A suspicious fire apparently aimed at taking a slice out of the competition has landed two Lake City Domino's Pizza restaurant managers behind bars, according to Lake City police.

The Oct. 20 fire gutted a Papa John's restaurant at 2815 U.S. 90, down the street from the Domino's at 2372 US 90.

One week later Sean Davidson, 23, was arrested on a charge of arson, while Bryan Sullivan, 21, was arrested Friday on the same charge, according to Columbia County jail records. Both are identified as managers at the Domino's.

The plan to destroy the competition was revealed when detectives spoke with Sullivan, said Capt. John Blanchard IV, police department spokesman.

"He felt that if Papa John's was no longer open, it would increase his business," Blanchard said. "He said he got tired of their vehicles driving by his store. He said he had taken down some of their local advertising at intersections."

Papa John's owner Jake Wilkes said he was "dumbfounded over how somebody could go to those lengths over pizza" when he spoke with Times-Union news partner First Coast News.

Tish Muldoon, Papa John's spokeswoman, told the Times-Union that they were "obviously taken aback" when they heard about the blaze at the 3-month-old operation.

"We are thankful no one was hurt in the fire," Muldoon said. "We have spoken with our franchisee and he is in shock. He is keeping his spirits up. He is a former Papa John's delivery driver [since 2003] and he along with two others pooled their money and bought the restaurant."

Blanchard said the fire was planned in advance, with two incendiary devices built with packets of gunpowder inside. One was tested and worked perfectly. But when the second was tried, it malfunctioned. So some kind of accelerant was poured at the building and it ignited prematurely, burning Davidson, Blanchard said.

"We got a lead on Davidson and interviewed him, and he had some burns consistent with the fire," Blanchard said.

Investigators learned the second device that fizzled had been disassembled and tossed out of a car along Interstate 75, along with a golf ball-sized bag of gunpowder. Blanchard said they hope anyone that finds it just calls police.

"If someone saw it and grabbed it, it could flash and burn them," Blanchard said.

As for Domino's, corporate spokesman Tim McIntyre said they are "as shocked as anyone by this" in an e-mail statement from headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich. First Coast News said the owner is from Fernandina Beach.

"Now in addition to an innocent Papa John's franchisee having to rebuild a store, an innocent local Domino's Pizza store owner has to rebuild a reputation," he wrote in part. "… As a company, Domino's Pizza has nothing but the greatest respect for the Papa John's system and its franchisees, and it should go without saying that we don't endorse criminal behavior of any form."

Muldoon said Wilkes sees the fire as a "bump in the road" and they are grateful for the community's support as they work to reopen.

dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549