Saturday, 16 October marks Cheeky Grin Coffee's first birthday, and they’ll be celebrating by doing what they do best: serving great coffee and smiles to their community.

Cheeky Grin Coffee was born in mid-2020, when owner Stefan Iannace started slinging coffee from the back shed of his family home, offering a pandemic pick-me-up to neighbours and community members out on their daily walk.

The business eventually graduated out of the shed and into a commercial tenancy, and this month marks one year since making that transition.

To celebrate its first birthday, Cheeky Grin Coffee will be serving up $1 coffees and doughnuts from 9am ’til 10am on Saturday, 16 October.

“We want to get as many people in as possible, whether it’s new or regulars,” Stefan says.

“If you haven’t tried us yet it’s an awesome opportunity to give it a go, because where else are you going to get a $1 coffee?”

Cheeky Grin Coffee’s Instagram page is a snapshot of the bubbly personality you can expect from Stefan and the team all year round, and while the business has grown predominantly off the back of word-of-mouth, Cheeky’s social media presence has certainly helped.

“It’s fun, it’s engaging, I try to jump on Stories as much as possible and be really transparent with everyone. I think that’s a big thing with a lot of people and customers,” Stefan says.

Over their last 12 months, Stefan says his biggest achievement is still enjoying what he does and sharing a positive lifestyle with the community as the business grows.

“It’s not about the money for me, it’s about coming to work everyday to see and serve my ‘family-like’ community,” Stefan says.

“Dating back to when we started at the shed, I had so many businesses and locals reach out to us offering any way they could help.”

“Now we are a little suburban coffee shop reaching out to these little businesses and I want to essentially use our social media and physical presence to help them grow as well.”

Stefan has enlisted the help of some of these friendly local businesses when planning Cheeky Grin Coffee’s birthday celebrations, with Willow Bend Coffee, Fleurieu Milk Company, The Alternative Dairy Co, The Dough Co Doughnut Shop and Chlo’s Vegan Club all offering a variety of treats and discounts for customers to enjoy on the day.

“Instead of going to the big giants, I try to go to the smaller guy first. At the end of the day I want to see everyone succeed,” Stefan says.

A Cheeky spread

For those who want to feel like they’ve earned their $1 coffee, Cheeky’s birthday celebrations will kick off with the café’s weekly community run, called The Cheeky Trot, which starts at 7.30am. DJ Sami will provide the soundtrack, and there will be a well-earned piece of cake waiting for you at the finish line.

In collaboration with local gym The Fit Space, the Cheeky Trot was born to bring people together for a relaxed run, followed by a great coffee and banter.

“It’s a pretty solid crew we’ve got, and we really promote the fact that it’s not a run club per se, it’s more so a community event,” Stefan says.

“I can’t run more than three kilometres myself otherwise I’ll cough up a lung, so trust me, if I can do it, anybody can.”

Stefan with his favourite coffee

Cheeky Grin Coffee uses local roaster Willow Bend Coffee as its bean supplier, with Stefan and Willow Bend’s founder Ben Pankhurst becoming close friends.

“I have had the pleasure of supplying Cheeky Grin Coffee with my beans since they first opened and seeing how much Stefan and his team have accomplished over the past year has truly been amazing to see and be a part of,” Ben says.

Looking forward, Stefan hopes to expand Cheeky’s within its current premises with small innovations like extending the menu, changing the layout and continuing to collaborate with other businesses and using their platform to help others grow, too.

Stay up to date with Cheeky’s on Instagram and Facebook.