Marrying Right

In addition to succeeding as a salesman, my father also succeeded in finding the right woman to marry. At the University of Utah, he met a young lady named Alice Sheets. She was eighteen years old and in her junior year. On one of their first dates, he took her to a little restaurant in the center of Salt Lake City. It was a small orange and black box building selling one item—A&W root beer. My father was extremely impressed—not because he liked root beer, but because they had a line of people a block long waiting to buy this product. He was so excited that he jumped on a train for Sacramento, California to talk to Roy Allen, the “A” in A&W. Roy sold him a license to sell A&W root beer in the Washington, D.C., area. Dad chose this area because he’d been there on his mission and knew how hot and miserable it was in the summer. He proposed to Alice and told her he would be back to marry her when she graduated. He left for Washington to make all the root beer stand arrangements and returned to Utah in May 1927 for the wedding.

On the day they were to be married in the Salt Lake Temple, my father didn’t show up when the ceremony was supposed to start. He was trying to get his commissions from the woolen mills. He arrived at the wedding two-and-a-half hours late, with no money. He asked my mother, “Do you still want to marry me?” She said, “yes,” of course. His mother-in-law had the presence of mind to cancel the wedding reception and give Dad the $200 they were going to spend for the reception. With that money, mom and dad jumped into his Model T Ford and started their two-week drive to Washington, D.C.

My mother was a tremendous partner to my father. She kept the books for their new nine-seat restaurant, which opened up the day Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic, 20 May 1927. Every night she would take the nickels, which were covered in root beer syrup, and wash them in the kitchen sink (the bank wouldn’t accept sticky nickels). She’d then put the clean coins into a paper bag and walk down to the bank around midnight to make the deposit of the day’s revenue. She understood what it took to run a restaurant, and she supported my dad throughout his career because she loved him and appreciated the work he was doing.

I learned a lot of important lessons from my parents, many of which are the same ones you’ll be learning not only in the business world, but also at the Marriott School.

Success Is Never Final

Change is what puts life in your business and in your life. The customer needs change constantly, and your business and you have to change to meet those needs. When my folks opened their root beer stand, they had one product: ice-cold root beer. That worked great from May through September. October rolled around and it got cold and rainy in Washington, D.C. Nobody wanted ice-cold root beer. The customers my father still had said, “Hey, you better get something hot in here to eat or you’re going to be out of business.”

Fortunately, my folks lived next to the Mexican Embassy. My mother spoke a little Spanish and befriended the chef at the embassy. He gave her his secret recipe for chili and hot tamales. My father put up a new sign over the A&W root beer stand that read, “Hot Shoppe,” and mother prepared their new Mexican recipes. They served root beer, hot tamales, and chili in what was now a “real” restaurant. It was a very explosive menu, but it worked, and provided the foundation for one of the largest restaurant chains in the eastern United States.

Watch The Details

My parents taught me, my brother, and their employees to watch the details of the business. I have vivid memories of visiting the Hot Shoppes as a small boy. In their book, In Search of Excellence, Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman were right on target when they wrote about management by walking around. You cannot run a service business without walking around and seeing what’s going on in the operation. You can’t be in the office looking at the books all day and know what’s really happening with your customers.

My father would go out and talk to the customers, talk to the employees, and inspect the units. He believed that you can’t expect what you don’t inspect. If you ask somebody to do something and never go back to check and see if it’s done, it might get done the first time but it probably won’t get done thereafter. You’ve got to get out there, check and make sure your associates follow through on their commitments, and let them know you will be checking. Then you must show appreciation to people for doing a good job. If they’re not doing a good job, explain how to do the job properly and give them encouragement.

Expect Perfection

Expect perfection, and don’t cut corners. If you cut corners somebody will find out, and it’s usually one of your best customers. My father’s inspections included tasting all the food, checking the temperatures of both the food and the equipment, looking for dirt under and behind every piece of equipment, and talking to the customers. He always said that you can’t be happy with an 80 percent positive customer response—it’s not good enough. He said you can’t spill coffee on 10 percent of your customers and expect to be successful in the restaurant business.

You must expect 100 percent satisfaction. You may not achieve it the first time or the second time, but it should always be the goal you are striving for and the expectation you convey to your employees and your customers.

Lead A Balanced Life

Don’t let your work hurt your family relations. Success is a lot more assured if your mind is free from family problems. If you’re happy at home, there’s a much greater chance of being happy at work. Be active in your church. Spiritual strength can be a great help. Don’t underestimate the value of being moved by the Spirit. When difficult decisions come, we need help, and it’s not always in the textbook, and it’s not always with your associates. Oftentimes we have to ask our Heavenly Father for help, and He’s willing to give it to us if we are living the commandments and are in tune with the Spirit.