Morgan Hipworth is the owner and creative force behind Bistro Morgan, an artisan bakery based in Windsor. Morgan found his love for cooking early in life, and TAFE gave him the opportunity to balance his passion and school at the same time.
‘I fell in love with cooking when I was 7 years old and that was just from watching cooking shows on TV. I used to set up our dining room as a restaurant every weekend and I just fell in love with that idea of people bonding over food.’
When Morgan was 13, the owner of a local café was so impressed by Morgan’s passion for food that she offered to trial him as a cake supplier.
‘All of a sudden, I was supplying this café while I was in Year 9, with all of their cookies and tarts. Then they asked me to make some doughnuts for Valentine’s Day, so I made them in love-heart shapes, and they just went absolutely gangbusters.’
Morgan’s story was picked up by the media and he went from supplying one cafe to 25, with another 50 on the waiting list.
‘I really wanted a store but because I was still in Year 10 at the time, my parents wouldn’t let me, so we came to the compromise of having a pop-up store in the September school holidays.’
Morgan sold over 10,000 doughnuts at the pop-up and convinced his parents to let him open his own store. He needed to finish school and get training, so decided to study Commercial Cookery through Holmesglen.
‘It was part of the VET course – the one you do throughout Year 11 and 12. Half in VCE, half at TAFE. My experience was awesome. I think what I loved was how hands-on it was. It was a really nice balance by having the VET program, being able to do your practical side at TAFE while still being able to do Year 11 and 12 at school.’
What does ‘making it’ mean to you?
‘I live by a motto: ‘If you find a job you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life’. I think for me, my main goal is to really live by that and to be true to myself for the rest of my life.‘
Do you have any advice for school leavers?
‘My number one piece of advice would have to be follow your gut and do something that you genuinely enjoy. Please don’t go into a field or a profession because you think there’s money there or you think it looks attractive.’
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