Hunters & Disciples

“At Hunters & Disciples, we want businesses to poach our students! That’s how the name came about - we want our hospitality students, or disciples, to be hunted down by employers, the hunters.”

Amy Hickman is the CEO of the West Melbourne café Hunters & Disciples, which is the customer-facing arm of a hospitality school, Serve It Up. She also acts as the CEO of a related business, the Melbourne College of Further Education.

All three businesses are located in West Melbourne, inside the old White Crow tomato sauce factory.

“There’s a lot of heritage in the warehouse building. When we took it over, we basically gutted it and used it as a blank canvas to create multiple spaces for multiple entities,” explains Amy. “We asked our cafe manager, Stephanie Riley-Carl, to create a destination cafe for locals.”

Today Hunters & Disciples is a spacious and bright café offering fresh produce with range of dishes to be inclusive to all dietary requirements and customer needs. The large space suits all types of clients, from business people to parent groups.

“The café was designed for multiple reasons. Firstly we wanted to offer a place with fantastic food and beverage options in an area that didn’t have too many options. Secondly, we wanted to open a café and restaurant where Serve it Up students could get hands-on experience before they interviewed for a job.”

The café's all-day menu includes customer favourites such as the chicken burger, the steak sandwich and the chilli egg scramble, as well as ‘lightweight’ options that give people an option for smaller or more health-conscious meals.

Coffee is provided through Merchant Coffee Roasters from Mansfield. The beans release a smooth flavour that is not too strong or bitter and which is pleasing to a wide palate.

Amy’s next plans are focused on growing the reach of Hunters & Disciples. The café now offers catering options, with plans to expand into functions and corporate team-building events.

“I would like to be able to do more Hunters & Disciples concepts in other local areas or smaller café pop-up shops,” says Amy.

“We really want to build the partnership between Serve It Up, Hunters & Disciples and employers. We want our graduates all to get jobs, so the success of our job matching efforts is extremely important.”

Words by Joyce Watts & Photography by Anna Encio