J. Willard Marriott

John Willard Marriott was born September 17, 1900, in Marriott Settlement near Ogden, Utah.  His father gave him considerable responsibility on the family farm at an early age: he was sent to San Francisco on his own with 3,000 sheep in a railcar at the age of 14.  [1]  At age 19, he left to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church, in New England. 

On his way home from his mission, the sweltering summer of 1921, he passed through Washington, D.C.

“… [H]e walked from Capitol Hill to the Washington Monument, toiled up the steps to the top, walked back down again, and strolled over to the Lincoln Memorial. Everywhere he went tourists and pedestrians sweltered and sweated in the sultry, humid air. On the way back to his hotel, he just stood there in the street watching the crowds, he couldn’t get over it: a push cart peddler would come along the street selling lemonade and soda pop and ice cream, and in minutes he would be cleaned out and on his way to stock up with another cartload” (O’Brien, Robert, Marriott: The J. W. Marriott Story, Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co, 1977).

After graduating from Weber College and later, the University of Utah in 1925, Marriott remembered his experience in Washington, D.C. and decided to look into a venture there.  Marriott started with a small root beer stand in Washington, D.C., in 1927.  He married Alice Sheets on 9 June 1927. With the approach of cooler Autumn months, and with the addition of Mexican food items to the menu, the stand became The Hot Shoppe, a popular family restaurant. In 1928, he opened the first drive-in east of the Mississippi, and the business was incorporated as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in Delaware in 1929.

By 1932 he had a chain of restaurants.  In 1935 he was diagnosed as having malignant cancer of the lymph nodes, and given between six months and a year to live.  However, he survived and lived another half century.

Marriott opened his first motel in 1957.  By the time he died (August 13, 1985),  the Marriott company (now Marriott International) operated 1,400 restaurants and 143 hotels and resorts worldwide, including two theme parks, earned USD $4.5 billion in revenue annually with 154,600 employees. The company’s interests even extended to a line of cruise ships.

Company ventures have included providing food services to federal buildings during World War II, Big Boy Restaurants, Roy Rogers Restaurants, airline in-flight food services, and food services for schools and colleges.

Marriott was known for making unscheduled visits to his businesses to check for performance and cleanliness, however, he was also known for showing love and concern for even hourly-wage employees.