Table of Plenty: living your best life

Table of Plenty’s Kate Weiss shares her story of overcoming personal adversity to embrace her creativity and follow her passion – celebrating the plenty that the planet provides.

When Weiss’s daughter was born with a rare genetic syndrome, her whole life was irrevocably changed. Weiss had already been through a complicated pregnancy and difficult birth, but once Amy was born, the tiny infant failed to thrive and develop. It was only after five years that Amy was finally diagnosed with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome. A person with this disorder typically has short stature and learning difficulties.

“After giving birth to Amy, it threw us overnight,” Weiss recalls. “Not just becoming parents but becoming carers. It really took us a few years to get our heads around it.”

Normally an optimistic and outgoing person by nature, Weiss found herself going through a “pretty dark” period following Amy’s birth.

“I had been such an active and busy person,” she says. “Suddenly, all my energies were needed for mothering. Of course, I adore mothering. But I also felt I needed something else as well. I needed something to recharge and replenish me.”

Inspired by creativity

For most of us, recharging and replenishing would probably mean something along the lines of taking up yoga. Or perhaps spending the day getting pampered at a fancy spa. For Weiss, it meant starting her own business – Table of Plenty.

“Some people who knew me at that time – especially parents of children with disabilities – said it was an odd choice to start a business as something to replenish and recharge you,” Weiss says. “But I look at running a business and being an entrepreneur as being creative. We’re the creators of the business world. And what gives me energy is creativity.”

Table of Plenty began with just one product – dukkah. Inspiration for the product came from Weiss’s love of travel and savoury foods. Launched before dukkah was really a “thing”, Weiss initially sold it at farmers’ markets. But in 2006, the product launched in Woolworths.

From there, Table of Plenty has grown into a genuine success story. It now sells a variety of healthy products, from muesli and rice cakes to kefir.

The best is yet to come

“We never wanted to be a singular brand,” Weiss says. “The name Table of Plenty really comes from the philosophy behind the brand, which we call a ‘life of plenty’. It’s a holistic philosophy of food being your medicine; of nature knowing best and of nourishing your body from the inside to the outside.

“It’s about being a leader in your own life, taking personal responsibility. And also celebrating the planet that we live on – the plenty that the planet provides for us.”

Table of Plenty also works closely with the disabled community. It has created thousands of hours work for people with disabilities, from logistics and packing to blending products.

“It’s very obvious why the cause is so close to our hearts,” Weiss says. “When Amy was born we realised that a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. And there is always room for improvement. We continue to provide work opportunities and create pathways for training for people with disabilities wherever we can.”

The website of Table of Plenty quotes, “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations”. By embracing opportunity in a time of adversity, Kate Weiss has shown that the destination can be very beautiful indeed. And, as the rest of this quote, attributed to motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, promises, “The best is yet to come”.

You can find out more about Table of Plenty, including their newest product offerings, at tableofplenty.com.au