-pleasing appetizers such as garlic cheese bread with dipping sauce and an open-faced sandwich, “The Beefy Raider.”

The bar offers smash burgers from noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Dave said he started grilling the burgers about a year and a half ago for patrons who were there to catch the football game “so it’s just kind of carried over.”

As for the bakery side of things, that’s led by Tracy.

“She loves the baking,” Dave said. “She’s pretty mediocre at it,” he added with a laugh, earning a playful glare from Tracy.

Tracy said it started with her making cookies for the bar “and they started looking forward to it.”

From there, she decided to turn it into a full bakery and added muffins and cupcakes to the menu, Tracy said.

“Eventually I want to get more into bread,” such as zucchini or banana loafs, Tracy said.

For now, the bakery offers cookies that include chocolate chip, snickerdoodle and peanut butter, and specialty flavors such as Reese’s peanut butter and cookies and cream. The menu also features muffins in flavors that include chocolate chip, blueberry and cinnamon sugar, to name a few, along with cupcakes including vanilla, chocolate and more.

Tracy said she also bakes themed items for holidays such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day.

While some treats are for sale in the bar and pizza window, the bakery mostly operates on a made-to-order basis. Orders can be placed by calling 815-564-8732.

Pizza orders can be placed online at theclassroomnelson.com or by calling 815-380-2233.