Donald Snider

Donald Snider has gone from paper to pizza.

The former owner and CEO of Detroit-based Paper-Plas, Converting, Inc., supplier of packaging materials to the auto industry, recently purchased the franchise to the only Papa John's pizza restaurant in Washtenaw County.

The Papa John's, located at 401 E. Huron St. at Division Street, has catered heavily to the student population at the University of Michigan, which accounts for about 60 percent of the store’s sales.

Snider said he will turn his strategy to boosting sales to the non-student community as a way to hedge against slow periods when students leave.

“I want to market more to the neighborhoods,” he said. “We can’t depend on the university all of the time. Summers and holidays business is down.”

Snider purchased the franchise last month from Enthusiasm Foods, LLC based in Indianapolis, which has held the franchise since it opened five years ago, Snider said. “They are pulling out of Michigan to focus on their Indiana stores.”

Snider said he hopes to open a second Papa John's at the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti border by June. He said he is looking at existing space.

While there won’t be personnel changes at the Ann Arbor store - the management team has been strong and has clocked 10 percent sales growth over the past two years, he does want to grow sales 6 to 10 percent in the coming year by marketing to year-round residents.

That includes offering a fundraiser to Ann Arbor Public Schools where Papa John’s coupons would be distributed at school building with each school earning cash rewards. Snider will also start rotating monthly pizza nights at about 10 targeted apartment complexes around town where pre-made pizzas will be sold on site at a discount. He also plans on more mailings and more advertising and participating in a company-wide coupon program that targets past customers.

While its Snider’s first venture into pizza, he’s not a novice when it comes to food distribution. Six years ago he started Abbeville Treats, which distributes hot dogs and chicken to Ford Field in Detroit.

He later turned the business over to his daughter. Abbeville Treats is also a food distributor in at stadiums and convention centers in St. Louis, where Snider grew up. He also owned three Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises before he became an automotive supplier.

Snider, a single father who raised his two children, is also a published author with the book “Beyond the Bling: Real Steps to Financial Success.” 

With the collapse of the auto industry, Paper-Plas was forced to close down last summer after 13 years supplying DaimlerChrysler and other manufacturers.

“You can’t be in business when Chrysler stops paying people,” Snider said. “The last 1.5 years were rough.”

But they followed good times. Paper-Plas had become one of the fastest growing minority-owned paper packaging companies in the United States, and reported $6 million in revenue in 2000. Snider won numerous awards and was one of three national finalists to Black Enterprise magazine's Business Innovator of the Year award.

For more information on Papa John's, check out AnnArbor.com's restaurant guide.