Fish, chips and a side of sprinkles: How Kate and Chris turned their dessert cabinet into a growing small business

When Kate Symons and Chris Thompson bought Fish out of Water, a takeaway shop in Hyde Park, South Australia in 2018, their finance broker had been instrumental in helping them secure the funding to realise that dream.

Two years on, their approach – selecting the best local ingredients and preparing them thoughtfully – had paid off. Fish out of Water tied for first place in the Australian Fish and Chip Awards for South Australia, and was doing a roaring trade.

The Fish out of Water team tied for first place in South Australia in the Australian Fish and Chip Awards.

The house-made desserts from Fish out of Water were also local firm favourites, so when another shopfront became available just a few doors down the mall, Kate and Chris were keen to pounce on the opportunity and make a bold move to open a dedicated dessert shop.

They needed to build a commercial kitchen and hire staff – and for these relatively new business owners, that meant securing funding. They headed back to their broker, who suggested a Prospa Small Business Loan given funding is possible in 24 hours.

“In all honesty, we’d never heard of Prospa, but we trusted him so we went with his recommendation,” Chris says. “And we are so glad we did.”

Inside the Cupkates Desserts kitchen

Hear more from Kate and Chris about how they turned their sweets cabinet into a thriving small business – and take a look around the state-of-the-art kitchen at Cupkates Desserts.

Kate and Chris haven’t stopped there – they’ve now grown Cupkates Desserts to a team of 11 (and still growing!), are building a new shop in Westfield Tea Tree Plaza, and currently have two pop-up shops in Westfield Marion and Westfield West Lakes.