Michael James Snyder (February 24, 1950 – December 2, 2018) was an American business executive, who is best known for having been the first

franchisee Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...

of the

Red Robin Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., more commonly known as Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews or simply Red Robin, is an American chain of casual dining restaurants founded in September 1969 in Seattle, Washington. In 1979, the first franchised ...

restaurant chain. He was later named president, CEO, and chairman of the board of the concern.

Early life

Snyder took his first job in the food industry in his grandfather's wholesale bakery as a young boy, and worked in the bakery throughout his childhood. He attended the

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...

, graduating in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in finance.

Business career

In 1979 Snyder and his brothers, Steve Snyder and Brad Snyder, became the first franchisees of the Red Robin hamburger restaurant, officially turning the restaurant into a chain. In 1989 he then opened the first out of state restaurant in

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. The brothers would then open 14 restaurants in Colorado, Idaho, Washington over the years, with annual revenues of over $40 million per year by the mid-1990s. The restaurants are operated by an organization called The Snyder Group. The franchisor company had been sold by its original owners to a Japanese company previously however the company had not been doing well. In response, Snyder, as a franchisee, went to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to present the parent company with a new business plan, and returned the new COO and president of the company in 1998. Next Michael Snyder was promoted to CEO. In 1994 he moved the company's headquarters from California to

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and in 1991 he was made chairman of the board. In 2009 Snyder merged his franchise company with the franchisor Red Robin company, forming the Red Robin Gourmet Burgers company. Since Snyder took the reins in 1996, the company experienced twenty-four consecutive quarters of growth. During this period, Snyder grew the number of restaurants by, with average sales per restaurant increasing by over 50%. He then took the company public in 2002. About half the company's restaurants at this point were company owned, with the other half being franchised. He also developed the company's business model of what the company and the press called "unbridled service", which encourages employees to act beyond their scope in bringing enjoyment to customer experiences and take advantage of situations to go beyond their usual job in making diners happy. Red Robin was named the restaurant chain of the year in 2005 by ''Restaurant Hospitality'', which had previously written that the success of Red Robin was due directly to Snyder's leadership. Snyder left his positions with the company late that year, but up until his death in December 2018 remained the largest individual shareholder in the company, having held a 6.6% ownership stake. At the time of his death he was also the Managing Partner of Calliope Investment Company LLC.

Death

Snyder committed suicide by gunshot on December 2, 2018, in Yakima County, Washington. He was 68.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Michael James 1950 births 2018 suicides Place of birth missing University of Puget Sound alumni Businesspeople from Washington (state) 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American chief executives of food industry companies Suicides by firearm in Washington (state)