Paul Carr is a co-owner of Flamingo Coffee and over the past seven years they have grown a tight knit relationship with the First Coast community and are preparing to expand to two new locations this summer, including one on Anastasia Island.
Can you please briefly tell us about your background?
My name is Paul Johnson Carr and I was born in Fort Worth, Texas and my dad has a doctorate in theology and was the youth pastor at First Baptist in downtown Jacksonville for years.
So, I was born in Texas, but then we lived in Gainesville for a little period of time where he was youth pastor at what is North Central Baptist Church, and no coming full circle, he is a youth pastor back down there.
I pretty much spent all my life here in Jacksonville and was homeschooled, which was such a wonderful privilege, and I just grew up around people that were really just trying to foster my growth and wanted to see me succeed.
I grew up in such a loving environment and just had this background of always seeing my parents at service, whether it was to me or helping to service the people in the communities they were working in. It is such a commitment to a way to live and my foundation was just so strong.
I was able to play sports at schools, which was really cool especially being homeschooled. I think my first introduction to sports was Mandarin Middle School and then I played at Trinity Christian on the Westside of town before actually finishing up at Eagle’s View Academy, where I was able to letter and play a bunch of sports, including golf.
I’m blessed to be a father of two wonderful kids and I have an amazing wife.
I feel blessed because I’ve had so many people invest in me and invest in my dreams and the way that I go about it. Giving it back is what stirs me up.
What led you to start Flamingo Coffee?
I was married and kind of searching for what my purpose was because I was involved in marketing and just knew I wanted to create something.
That’s when I got a job working for Bold Bean Coffee Roasters, which is one of the OG companies locally. That’s one of the cool things about Jacksonville is that we have a long history of coffee dating back to the Maxwell House Factory being here, where if you grew up here you’ve seen that drip and know that smell.
I can’t say enough positive things about the Burnett family and Bold Bean. I feel like I got my PHD in coffee through those guys, and they are literally a university of coffee.
Bold Bean really saw something in both of us, which allowed us to invest more in each other and that time really built a strong foundation and belief in each that we could do it when that time came.
My business partner and I got hired at the same time and we just grew up in such a community of a coffee brand, and Donnie (Webb) and I really developed a relationship with each other through working with them.
We were both at a point where we were just so passionate about ideas and then we were finally just blessed financially with the opportunity to go start our own thing.
Donnie left first, and I was a little nervous because I really enjoyed where I was at and what I was doing, but Donnie was just so driven about the idea of the Flamingo.
What has the journey been like since you started the company?
We opened up seven years ago in Murray Hill, which is such a wonderful area and since day one we’ve just had people coming in there and loving on us.
We started out just serving beer, wine and food, and actually added coffee later on, so the concept we’re kind of going for is like an all-day café and coffee bar vibes.
You can come in early in the morning and get a coffee and then you can come in later that night and get a good beer or wine. It’s even pushed us into baking foods and we’ve got an amazing staff that has helped us grow that aspect. After a couple of years of serving coffee we decided to buy a little two-pound roaster and get into that side of things as well.
There were so many nights starting out, where I could be with my family and the shop during the day and then be in my garage cooking beans late at night.
What are the plans for the future?
It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come because now we’re in the process of opening two locations here at the seven-year mark.
We’re really excited to soon be opening two new locations in the Hanania Building in the Southbank of downtown Jacksonville and on Anastasia Island in the beautiful City of St. Augustine.
We’re excited to grow with our community as our community continues to grow and also continue to expand into other areas.
It’s been a fun seven years of just loving on people and finding out new ways to serve coffee to our people. That’s really our heartbeat and our passion.
