Today we’d like to introduce you to Morgan Cavender.
Morgan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I traveled the world as a nanny for professional surfers for 7 years and one day my dad called me and told me that the thought the town they lived in, in GA, would be a great spot to have a bar. He told me how much he thought it would cost to open, said that they had a building open next to their bed & breakfast in Molena, GA. I told him I didn’t know anything about owning a bar and he told me “well you’ve been to enough of them, I think you could figure it out”. Lo and behold that began the idea of one; me moving to GA where my family lives and two; me beginning the adventure into bar ownership. My parents owned a bed & breakfast that also had a cafe in it, named Wild Daisy, and since we had signed a lease for the building next door we figured it would be cool to use the name Daisy in it. I thought long and hard about it until a mom I used to nanny called me and told me “you should name your bar the oopsy daisy!” I told her that I didn’t want a place where people came to “get oopsy” I want a place where people come to “get tipsy” and lo and behold Tipsy Daisy was born! I moved to Georgia in June and we were open by October of 2019. We were in a town of 300 residents about an hour from the Atlanta airport and in a place where people would have to drive to get to us, and we were a hit very early on! Life was fun and everyone was driving from all over to come to a bar, in the middle of no where, called The Tipsy Daisy! Everything was awesome. Until 6 months later when Covid hit in March 2020, we were closed for three months. We opened with a lot of precautions in the summer of 2020 but our sales never fully bounced back from what they started to be in 2019! In early 2021 I was informed that my building had been sold and we were asked to vacate the premises because the new owner of the building was going to open a bar. So the search for a new home for Tipsy Daisy began. Immediately I wanted to move to Griffin, its where my family had lived for generations and where I grew up for the first time 10 years of my life. I found a fantastic realtor, Gloria Treadway, who found me the building we have now. The building had just been renovated to its original condition from 1920. The original hardwood floors, exposed brick walls & exposed ceiling was everything I could dream of for my cutesy little honky tonk! So in June of 2021 I became a building owner & the move to Downtown Griffin, began! We opened our doors in the beginning of September 2021 and never looked back! Tipsy Daisy became a household name in our little town in a very short time! We very quickly became the go to spot for line dancing, happy hour & live music! We have been deemed the best bar in griffin for 4 years in a row now & are constantly coming up with new ways to bring people into downtown griffin! We have joined forces with the other local bars & eateries and do a different themed bar crawl every month and we also have been apart of the pop up bar trend, starting with Tipsy Santa Pop Up, Tipsy Cupid Pop Up, Tipsy Leprechaun, Tipsy Witch and even have a Blooming Daisy Spring Fling Pop Up! It’s been a lot of fun to decorate and be creative with all of our different themes and events!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We have had a few hiccups in the road throughout the last 6 years. After having to find a new home for Tipsy in 2021, the main thing we have struggled with the most in maintaining our own identity. A lot of bars have begun to open in our town, which is great for everyone, but it’s been my main goal to make sure we all provide different types of experiences for customers. Making sure to have different themed events, different live musicians, and really staying ahead of the masses with themed pop ups and fun events. We live by a lot of bigger towns surrounding us so it’s also important to have events to draw in people from surrounding areas.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I would say our craft cocktails are what we really specialize in. We have a reoccurring, festive cocktail menu that is curated to match whatever the theme of the pop up is. Our “Sleigh My Name” was a huge his this year with our Tipsy Elf, Christmas Pop Up Bar this year. It’s a special crafted Sugar Cookie Martini with an icing and sprinkle rim. It’s been a hit every year.
I would say we’re most known for our Espresso Martinis. We brew the espresso in house, fresh with every espresso martini made & we have a different flavor every month to six weeks that we feature.
I would say I’m most proud of my employees and our reputation. I have two main employees, Amber, who’s the head of the house & Wes who is our expert Martini maker. Both have been with me for about 4 years now and are truly the best team. We have created a little family within and it’s been fun to be apart of. I’m really proud of the reputation that I feel like we have worked very hard for, being a fun, safe place for women to enjoy themselves has been my main goal since day one. Also with being a women owned business it’s been very important to make sure people know we don’t put up with any types of inappropriate behavior. We have very strict expectations of how our guests can act, especially with alcohol involved, our guests are very aware that physical altercations will result in removal and loss of bar privileges. We’ve stood by that very strong for 6 years now and very seldomly do we have any type of altercations. Nothing makes me prouder than having women come up and tell us how safe they feel in our bar. It’s the ultimate compliment!
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memories are from celebrations. I am a big fan of celebrating every triumph in life. Celebrating anything from birthdays to holidays, it’s so important to enjoy the fun in life and celebrate the ones you love!
Pricing:
- Cocktails range between $8-$12
- Private Rentals start at $100 per hour
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @the.tipsy.daisy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1CgUcxgAhB/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Image Credits
Most photos are taken by Kaylynn Grey Photography out of Griffin, GA
