Local restaurant mogul expands into former Prescott’s Grill site

Written by Renee Berg

Maybe Eddie Campos didn’t foresee it, but he’s becoming a local restaurant mogul.

Campos owns El Carambas Authentic Mexican Food and Opa! Opa! Greek Cuisine and is next opening Eddie’s Rey de la Birria in the Crossroads Shopping Center.

What has he learned? Plenty.

“What makes for a good restaurant location is great food, excellent service and a large parking area with high traffic,” he said. He adds that he chose the former Prescott’s space because the “kitchen and bakery were already in place. I’ve been searching for that for a long time,” he said.

He’ll expand from his food truck to the new restaurant, all while running the business.

Campos also appreciates the visibility of the new location.

“There’s a lot of tenants around that allow foot traffic to keep flowing and get spotted,” he said. “The bar is amazing and will offer traditional Mexican cocktails along with imported beers. I was also looking for a location to host larger parties of 10 people or more. Our other restaurants are smaller and don’t have the space for large crowds.”

LeighAnn Peltoma, the commercial real estate and leasing professional with Realty Growth Inc. who represented the landlord in the deal, said visibility is definitely key.

“This location was a restaurant for the last 18 years and I believe the traffic at Crossroads and the surrounding area will help as well,” she said of Campos’s new restaurant.

After all these years accrued in the restaurant business, Campos said he’s thankful that he’s been able to meet people from all over the world and to realize “I love cooking to make them happy.”

“My taste of food comes from what I experience in other cultures,” he went on. “Even in my own culture, the food keeps changing, and it’s up to me to keep up with the trends.”

He’s looking forward to the opportunity to experiment with more food and Mexican bakery options. “The only fresh Mexican breads that were available were from bakeries from the Twin Cities that would be delivered to us,” he said. “The birria food is well known to be accompanied with liquor or beer and I’m excited to add that service to this restaurant.”

He said he’s proud too of the fact that his new eatery will be the only birria in southeast Minnesota and will offer new recipes to keep up with what’s trending.

Campos is lucky to secure a space that’s already situated for a restaurant, Peltoma said.

“Built out restaurant space is hard to come by and usually goes very quickly in this market,” she said. “To build out a restaurant space can be very expensive, so finding a space with some of the components in place would be helpful to a new restaurant operator.”