How Melbourne’s Morgan Hipworth created $200m empire in high school

It involved completing his high school work and then staying up to 2am some nights to get his product made. Now he sells up to 20,000 items a week.

Morgan Hipworth was just 15 years old when he opened his first store but he’s now worth an estimated $200 million after dominating the doughnut space.

He started experimenting in the kitchen when he was seven, trying to recreate dishes from a cooking reality TV show that had got another contestant kicked out, with his family scoring his food out of 10.

Then at 13 his first big break came via a local cafe which asked him to become their cake supplier, where he would whip up everything from chocolate tarts to lemon slices.

But the order would only come in at 3pm meaning Hipworth never knew what to expect.

“Some nights you could come home and I have heaps of homework and then all of a sudden I would get hit with a huge order,” he told the I’ve Got News For You podcast.

“And I would just smash out that homework as fast as I could and then be baking until you know, one (or) 2am in the morning to get that delivered the next day. So it was definitely a juggle in those first sort of early years.”

The now 20-year-old stumbled on his love for doughnuts when the cafe asked him to make a batch for Valentine’s Day, which were a hit.

Morgan Hipworth has handled over a million doughnuts. Picture: @morganhipworth / Instagram

His venture then grew to supplying 20 cafes but when he wanted to open his own store he had to battle his parents, who were insistent that he focus on school.

They compromised on a pop up store in the school holidays while he was completing year 10.

“We ended up selling over 10,000 doughnuts in eight days which was really hectic,” he noted.

Still it was another battle for him to take on the space permanently when it came up for lease two months later, with many “almost arguments” among the family, before his parents eventually caved.

This launched his doughnut store in Melbourne called Bistro Morgan, but he admits the name doesn’t really fit with the sweet treat he sells.

“But you got to understand the backstory. So obviously, when I started cooking back at seven and eight, when I was that old, I used to love French food and I used to set up our dining room at home as a restaurant,” he said.

“And I would call it Bistro Morgan and that name sort of just stuck and when I started supplying the cafe, literally overnight, I had to register a business name and an ABN and … it’s sort of like too late to change it now. So what I really love about it is that it has that story, it has that organic sort of growth to it.”

A range of the sweet treats available. Picture: @bistromorgan / Instagram

Since launching the store, he has sold over one million doughnuts and has also experimented with 5000 different flavours.

The cookie monster and creme brulee are by far the most popular though, according to Hipworth.

“Our cookie monster … that one’s got like a cake batter feeling so it’s like funfetti cake batter. So it’s almost like raw cake before it gets baked and then it goes in inside of that doughnut, and it’s topped with white chocolate, confetti and Oreos,” he explained.

“And then our other most popular one which is probably one of my favourites is our creme brulee. Which is obviously inspired by that sort of typical French dessert and we fill it with like a housemaid vanilla bean custard and then we blow torch the top so that sugar becomes nice and like crunchy.”

The cookie monster is one of the most popular doughnuts. Picture: @bistromorgan / Instagram

Some of the more unusual flavours have been used as part of pranks, so filling a doughnut with chilli tuna which was topped with chocolate as normal and even Vegemite which looked like Nutella.

The entrepreneur said he sells between 8000 and 20,000 sweet treats a week, with cookie doughnuts also helping to grow the business.

But there’s one person he is desperate to get in store to try out his doughnuts – celebrity chef Gordan Ramsay.

“He supposedly doesn’t like doughnuts, but he follows me on like, Insta and TikTok and I’m like ‘Mate try out doughnuts, we might be able to change your mind’”, he laughed.

It nearly happened when Ramsay messaged him on social media when he was in Australia but he ran out of time to make it to Bistro Morgan.

The red velvet doughnut. Picture: @bistromorgan / Instagram

However, his success had been hard work with the young Aussie admitting he practically works 24/7, whether he’s in store, doing business planning or jumping on his laptop after dinner to write emails or pay invoices, while his “brain never stops”.

With 25 staff members ranging in age from 15 to 40, Hipworth revealed it hasn’t always been easy as a young boss with older employees to manage.

“I’ve always tried to look past the age thing as long as there’s sort of like a mutual respect for everyone, no matter what the age is,” he said.

“That’s the main thing for me, obviously I’ve had some issues, especially when I was younger from some of the older staff, but it’s a bit of an interesting dynamic, but I think it’s all about finding those right people and then it’s nice and easy.”

With a huge fortune, Hipworth said he tends to save but did splash out when he got his licence last year treating himself to a Mercedes CLA 250 Sports car.

He treated himself to a new car to celebrate his success. Picture: @morganhipworth / Instagram

Hipworth has also appeared on Junior MasterChef and Shark Tank and boasts a whopping 900,000 followers on TikTok.

The only child loves to share cooking videos on his personal social media accounts.

“Because I think when I was young, before things like MasterChef cooking was seen as being really lame, it was seen as one of those things that like the mum did when they got home, which is so wrong,” he said.

“Like it’s really one of those things that people can actually love and you can make a career out of it or you can just make a really fun hobby out of it.

“So I really love to be able to get that out there and share some inspiration with the world and help younger kids you know, with find their passion … I think there’s such a stereotype nowadays, especially from the older generation that you know, the Gen Z and Millennials are lazy, but for me, I think it’s just because they haven’t found what they’re passionate about yet.”

You can hear Morgan’s full interview on the I’ve Got News For You podcast

Originally published as How Melbourne’s Morgan Hipworth created $200m empire in high school