American Express established Small Business Saturday in 2010, and the annual tradition has since become a valued part of post-Thanksgiving shopping sprees everywhere. In 2025, Small Business Saturday falls on November 29, and AmEx is celebrating by working with Keith Lee, the TikTok food critic who is known for uplifting mom-and-pop shops across the country.
Lee and AmEx will collaborate on a series of stories that will celebrate small businesses. The vignettes will draw attention to hard-working vendors ahead of the 29th, when AmEx customers will be able to use a Shop Small Map to find deals at local small businesses.
The collab reflects the transformation of Lee’s approach to his food reviews. Once upon a time, the former MMA fighter was leveraging his fast food hacks to land on the menu at Chipotle. But in recent years, as the “Keith Lee effect” has become a significant economic phenomenon, the namesake creator has turned his attention to the little guys. His support for independent, family-owned restaurants makes him the perfect partner for AmEx’s Shop Small push.
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@keith_lee125 Supporting small businesses made me who I am today. This year, I’m tapping in #withAmex to back small businesses for #SmallBusinessSaturday — starting with Drew’s Place, a 2025 Backing Historic Small Restaurants grantee that’s been serving up good food and community for decades. They’re proof of how a little support can make a big difference. @American Express ♬ original sound – Keith Lee
“I’ve always believed that supporting small businesses can change lives, and partnering with American Express gives me the opportunity to help even more people discover and uplift the entrepreneurs who make our neighborhoods special,” Lee said in a statement. “Small businesses are the heart of every community. They’re where stories start, families gather, and people chase their dreams.”
As for AmEx, the opportunity to work with someone as influential as Lee is too good to pass up. The credit card company’s 2025 Shop Small Impact Study. found that 82% of small businesses who use social media as a marketing tool have seen their sales spike when content creators post about them.
AmEx isn’t the only company in its field paying attention to that phenomenon. Visa, which has already encouraged creators to turn their hustles into small businesses, is now deepening its existing relationship with the creator banking firm Karat. A new pilot program will “focus on leveraging agents to help resolve common friction points for creators,” according to a press release. In a separate update, Visa announced support for stablecoin payouts, dangling another carrot in front of creators who bank on the blockchain.
In many ways, companies like AmEx and Visa are gatekeepers of the traditional consumer finance world. It’s meaningful for these firms to embrace creators, but when you look at how big the Keith Lee effect is, it’s hard to come up with reasons why AmEx wouldn’t want to go into (small) business with its new partner.
