Root Beer to Riches

To Washingtonians, from Cabinet officers to Government clerks, the orange-roofed Hot Shoppes are as well known as the Washington Monument. Last week Hot Shoppe Owner J. Willard Marriott branched out with another sort of monument--one of the world's largest motels. Sprawling along seven Potomac-side acres beside busy U.S. 1, the $5,000,000 motel has 370 wall-to-wall carpeted rooms equipped with TV and hifi, plus a swimming pool for adults, a wading pool for children. Guests can drive up to Marriott's Motor Hotel, select accommodations from a look at 3-D Kodachrome prints, then drive straight to their rooms, guided by a bicycle-mounted bellhop, without once stepping out of their cars.

Marriott arrived in Washington from little Marriott, Utah (named for his grandfather) thirty years ago with $3,000 capital (half borrowed) and the Washington franchise for a western root beer. With a partner he opened a hole-in-the-wall root-beer stand, the following year had two stands and no partner (he bought him out for $5,000). To make up for the drop in root-beer sales in winter, he installed a steam table and griddle, began selling tamales and enchiladas, changed his stores' name to Hot Shoppes. The chain kept expanding because the food was good, and swiftly served in scrupulously clean surroundings. Now Hot Shoppes, Inc. have 66 restaurants in eleven states and the District of Columbia, last year fed over 40 million customers, grossed upwards of $29 million. Last week, with his motel already booking reservations into May and June, Marriott had sites for three more motels on the East Coast.

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