When coffee roasters St Ali wanted to expand operations to South Australia, it looked towards Seven Grounds to showcase its variety to the Adelaide area.
Seven Grounds Co-Founder Andre Penascoza now works directly with St Ali while still overseeing the café’s operations on a limited basis.
“It’s a good partnership, and it allows us to represent both brands at once,” he says. “I take both new and existing customers to the café to showcase the coffee.”
Seven Grounds uses St Ali’s Orthodox house blend while offering a rotation of single origin blends.
“The portfolio here [at Seven Grounds] has really grown,” Andre says.
Andre has worked in the hospitality industry since he was 14 years old. He says Seven Grounds is the representation of a vision he had for an ideal South Australian café.
“Two of my best mates and I came up with the idea to have our own Asian fusion café,” he says.
This fusion showcases itself in the kitchen, which Andre says may be the only café in Adelaide that has a wok in the building. The menu is on a seasonal rotation, so customers are always on the lookout for new innovations.
“It’s a lot of southeast Asian rather than just south Asian,” he says. “The fusion represents itself by making Asian dishes and mixing it with more traditional breakfasts like putting it on sourdough.”
Andre says the café’s breakfast dumplings are one of its most popular dishes, combining pork mince and egg to offer a unique take on breakfasts.
“That’s been on our menu since day one,” he says.
The Brompton location has proved to be a welcoming one for Seven Grounds, as its place on the city’s fringe allows for plenty of young professionals to swing by looking for a coffee before work.
“It’s an accessible location for everyone,” Andre says. “It’s a mixed crowd, and it reminds me a bit of Melbourne.”
Since opening Seven Grounds, Andre says the St Ali network has grown in Adelaide, which has not only spread the café’s influence but has allowed Andre to establish connections across the city.
“I’ve met some great people in the industry,” he says. “It’s all about establishing long-term relationships with the clientele.”
Seven Grounds
Unit 1/28a Hawker Street,
Brompton, South Australia, 5007
Open Monday to Friday 7am – 3pm, and Saturday and Sunday 8am – 2pm
This article appears in the December 2023 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
