American Express Wants to Improve the Restaurant Industry
“Wayne, what’s this,” you ask. “We’re contractors. Why should we care what AmEx is doing in the restaurant business?” Why indeed. What does AmEx intend to do for restaurants? What do they plan to teach? And how will they deliver the lessons? The answer may seem quite familiar to some of you when you hear the details.
Please tune in this week as Wayne outlines an ambitious new program coordinated by the aforementioned corporate giant, The National Restaurant Association and Resy. Does what they’re proposing sound like it would benefit the construction industry? What are your thoughts? Please share with us at [email protected].
This is your last chance to enroll your rising high-potential leaders to The Contractor Business Boot Camp. Our last new class of 2026 starts on Nov 11 in Charlotte, NC. We do not have any new classes starting until February 2027 and no new classes for Charlotte, NC until November 2027. Give your nextgen leaders the opportunity to learn the skills they will need to run a successful construction business. This is the best investment you will make towards their leadership future. Contact Charlotte Kopp at [email protected] for more information.
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WAYNE RIVERS: Hi, everyone. This is Wayne Rivers at Performance Construction Advisors where We Build Better Contractors.
This week I want to talk about American Express. What? American Express wants to improve the restaurant business. Wayne, American Express, the restaurant business? You're talking to contractors here. Okay, stay with me. Stay with me. This comes from Fast Company in July of '26. And this is the introduction. A national leadership program will teach operators how to manage teams, improve profitability, and navigate an increasingly complex business.
Wait, are they talking about the restaurant business or construction? You see how this applies, don't you? They're starting a new restaurant academy with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, and they're bringing 30 restaurant leaders from across the country into a leadership development program beginning this fall. Food costs remain elevated, labor remains difficult to find in many markets, and consumers are becoming more selective about where they spend their dining dollars. Success depends as much on managing people and finances as it does on serving great food.
You're not serving food, but all the rest applies directly to construction. That's what's important about this to you is the same challenges that the restaurant industry, or the wholesale business, or the IT business, or whatever, the same challenges that face their industries also face construction in a great manner of speaking. They said, he wrote, "While culinary schools teach aspiring chefs how to cook, there are far fewer opportunities for restaurant owners and managers to learn the business skills needed to run a successful operation."
So the trainee's going to focus on employee development, onboarding, cash management, hiring and retaining, stronger financial performance, P&L statements, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. This is starting to sound familiar to me, so I'm coming to that. They're having high profile James Beard Award-winning chefs come in and teach the class. They want to strengthen the leadership at every level of the restaurant. They are going to have virtual sessions, networking opportunities among peers, and mentoring.
For an industry known for long hours, tight margins, and constant turnover, organizers are betting that better leadership may be one of the most valuable ingredients for long-term success. Does that sound familiar to you? Okay, they're bringing in high profile chefs. In our context in construction, Kevin Albanese, Mike Concannon, John Woodcock, Mike Flentje. They're not award-winning chefs. They're just brilliant contractors and business people, right? They're strengthening leadership at every level. That's what Boot Camp is all about.
What American Express is doing for the restaurant business is they are creating the Contractor Business Boot Camp. They're not copying us. I'm not saying that in any measure. But they are creating Boot Camp for the restaurant business. They are focusing on the same things we focus on, hiring and retaining, stronger financial performance, understanding financial statements, developing your employees, leading people. They're focusing on the same things.
And ours is a two-year program. Theirs is a four week, eight weeks, six-week program, something like that. But they're doing it in much the same way. Classroom setting, peer networking, mentoring, much the same thing. If this kind of program is good for American Express and the National Restaurant Association and the industry as a whole, why isn't the Contractor Business Boot Camp a good thing for you as a contractor?
Contact Charlotte at our shop and she'll get you the information that you need. This is Wayne Rivers at PCA where We Build Better Contractors.
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