Teen entrepreneur Tom Oswald turns once-empty Hahndorf cafe into TikTok sensation

When Tom Oswald opened his Hahndorf cafe two months ago, not a single customer came. On Sunday, he was almost too busy to pose for a photo – thanks to his viral TikTok vids.

Two months ago, 18-year-old Tom Oswald was devastated when he opened the doors to his dream cafe, Homeboy, to find not a single customer walked in.

Fast forward to now and the Hahndorf cafe is bustling with coffee lovers – thanks to his viral TikTok videos.

The young entrepreneur barely had time to stop making coffees to pose for a photograph.

“In the beginning, it was rough and confronting, but it was nothing that I wouldn’t fully expect,” Mr Oswald said.

“You’re not just going to get 100 customers on day one.

“You have to build a good morale with your community. And, yeah, you have to earn the customers.”

Mr Oswald said social media was the “unexpected” secret ingredient to success.

Tom Oswald, serving customers and making coffee in his pop-up business, Homeboy Cafe, in Hahndorf, SA. Picture: Emma Brasier

Tom Oswald is now overrun with customers after earlier struggling to get a single one. Picture: Emma Brasier

Four of his TikToks have surpassed a million views and his account has amassed more than one million likes, further adding to the cafe’s popularity.

It started with a 19 second video of the barista appearing downtrodden captioned “opened a cafe and nobody came” and when the first reservation came through he was “over the moon”.

“It was a milestone moment for me. I even posted it on TikTok and got 2.2 million views,” he said.

“I was getting 10,000 followers a week. It was a bit overwhelming.

“As I started to post on social media, stuff started to pick up, and people came through. A lot of support from the community.”

His TikTok success then created a media buzz and Mr Oswald said coverage on news.com.au and advertiser.com.au had helped bring in local customers.

“When I was in the article, it really shed light on the locals. So they all came to support my business,” he said.

The teen isn’t new to the cafe business.

Before starting his own venture, Mr Oswald worked at another cafe for two years and learnt the highs and lows.

Tom Oswald, serving customers, Brydie Kerr, 19, from Mount Gambier, Taylor Hagen, 21, from Bernardsville in the USA and Tannah Solly, 20, from Mount Gambier at Homeboy Cafe in Hahndorf. Picture: Emma Brasier

“I started as a dish washer and tried to sneak myself on the machine as much as I could and just started asking as many questions I could from the baristas and everything and slowly worked my way up,” he said.

Running his cafe single-handedly, Mr Oswald works four days a week from Thursday to Sunday, putting in around ten-hour days.

But he said his parents had been the “cornerstone” of his success.

“My mum makes the biscuits and some goodies and dad does a lot of delivery,” he said.

As for future plans, Mr Oswald is taking it one day at a time but won’t rule out the possibility of expanding.

“One of my dreams is to have, like, maybe several cafes and one in Melbourne.

“Dreams without action is just hallucination, so if I have an idea, I need to go at it 100 per cent and try and accomplish what I set out to do, that’s how I started my cafe.”