Images: EIW Architects.
The cinnamon scrolls that helped put Homeboy on Adelaide’s cafe map are about to get a home of their own, with founder Tom Oswald and his mum Trish Campbell preparing to open Cinnamum in Walkerville.
The dedicated bakery is taking over a former Walkerville yoga studio, with the mother-and-son duo currently working through the final stages of transforming the space into their biggest cafe yet.
Tom’s hospitality story started in Hahndorf in July 2023, when he was just 18 years old. After working in cafes while still at school, he took the plunge on a small pop-up inside Thiele’s Shop. Supported by Rebecca Madden of The PaintBox, he launched what would become one of Adelaide’s most beloved cafes, Homeboy.
The beginning was hardly glamorous. On his first day, Tom had virtually no customers, so he posted a short TikTok about the experience. The clip took off, eventually racking up more than a million views, and Tom continued documenting the realities of running a cafe as a teenager.
That following helped turn the Hahndorf pop-up into a destination before it closed in June 2024. Later that year, aged 19, Tom took Homeboy into the Adelaide CBD, opening a permanent North Terrace cafe serving coffee, focaccia sandwiches and the cinnamon scrolls made by Trish.
Now, Tom is starting his next joint venture with his mum, inspired by the cinnamon scrolls that she would make in the kitchen.
“We want to create somewhere that’s really warm and inviting,” Tom says.
“We’re going to use a lot of natural materials, a lot of wood, keep the original concrete floors.”
“Simple but timeless, but also with that character of something that’s warm — something that feels like home. A lot of cinnamony colours.”
The bakery will, unsurprisingly, put cinnamon scrolls front and centre, but the menu won’t be limited to the classic sweet treats.
“We’re definitely playing with those ideas at the moment,” Tom says of introducing savoury options.
“We’re trying some today, actually. We’re trying some different-flavour scrolls, so we’re still knocking out what we want on our menu.”
Trish is also keen to introduce something a little different from the indulgent, gooey scrolls the pair are known for.
“I’d quite like to also do an option which is a very authentic Scandinavian cinnamon scroll as well, which is not quite so heavy and gooey,” she says.
“For people who just want something lighter but still in the same vein with their coffee.”
“They’re quite indulgent when you really pile on the beautiful ingredients, but to have a slightly lighter option would be good as well.”
“That’s the beautiful thing about scrolls. It’s a great base for whatever you want to do,” Tom added.
The menu could also change with the seasons, with the pair already having experimented with limited-edition flavours.
“Before, we’ve done a special roll for Valentine’s Day — Persian love cake flavoured,” Trish says.
“But flavours that go with the season are something that would be fun to explore as well.”
The new bakery is also giving Tom the chance to document the less glamorous side of opening a food business, from construction and approvals to the transformation of the space itself.
“I think a lot of people don’t understand the process behind it, so I love being able to share that and hopefully maybe help certain people if they want to do something similar,” Tom says.
“Whatever inspires them or helps them along the way might be beneficial to them.”
For Trish, that honesty has been an important part of sharing the project.
“It’s been something you’ve wanted to do all along — not paint an unrealistic picture in any way, just to say, ‘This is how it’s working out for me,’ and if that inspires anyone else along the way, then that’s great,” she says.
Cinnamum
When: Mid-November
Where: Walkerville Terrace
To follow along on Tom and Trish’s journey, click here.
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