Matthew Schneider
Words by Matthew Schneider
It’s Friday afternoon. You just got off from a long, grueling day at work and have never been so fired up for the weekend. While speed walking to your car, the scalding Florida sun is beating down on the back of your neck, and all you are thinking about is relaxing and enjoying an ice cold beverage at your favorite local restaurant. Luckily for you, the Beer Pimp made his way through your part of town and saved the day.
Carlos Campos, more commonly known as the “Beer Pimp,” is a master draft beer installer, and the owner of Carlos Campos Draft Services LLC in Jacksonville. Campos and his team have designed and installed draft beer systems in many bars and restaurants throughout the Jacksonville area. They also service other establishments around the state of Florida, southern Georgia and North Carolina. Since Carlos’ Draft Service founding in 2021, Campos and his team have installed more than 125 draft systems. When it comes to dispensing draft beer, meticulously customizing the design and installation of the draft system is key to delivering the best tasting pint.
“Whatever the customer wants, the customer gets. If they want a mermaid tap to fit the theme of their bar or restaurant, that’s what we’ll give them!” Campos said. “Everything is manufactured in Jacksonville.”
I recently had the pleasure of meeting up with the distinguished Beer Pimp to learn more about his company and get the scoop on what being a Beer Pimp really entails. Our interview took place at the new Treylor Park restaurant in downtown St. Augustine. This popular eatery is big on Southern comfort and cold draft beer. Trey Wilder, co-owner of the Treylor Park chain, invited me to the restaurant so I could interview Campos and get a firsthand look at the impressive beer draft system his team was installing.
Campos, originally from Juarez, Mexico, said that he never intended to be a beer pimp.
“As a child, I wanted to be a lawyer, ” Campos explained. “I was always breaking stuff, but very good at fixing what I broke.”
After college and moving to Jacksonville, he found himself working in the beer industry. Campos reminisced about the origin of his Beer Pimp moniker. Working on a draft installation at Kickbacks Gastropub in Jacksonville was quite complex. The team, determined to complete the installation with no delays, slept inside the bar for several nights until the job was complete. One day, Campos could not get up off the floor, so he pulled himself up using a trunk transport line. That’s when Steve Flores, owner of Kickbacks, looked at Campos and announced, “You really are the Beer Pimp!” It was then that Campos would become known to the world over as the Beer Pimp.
When COVID-19 came beer-barreling in, Campos didn’t let even a worldwide pandemic stop him from growing his business. He looked at the pandemic shutdowns as a unique opportunity to connect with bars and restaurants that had temporarily closed their doors. He began generating more contracts from Florida to the Carolinas where he was hired to remove old beer lines and install new customized ones. When businesses began to reopen once again, his reputation as the Beer Pimp and top-tier customized draft system installer was solidified.
Campos credits his company’s customer service, ingenuity and attention to detail as the primary factors in its success. He also said what makes his draft service different is that his team is “committed to creating everything for the customer, and not for the benefit of my pocket. It’s our passion, creativity, and customer satisfaction that we pride ourselves in … and we really enjoy the ride with our customers.”
To this hard-working beer pimp and master draft installer, his company is more than just a job.
“Money comes and it goes, but my company’s product will be around long after I’m gone. I want to leave a legacy for my kids and grandkids,” Campos shared. “One day they’ll say, ‘Hey, this was my dad’s or my grandfather’s.’ That to me is very important.”
To watch the full interview with Jacksonville’s very own beer pimp, Carlos Campos, click here.
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