Her Story

Fifteen years ago, Kate Weiss’ daughter was born with a rare genetic disorder. In favour of caring for her daughter at home, Kate left her job managing the sales team at an American-based IT firm.

The transition from career woman to home carer was not a smooth one for Kate – however after intense introspection, she rediscovered her passion for flavoursome food. Kate, who is well travelled, loves to experiment with exotic and deep flavours of spices and herbs from other cultures. She remembers her time living in the Middle East and falling in love with the spice markets there.

After conducting in-depth research into food, nutrition and wellbeing, Kate’s idea for her business ‘Table of Plenty’ was born. She decided to start her own business as a means to reconnect with her passion for life.

Kate is an inspiration: turning her passion for healthy and clean eating into a business, Kate single-handedly built a company that would financially support her daughter.

Kate ensures that her Table of Plenty products only use clean, healthy ingredients. She also draws on her wealth of knowledge about spices and herbs, and applies this knowledge to create truly hearty and healthy dishes. Because Kate is a carer and a business owner, she knows only too well how time-poor busy women are when juggling work and home life. With this in mind, Kate created Table of Plenty products to be quick and easy to prepare.

Aside from leading the way to healthy eating for Australians, Kate endeavours to give back to the community. Table of Plenty supports organisations that aim to assist people living with disabilities. She has ensured that her company creates work for people with a disability.

Since Table of Plenty was created, Kate has created tens of thousands of hours of work for people with a disability.

This is in line with Kate’s philosophy that:

“We want to see everyone get the best chance at life.”

It is incredibly inspiring to see Kate’s passion for flavoursome food give rise to two major gains: firstly, consumers of Table of Plenty are able to eat wholesome, healthy meals, and secondly, Kate has increased the employment rate of people with disabilities.

Kate’s magnanimous entrepreneurial ethos has been recognised. She is the recipient of a Telstra National Business Women’s Award: Business Owner, InStyle Women of Style Business Award, Brainlink Women of Achievement Finalist, and Melbourne Design Awards.

Kate generously shares her key learning experience to others:

“If you are starting as a small business owner, put in place strategies and processes and then people which will allow your business to truly grow. Too often business owners become the bottle neck in their own businesses. Learn to create and then get out of the way!”

Strategies for Success

1. Find out what you love and are passionate about and work in this. You will then have access to your natural talents and will never be short of new ideas and energy.
2. Find out what motivates you. Find a purpose greater than yourself. What gets you out of bed in the morning and what legacy do you want to leave? What do you want to contribute to our world?
3. Keep questioning and keep open and keep learning. Do not assume. Breakthroughs do not come from old thinking and following the status quo, so allow yourself to be radical in your thinking.
4. Have a vision, write it down, find images for it and put them where you can see and revisit them often. Your vision should inspire you and draw you towards it.
5. African saying: if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Attract and recruit a team who have many varied skills. Together as a whole working towards a vision, you will be a powerful force.