AMEX’s new dining program streamlines service, delivers variety

At the new American Express regional headquarters in Sunrise, Fla., lunch is a big deal. Every day, employees dine on big-flavor entrées and deli favorites. On breaks, they meet in the common areas over healthy snacks and cups of specialty coffee.

The central concept guiding the company’s foodservice operation is simple: give employees variety and the opportunity to create their own meals. With their vendor partner, Flik Hospitality Group, American Express creates a welcoming atmosphere and packs all three locations in the 400,000-square-foot building with a profusion of options.

All foods are made in-house from whole ingredients and served through AMEX’s full-service cafeteria, micromarket and 24-hour retail store. The facility also houses a separate catering kitchen where foods for special events and the on-site childcare center are prepared.

Fruits at the entrance of the Sunrise Healthy Living Café

The cafeteria is the heart of the foodservice operation, where patrons can order made-to-order meals. A sleek dining room seats 325, with an additional 130 seats outdoors. 

Stations in the cafeteria include a salad bar, grill and deli, as well as dedicated stations for Italian food and international cuisine. In addition to sandwiches, soups, salads and other deli standards, AMEX offer entrées such as grilled steak with chimichurri sauce and Indian curry-braised beef. The company creates innovative spotlight specials, like a spicy passion fruit-glazed shrimp with coconut rice and maduros. This summer, the dining team will feature a gazpacho bar.

A rising interest in international flavors led the company to replace the American Classics station with Global Cuisine, where the team offers flavors from all over the world, including popular Latin-inspired meals. They also showcase internal talent by inviting spotlight employees to cook at special stations where they prepare food for co-workers.

Entering into the Sunrise Healthy Living Café

The grand variety of foods led to overwhelming success in the previous location, says Robert Gordon, vice president of workplace services. But since service was concentrated around a central station, it created a bottleneck. 

They solved the problem by limiting the size of the kitchen in the new facility, creating more space in the cafeteria so customers can move around freely. In the new location, made-to-order items are prepared and served at open stations. Station-based preparation speeds service, but Gordon emphasizes that it also increases the personal connections between patrons and servers, creating a better experience for everyone.

Through its Healthy Living brand, American Express offers innovative menu items that adhere to standards in areas such as calorie count, sodium and protein. A Healthy Living entrée, for instance, will have no more than 500 calories and at least 10 grams of protein. A snack or dessert will max out at 250 calories and 480 milligrams of sodium.

Food stations along the back wall

Under the brand, the team has created items like the popular stuffed avocados and build-your-own burritos. Healthy Living items are labeled with a QSR code so patrons can see nutritional information before the point of sale. But flavor may be the real motivator, Gordon says. “They just like the fact that it’s a good meal.”

Many of the Healthy Living options are available at the micromarket, which serves fresh meals, snacks, and regular and Cuban-style coffee. They’re also packed as grab-and-go meals for the 24-hour retail store. On weekdays, employees pick up a pre-packed meal and coffees that are handmade by trained baristas. On nights and weekends, they scan their grab-and-go purchases (specialty coffees are available through push-button machines) using two self-service stations.

The self-service technology was the most significant change the company made when they moved. 

“As long as it has a bar code, we can capture it. People love it,” Gordon says, adding that controlling all the food in-house has allowed them to respond nimbly to new requests from employees.

Healthy Living Café seating

About 40 Flik Hospitality foodservice employees work in the building, which houses 3,000 American Express employees. AMEX also partners with Thompson Hospitality and incorporates local ingredients from a number of partners in the region, including Freedom Fresh in Miami (produce) and Halpern’s in Fort Lauderdale (fish).

Throughout its foodservice operations, American Express also takes steps to grow its sustainability practices. The Sunrise location is one of three sites that uses a wash water treatment machine, which converts food waste to water. All paper products are tree-free and compostable. And soon AMEX will break ground on a 2,500-square-foot garden where the team will grow some of its own ingredients.

“We’re always looking to expand our sustainable footprint,” Gordon says, adding that it fits into AMEX’s overall effort to create a food program with integrity. “It’s not a check-the-box thing, it’s doing the right thing.”