Morningside’s Sestic family to add new restaurant to growing list of venues across Brisbane

A Brisbane couple who opened their first cafe in 2008 have now built a mini family empire with their two children as they prepare to launch their fourth and most exciting venue.

Meet the Brisbane family on their way to building a cafe and eatery empire as they prepare to launch their most exciting addition to their list of venues across the city.

Starting their first location with Shortlist Coffee in the Brisbane CBD in 2008, the Bosnian-born Dragan Sestic and his Serbian wife Marija’s company has continued to grow with two more popular venues across the city including Dramanti Artisan Roaster in Wynnum in 2012 and Dramanti HQ in Morningside in 2017.

The Sestic family who are set to open their fourth venue across Brisbane.

But now with their two children, Nikola (23) and Tamara (20), heavily involved the family, originally from Serbia, is taking their business to new heights next month by opening their first restaurant and bar.

Kasina, a 65-seat restaurant on Wynnum Rd in Morningside, will showcase cuisine from across Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia in eastern Europe.

Mr Sestic said he could have never predicted how it would become such a family business.

Dramanti's Wynnum location which opened in 2012.

“When Marija and I first moved to Brisbane in 2008, we first started off with a single cafe in the CBD, we had no idea where this was going or what our direction was,” he said.

“We basically just pushed through each day as it came and accepted all the wins and all the losses.

“My son Nik and daughter Tamara were too young to help at that point but as they grew older they spent every single one of their public holidays and weekends in store with us helping out.

“As time went on things became more hands-on for them and we started relying on them more and more.

Nikola Sestic at his cafe, Shortlist Coffee, in Brisbane.

“Today, Nik is in partnership with us with his own cafe in the city and he has blown us away with his accountability. This has given us more hope and encouragement to open more cafes, and now restaurants, with our kids.

“Now my daughter too is interested in picking up some management. We don’t expect them to follow our footsteps, it is all up to them.”

Going in a different direction to their cafes and coffee wholesaling business to open Kasina, Mr Sestic said they decided to launch a restaurant because they needed a challenge after the Covid pandemic.

“Marija and I have always envisioned and wanted to share our culture and foods with the rest of Brisbane, ow the kids too,” he said.

Tamara Sestic with Dramanti Artisan Roaster coffee beans.

“In our current cafes, we have had specials of the week which were out traditional foods, however we wanted to showcase more.

“After a lot of thought we noticed that the food we want to share are not very ‘breakfasty’ or lunch foods, we needed to open a restaurant in order to fully showcase our ideas.”

With high hopes for his business and his children, Mr Sestic said he had no idea what was in store for the future.

“The vision for the future, to be completely honest with you, is unclear, it could be anything,” he said.

“We have always been the type of people to just push and pick up from where we are.

The Sestic family who are set to open their fourth venue across Brisbane.

“We love to hustle and we love to see great rewards and that is exactly the reason we are where we are today.

“I’d love to think that three years from now after our opening of the restaurant, we don’t have to explain what the Balkan region is, or where Serbia is.

“A lot of the time these days when somebody asks where I’m from, and then have to go ahead and explain that it’s close to Greece or close to Italy, which is completely understandable because Brisbane is filled with Italian and Greek restaurants.

“So that is our goal, to spread our information culture tradition and food to the rest of Brisbane.”