How shopping small supported Morgan Hipworth's rise to culinary stardom

Owning a business is one of the most fulfilling things Australians can achieve. It takes a sound vision and plenty of hard work to get a successful business up and running, but a driving passion is the most essential ingredient. While most entrepreneurs start businesses in their 30s and 40s, rising Australian culinary star Morgan Hipworth ’s journey started much earlier. The 22-year-old owner of Melbourne’s Bistro Morgan has had a deep passion for food ever since he started home cooking at the age of seven.

“I would cook a two- or three-course meal each Saturday or Sunday,” Hipworth says. “I printed out menu cards and scorecards, spent all day cooking and then tried to give my parents a full restaurant experience, which I called ‘Bistro Morgan’. They’d knock on the door, I’d sit them down to eat, and then they’d rate the dishes out of 10. I did that for three or four years.”

What started as a hobby became a long-term vision after he started making and selling cakes for family and friends when he was 12, which quickly became a hit within his local community. ?When he turned 13, things became even more serious. ?

“I went to a local café with my mum and grandma to buy coffee beans,” Hipworth says. “The woman serving us asked if we wanted ground or whole beans and I said we have we had a grinder at home, which I suppose is a bit unusual for a 13-year-old. We started talking about how much I loved baking and I showed her photos. About a month later, we found out she was the owner and she wanted to see some samples. “I took everything that I thought might be useful to their business. Things like brownies, tarts, cookies, everything. They tasted them and placed their first order that day.”

After supplying the café for three or four months, Hipworth was asked to make some doughnuts for Valentine's Day. They became an instant hit and he was asked to make them regularly. More cafés got wind of Hipworth’s creations and asked if he could supply them. Soon after, he was providing doughnuts to 20 cafes in the area and was selling about 800 every weekend.

Shopping small and staying connected

Hipworth had been supplying his network of cafes for three years when he decided he wanted to create a store of his own, although he was still only 15 and his parents wanted him to stay focused on school.

“We came to the compromise of starting a pop-up store, held in the September school holidays of 2016,” he says. “We sold 10,000 doughnuts over eight days. It was an amazing experience.”

A few months after the pop-up, the same building came up for rent. The landlord recognised the business’s incredible potential and offered Hipworth the lease. He and his parents decided to accept, and Bistro Morgan opened its doors in December 2016.

The bakery – and Hipworth himself – have since enjoyed enormous success. His dedication, creativity and charismatic charm have driven a meteoric rise to stardom, with appearances on Junior Masterchef and Sharktank Australia.

He’s a celebrated author of the Made by Morgan cookbook and shares recipes and cooking tips with more than a million followers on social media. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom hailed Hipworth as a “one-in-a-million star”.

Despite his incredible success, Hipworth has never lost sight of where he came from and continues to maintain strong relationships with the small businesses that got him started. He advocates for consumers and businesses to shop locally when they can.

“When we started seven years ago, we were effectively 100 per cent wholesale, so we were reliant on other local businesses,” he says. “Wholesale is still a very big part of our business now. We still supply about 15 cafes and venues around Melbourne and we work with other local suppliers for things like milk, butter and coffee. “Local businesses tend to provide a more personable level of service and help us ensure we have a constant supply of the freshest ingredients.”

A bright future for a culinary champion

Hipworth has an incredible story of small business passion and ingenuity, but this is only the first chapter of his accomplishments. Most recently Morgan participated in the highly anticipated Dessert Masters on Channel Ten and he’s opened a new Bistro Morgan location in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy and plans to open a full-service restaurant next door called Maven later this year.

“Maven will be about a 65-seater venue with a modern Australian menu, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he says. “It will be next door to Bistro Morgan in Fitzroy, which make it easier for me to oversee both businesses.”

Hipworth’s staggering success is made more impressive by the fact that he’s never had formal business training. Throughout his journey, he says his family have been his biggest source of support and inspiration.

“My main support network to this day is my family,” he says. “Going to mum and dad for help and getting their opinions on things has helped me out more than anything else. Having a good support network around you is crucial from a small business perspective, as the hours can be tough and the reward isn’t always there.”

Hipworth shows immense gratitude to the café that gave him his first chance and the businesses he worked with throughout high school. He says it's indicative of the amazing people that stand behind Australia’s small business community and reinforces why it’s so important for everyone to shop small.?

“People often forget that people and families are behind every small business,” he says. “Everyone is just trying their hardest to make a good quality product or experience for their customers. When you shop small, you’re supporting real people, who also employ other people. That little bit of support makes a huge difference.”

Bistro Morgan is a Shop Small participating business. To find small businesses in your area or learn more about how you can get involved, visit www.shopsmall.com.au #ShopSmall