Business Spotlight: Donuts and Ammo

12-10-25

By Peggy M. Sheffler
LAWSVILLE — You’ve likely driven past the orange signage of Donuts & Ammo, owned and operated by the husband-and-wife team of Paul and Victoria Di Biase at 21508 Route 29 in the Lawsville area.
The unique fusion shop got its start about five years back. Paul Di Biase said he and his wife got the idea to start Donuts & Ammo because he enjoys hunting, primarily for whitetail deer and turkey. During COVID, there were times when he could not find any ammunition or reloading supplies for purchase at local gun stores. The idea came to him to look online.
“I was able to go online, find it in bulk, and find it at prices that were manageable,” Paul Di Biase said. The orders were placed and received. He was surprised at how easily he received the orders. A thought occurred: maybe ammo buyers were uncomfortable buying online, preferred catalogs, or were reluctant to enter their credit card information.
In July 2021, the Di Biase family went on a family trip to a cabin on Lake Kabetogama in Minnesota. The long car ride provided plenty of time to talk. Paul Di Biase had been mulling something over for a while. He said to Victoria, “I think I want to start an ammo store. I had excellent luck finding ammunition online, finding it in bulk quantities.” His wife asked, “What do you mean?”
Victoria Di Biase knew her husband to be very risk-averse. Paul Di Biase said, “I’m an engineer by trade, an aerospace engineer. One needs a detailed plan, and then you need plans for contingencies, right?” She said, “Well, that’s very interesting. If you’re going to do something like that, I want to do something, too. And we’re going to do it together.”
Without hesitation, Paul agreed. “I’m all down for that, one-hundred percent,” he said.
Victoria Di Biase said she wanted to have a bakery, but no cakes. Paul said he almost immediately knew she wanted to make donuts. For as long as Victoria Di Biase can remember, the family has enjoyed eating the old-fashioned yeast-risen, rolled and cut-out type donuts. She learned how to make them during COVID from her family friends. Victoria Di Biase whipped up a dozen batches before she got the recipe exactly the way she liked it.
During the ride to Minnesota and the six days there, the new business idea for Donuts & Ammo was the ongoing topic of conversation. There was a lot to talk about. They both knew where they hoped it could be. That was at Creek Bend, a location with a lot of history in the
Franklin Forks area, once owned by Art Wertman.
Paul and Victoria reached out to the current owners of the property, Bill and Kay Watkins, to inquire about renting their property. In September 2021, the Watkins agreed to lease the spot to the Di Biases. They were thrilled.
Opening day in October 2021 saw an extraordinary amount of business come through the doors.
“We had a lot of people, family members, neighbors, and others volunteering to help us out in the beginning,” Paul Di Biase said. Maybe this business was meant to be. The company sold 100 dozen donuts that first hectic weekend. The family business is currently a combination of ammo, guns, and donuts. When they first started, Paul Di Biase wasn’t interested in getting into firearms. The process would include licensing, additional insurance, county approval to operate a firearms place, and more. In December 2021, the business obtained the Federal Firearms License (FFL).
“To get into being an ammo wholesaler and to have reasonable pricing on ammo, you need to be an FFL,”Paul Di Biase said. “If you don’t have an FFL, you can’t really work with wholesalers to sell ammo at bulk pricing.”
As with all businesses, there are challenges to face. Paul Di Biase said he has found it difficult to find the right people to hire. It isn’t easy to get employees to show up at 3:30 a.m. to make donuts. At present, Paul Di Biase is pleased to have a good, tight-knit crew working at Donuts and Ammo. Such as Ryan Miller, who has been working there since the first three or four months the business opened. One of his interests is firearms.
“We’ve always wanted a franchise for Donuts and Ammo,” Paul Di Biase said. “Our business
has been successful. We’re always in the black and growing our sales every year. New customers keep stopping in, and regular customers keep coming back. Like Fred, the very first
person who came through on opening day, who still stops every Sunday for donuts for his
family.”
The business tracks many metrics. For every donut sold, the individual QR and individual barcodes are scanned. The data shows which barcodes are selling well and which ones are not.
The ones that are not selling are rotated out. As a software developer, Paul Di Biase wrote his own software for all the tags. While he has plans for the future in that realm, he said he’s continuing with Donuts & Ammo for now because it’s a successful business.
Donuts and Ammo has what is called “The Book of Knowledge,” a user manual for running
the business, onboarding new staff, explaining why things are done a certain way, and more. Paul Di Biase said he finds that a good employee cares about the “why”not just the “how.”
Paul Di Biase’s mother lived in Poland, and his father lived in Rome, Italy. The Di Biase family had a bakery in Rome. His mother and father were immigrants to America. In New York City, his parents met, married, and lived there. In the mid-1980s, they moved to the northeast Pennsylvania and southern New York area. His parents owned a grocery store on Route 11 in Kirkwood, New York, called “Maria’s Market.” Ironically, they had a side business selling firearms inside the grocery store.
Paul Di Biase wanted to recognize his mother-in-law, Patty Strope, for her influence on him.
“I would not be able to run this business without Patty’s guidance, assistance, and help,” he said. “She’s a big part of this going right. We would not be here without her.”
Donuts & Ammo have done all kinds of different activities and advertising to promote the
Business. Contact them at 570-967-8044 or check out the website, https://donutsandammo.com.