Summary biography of JW Marriott part 2
Taking over from the part 1:
When he was 33 his 70-year-old father went to work for him
His father became a personnel relations man. His father made the rounds of the restaurants, getting to know all the employees, He also scoured the local markets looking for the best wholesale food deals for the restaurants. Judging meat was his speciality.
His brother Woody worked for him as a carhop(waiter at a drive-in restaurant).
Sometimes his servers would mix up root beer and regular beer.
His staff used loudspeakers as an early-warning system to thwart J.W.’s surprise inspections.
JW Marriott got the most important investor, Earl Sams, the boss of his cousin-in-law George Bushnell, the president of J.C. Penney Company
Earl Sams also became his mentor, he was 18 years older than JW. He learnt three things: hire decent people, never borrow money, respect the community
Both his mentor and cousin-in-law were Mormons
Almost at the age of 37, he opened 8th Hotte Shoppe
He got the idea to cater food for aeroplane passengers and signed an in-flight catering deal with Eastern Airlines
He made his younger brother the vice president of operations
His father fell against a car door. Initially, he was alright, later on on the second day he fell into a coma and died. The autopsy revealed that his artery had been damaged and he had bled to death from the inside.
He gave his son ‘Bill’ Marriott to an elite school Sidwell, where all the children of the US presidents had their education (Prominent examples include Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and etc).
He was afraid that his son is going to grow into a spoiled playboy. That’s why he was increasing his son’s chores.
His son, Bill Marriott, would mow the lawns, wash cars, rake leaves, brush his shoes and be expected to receive high grades at school. Later on, his son confesses that if not for his mother it would’ve been much tougher.
He was demanding towards his employees such as making his Hot Shoppe manager make a hamburger ten times till they got the right amount of salt or demanding hot food to be burning hot and cold food to be ice cold.
He also provided free healthcare to his employees by having a doctor and a surgeon on the payroll.
At the age of 40 years old when WW2 broke out, JW Marriott changed his strategy to target the ''mass feeding'' market, contracting to run workplace cafeterias at government buildings and industrial sites.
Ever-changing war rationing restrictions made it challenging to stay afloat and make a profit nonetheless Marriott’s chain survived compared to similar chains that went bankrupt.
At the age of 45, the church hierarchy appointed him as one of the leaders of the Washington DC Stake.
Over age, his senior manager, as well as his brother, turned from charismatic and full of ideas to being erratic exhibiting Jekyll-and-Hyde behaviour exacerbated by heavy drinking.
At the age of 50 years old, he opened his 23rd restaurant buying out a small coffee shop from his old friend who also used to be a sheepherder.
After that, he acquired a farm to reminisce about his old days as a farmer
At least once a year, there would be a person from the company doing a tour around California to see the latest trends in the industry.
He would have business discussions with his son who was in his junior year of bachelor’s about the pros and cons of converting the company from a family-owned business to a publicly traded company.
He planned to buy out his brother's shares of the business as he was becoming more incompetent with his jealousy and drinking habits
When his company went on IPO, he and his three brothers became multimillionaires by selling stocks of their company. However, they were still in charge by having 2/3rds of the outstanding stocks. He was 52 years old.
At the age of 53, he won the lease to operate 9 restaurants along the 148-mile stretch between New York City and Albany comprising a monopoly and securing a new stream of revenue for the family
The next article about Marriott family we are going to focus on his son - Bill Marriott. All the way up to a moment when he opens his first hotel:
Accidentally J.W. Marriott, Bill Marriott and Bruce White(the owner of White Lodging, the company I currently work for) were all coming from Miami Triad fraternities.
J.W. Marriott was cautious and disciplined while his son is a risk taker