Adelaide TikTok teen and business prodigy Tom Oswald sees his North Terrace cafe as a ‘franchise prototype’

He won TikTok when he opened a cafe and “no one came” - but those days are long behind. This Adelaide teenager is revealing how he’s even helped his mum start her own business.

Teen TikTok star and cafe owner Tom Oswald is winning customers through his unique approach to business – and now he’s even helping his mother launch her own quirky venture.

When The Advertiser visited his new Adelaide cafe Homeboy for lunch, the 19-year-old was moving at a near-superhuman pace as he alternated between making coffees, serving sandwiches, and chatting to staff and customers.

The large influx of customers streaming in – mostly students from the nearby Adelaide Uni campus – paid no mind to the redness under his eyes, an effect of Mr Oswald’s demanding work and 5.30am daily wake-up time.

It’s not clear how many uni students knew the Adelaide Hills teen’s cafe was the product of his viral 2023 TikToks, which supercharged his start in the hospitality business.

Of those, the most famous showed Mr Oswald appearing devastated at his Hahndorf pop-up, above a caption that read: “Opened a cafe and nobody came”.

Tom Oswald at his North Terrace cafe, Homeboy, with painting by local artist Adam Tarif. Picture: Emma Brasier

Tom Oswald at his North Terrace cafe, Homeboy, with painting by local artist Adam Tarif. Picture: Emma Brasier

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The video sparked an outpouring of support and customers, a journey he also documented on TikTok, eventually propelling his December 2024 relaunch of Homeboy at North Terrace.

Mr Oswald said the secret to his success was “consistency” – once he knew he’d caught on to something, he “doubled down”.

His advice for young, aspiring cafe owners is start by testing the concept on a smaller scale.

“So, a pop-up is a great option. Or a coffee cart, or sell coffees out of your home if you need to,” he said.

“That allows you to understand, ‘okay, this could work’. And then once you know it’s got some potential, double dip.”

Mr Oswald explained he sees Homeboy as a “franchise prototype”. He has kept the cafe simple – the menu consists of just four sandwiches and three desserts – so he can eventually replicate it at a larger scale.

The most popular of his desserts is a vanilla-iced cinnamon scroll, baked by his mother, Trish Campbell.

Tom Oswald is keeping Homeboy simple. The menu consists of just four sandwiches and three desserts. Picture: Supplied

Tom Oswald at Homeboy, with his mother’s cinnamon scroll. Picture: Emma Brasier

And the teenager has now helped Ms Campbell, 64, launch ‘Cinnamum’ to sell the scrolls, complete with trendy branding and boxes.

Cinnamum supplies exclusively to Homeboy, but Ms Campbell said it could expand – and even with just one client, sustained her financially while she studied for a counselling degree.

“(Tom) suggested he could buy from me like a supplier and that might give me the opportunity to have my own business,” she said.

“I’m 64 on my first business; kind of the complete opposite end of the scale from him, starting his first business when he was 18.

“It was his idea to just specialise in the one thing; do the cinnamon scrolls that people love.”

Her secret ingredient is buttermilk in place of regular milk, which adds “a little bit more depth to the flavour, a little bit more tartness among the sweetness”.

Tom Oswald has helped his mother launch “Cinnamum” to sell her famous cinnamon scrolls. Picture: Supplied

Mr Oswald launched the cafes using his own savings, while also taking advantage of what he called “amazing” opportunities: his Hahndorf pop-up was supported by The Paint Box and Thiele’s Shop, and his Adelaide cafe was supported by Renew Adelaide.

When he was 16, the teen started a clothing brand called “Only Plan A”, referring to his “ideology of striving for your ‘Plan A’ and nothing else”.

Amid a stream of coffees, sandwiches, cinnamon scrolls and TikTok videos, that approach has stayed with him while inspiring his mum.

“I would never have thought (Tom) would move so quickly and so confidently,” she said. “He sort of knows his stuff somehow.”