Vol. 5, No. 9, September 2008
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Never Say No
Bob Marshall, Senior Vice President, Aramark’s Parks & Destinations Division
Bob Marshall recalls one night the phrase paid off. The former Sands assistant director of operations, now a senior vice president for Aramark’s parks and destination division, witnessed one of the greatest employee comebacks in casino history.
It was a blustery, storm-ravaged December night. A noreaster blew in, wreaking havoc. That’s when Marshall saw the gaming version of a come-from-behind victory.
“I get this call about 2 a.m. from the operator, who sounded a little nervous,” he says. “I went into the place and it looked like a tornado had hit part of the building. Flooding was everywhere. The storm had come crashing down on the glass enclosure. We just had water every place you looked.
“It was a big Friday. We had entertainment coming in and this looked really bad. But by six o’clock the next evening, we had drained the pool, put a rooftop back, repaired ceilings—you name it. When you think about the workforce that accomplished this, it was pretty amazing. If it had been any business other than a casino, we would have shut down for a week or two. That was quite a performance by people in the gaming industry.”
Marshall first observed gaming from a distance, attending Mainland High School and the Atlantic City Community College culinary program. He worked as a dishwasher at Greate Bay Country Club, which the Sands later purchased and operated.
After finishing Widener’s hotel management program, he was coaxed back here when his wife found a teaching job. From 1988 to 1993, he saw the Sands become a slot kingpin.
“The biggest change was the migration toward the slot customer,” he says. “There was so much excitement going on. We’d often have a major party in a 4,200-square-foot suite and tear it down to have it ready for a customer an hour later.”
Marshall later helped Wheeling Island Casino in West Virginia obtain a full table-games license before going to Philadelphia-based Aramark.
“After managing a lot of different businesses, what strikes me is that they are all similar,” Marshall says. “You need customers, you need a high-quality product, and you need to show leadership in getting your employees to work hard for you. In a hotel, you study the ADR (average daily rate). In the casino, it’s the win-per-unit. We become generalists as our careers go higher and higher. Each operation is different, but the things you need are the same. It’s management leading people.”
Marshall now has more than 3,000 people reporting to him.
“In whatever job, it’s been important for me to be in the field, out there saying hello to people,” he says. “It’s all about leadership. It’s how we talk to people. It’s how we deal with people, how we go about rallying the troops. At the end of the day, you need a transparent relationship with employees in order for them to believe you and get behind you.”
Marshall’s new company provides property management, hospitality services and recreational support to specialty hotels, resorts, national and state parks, national forest service and other tourist destinations throughout the United States. In Fortune magazine’s 2008 list of America’s Most Admired Companies, Aramark was No. 1 in the industry of diversified outsourcing services.
For Marshall, it’s a perfect fit, and yet another example that the phrase “No is not an option” never wears out.
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