American Express and Resy Collaborate with Disney Advertising and FX’s ‘The Bear’ In Support of Show’s Season 2 Premiere on Hulu

The highly anticipated second season of FX’s ’The Bear’ has arrived on Hulu, and restaurant-lovers across the country will tune in to see Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) and Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) work to transform their grimy sandwich joint into a next-level spot.

American Express and Resy collaborated with Disney Advertising to create docu-style promotional content, developed and produced by full-service, branded-content studio and creative agency Disney Creativeworks, featuring three up-and-coming restaurateurs in New York City (Yellow Rose), Los Angeles (Pijja Palace) and Miami (Boia De).

The American Express & Resy present FX‘s The Bear & Restaurant Stories content includes a spotlight on each restaurant, with the owners reflecting on the challenges - and triumphs - of running a small business. Their personal stories are told alongside scenes and soundbites from ‘The Bear.’ The promotional content will stream on Hulu for 11 weeks starting June 22^nd.

“At their best, restaurants convey the personal stories of the people behind them and bring a community together. This partnership celebrates pop culture, restaurant success stories, and our commitment to backing small businesses,” said Hannah Kelly, Chief Marketing Officer, Resy and American Express Global Dining.

To complement the video content, Resy spoke with the featured restaurant owners to hear how they find inspiration in their home cities and what ‘The Bear’ gets right about the restaurant industry.

New York City: Yellow Rose’s Krystiana and Dave Rizo

When the owners of Yellow Rose found themselves missing flavors from Texas, they brought them to the East Village of Manhattan.

“Cooking, for me, was a learn-to-love experience – something I didn’t plan as a career path at first,” Dave Rizo, chef and co-owner of New York Tex-Mex restaurant Yellow Rose, said.

After he dropped out of high school, Rizo worked as a busboy and dishwasher. “I loved the fast pace of the kitchen and always gravitated to a group of misfits wherever that would be,” he said. Soon, he began working with a chef and saw that the job might be a good fit for him – allowing him to be professional while being creative.

“We never would have imagined having a restaurant in New York City,” Krystiana Rizo, Dave’s wife and co-owner of the restaurant, said. “To see it thriving after everything we’ve been through is something that I marvel at every single day,” she added, reflecting on their “solid team of people” that helps the restaurant progress and grow.

“Our restaurant is very much a grassroots story,” she said. “We didn’t have any investors, and the space kind of fell into our laps during the pandemic.” She added that ‘The Bear’ resonates with people who work in the restaurant industry because it shows just how passionate industry workers are, highlighting the fact that most of the time, “it is a pretty thankless job.”

The people who work in the restaurant industry “are some of the most multifaceted and hard-hustling individuals of any sector,” Dave said, pointing out that they handle layers of difficulty every day. “Can your dentist juggle acting auditions? Have you ever seen a cop hide his bad day while trying to serve you? Would the mayor be happy if you sent back his traffic ticket for being too cold?” she asked. “I strongly doubt it.”

Los Angeles: Pijja Palace’s Avish Naran

LA hotspot Pijja Palace focuses on Indian takes on American dishes. The refined Indian sports bar is “fun and comprehensive,” Avish Naran, the owner of the restaurant, said, whipping up Indian takes on common American dishes like pizza and pasta.

“It’s hard to live here and not fall in love with all the culture and the scene" Naran, a Los Angeles native, said. “This is one of the best food cities in the world,” he added. “Our books are full and the waitlist is huge,” he emphasized. “It’s just insane.”

As for ‘The Bear,’ Naran said the show hit close to home. “They did such an accurate job. It’s a very accurate depiction of what life is like as a cook and as a restaurateur.”

Miami: Boia De’s Alex Meyer and Luciana Giangrandi

Boia De is an Italian restaurant in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood that reaches beyond tradition to elevate the ‘neighborhood restaurant’ experience.

Before Boia De, chefs Luciana Giangrandi and Alex Meyer worked in top-tier professional kitchens and felt drawn to the fast pace and camaraderie of the restaurant industry. “It really quickly becomes an identity more than a job, and it was one we could both run with,” Meyer said.

After leaving New York, the pair decided they were ready to open a restaurant together. They were in a small cafe in Tuscany when they made the decision. “The first days of the restaurant were quite hectic,” Meyer said. “We didn’t really know what we were doing, but we knew what a good restaurant was supposed to look like.”

Their hard work has paid off. “We’ve won a bunch of awards, which has led to more business, which allowed us to hire more people, which lets us take a day off here and there,” he said.

“‘The Bear’ does a fantastic job portraying a talented young chef dealing with the stresses of running the business side of a restaurant, the creative culinary side and managing a team,” Meyer said. “It accurately shows the day-to-day business, but also the teamwork, the range of emotions, the support or lack thereof, and that there can be a breaking point.”

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