Images via Little Nest Marino.
A new café in Marino is giving locals a reason to linger after yoga, whether that’s grabbing a quality coffee to take away or settling in with an easy, welcoming vibe. Little Nest Marino is the newest venture from the team behind a well-loved café just down the road, which might explain why the name already rings a bell.
The cafe is the official little brother of The Nest Kiosk, which is situated just a few minutes away, where Kingston Park meets Seacliff Beach. The cafe is part of a new build by the City of Marion, in the brand new Marino Community Hall, where yoga, markets and events take place next door.
Owner, Tom Rodger, said running both cafes was a family venture, as he manages it alongside his brother Ben and wife Anna-Lisa.
“We’ve already got an existing brand in the area, and we’re really proud of what we’ve done down at Kingston Park and the Nest,” Tom said. “This is an extension of that.”
“ We’re trying to build a place for the community of Marino, Seacliff and surrounds. Offering somewhere they can come and have a coffee, but also just meet their neighbours.”
Tom and his wife live just up the road from the new cafe. “We’re locals, so we’re creating something for the locals by locals.”
“ There’ll be a lot of consistency or similarity in what we do in terms of the coffee product and the time, effort and the quality that we put into it,” he said.
While mornings are currently the priority, plans are already in motion to expand into evenings, with a liquor licence set to unlock wine service and event opportunities in the months ahead.
“ We’re kind of nailing this cafe operation to start, and then there’ll be a real focus on the events side of things,” Tom said.
“We wanna do events for the community there as well, whether that looks like paella and wine nights, or just lots of things that revolve around the wine that we make down at Nest.”
The existing commercial kitchen and chef team at Nest are already supporting catering for events at the Marino site, allowing the business to scale without losing quality or consistency.
The menu is designed to complement the coffee offering, with a strong emphasis on great, delicious pastries, alongside ready-to-go options like yogurt oat cups, smoothies and milkshakes. It’s intentionally simple, giving locals something reliable, familiar and well-made.
Little Nest will also offer Nest Wines, the Rodgers’ wine brand, which represents the family’s “continued labour of love with the land and the art of sustainable winemaking.” Their wine ventures began back in 1989, when the family moved to McLaren Vale and purchased a property named ‘El Nido’.
The name translates to ‘The Nest’, which is what inspired the name of their first cafe and now its little brother. Right now, Little Nest is open seven days a week from 7am to 12pm, catering to locals grabbing their morning coffee, post-pilates regulars and anyone looking for a relaxed spot to start the day.
Little Nest Marino
Where: 44 Newland Ave, Marino, SA, 5049
When: 7am-12pm weekdays and 8am-12pm weekends
For more info, click here.
