Kilbrogan House

From Wall Street Guru to Brand Builder

By: Barbara L. Passy, '07

Posted: 9/28/06

With recruiting time ahead, it might be a bit premature to reckon with what comes after the high-pressure, high-paid job on Wall Street. But that time will come as surely as Corporation Finance follows Investments.

Ex-Citigroup London repo trading head and frequent Chicago visitor Catherine Fitzmaurice's story leads to the hedge row, not a hedge fund, and then to the croquet grounds and the garden. Kilbrogan is not a hedge fund. You can visit the house on the web at www.kilbrogan.com. FitzMaurice now runs this business with her brother David, a professionally trained chef. Let's get that out of the way right now. "Look, I do get calls about trading. Yes, usually it's hedge funds looking to hire a 'known quantity' or a 'name.' But a chap rang up the other day because he had lost his job and was wondering if I could suggest something. Well, whilst I was flattered that he remembered me, I really can't because now I'm into my next career and the learning curve is pretty steep in comparison to the current yield curve so I'm constantly on my toes with this business," she explains.

Three years ago, Catherine FitzMaurice upped the stakes and moved from London back to Ireland. Originally from Dublin, she uncovered and purchased a rundown historic Georgian home in Bandon, in County Cork, in the early '90s. She led a double life. During the week, she ran the European bond financing team in London for Citi. "I had a great career at Sali and Citi. It was hard work but a lot of fun and a super place to work," she comments. Her weekend mission was to fix up and develop both Kilbrogan's main house and its stables into a working bed and breakfast. She also had dilapidated grounds that needed attention.

It's not Ballymaloe, the restaurant known for its cookery school and inn that is also in Cork. Its offerings are still evolving based on client needs. "We're still establishing a brand. We need to be flexible now in the early days," she explains. "You definitely get breakfast. And we can arrange a snack or dinner if we're given notice," says FitzMaurice. They have amassed an array of fans in their first two years of operation. "We're getting repeat visitors and many now seem like our extended family," she adds. These days she travels to the market to buy just the amounts required for guests. At Citi, on an average day, she would turn over hundreds of millions of dollars, pounds, and euros worth of securities in the money markets.

"When I first started working on the Kilbrogan project over ten years ago, the locals considered me a 'blow-in.' This is a local term for people who arrive from elsewhere," she explained. It wasn't hard for her to make their views change because she says, "I showed commitment to this town. I lived here for over a decade on weekends and holidays. It was a life between two worlds. And one day, I realized it was the life that I wanted."

The leverage she sees these days is in the rising of the daily loaves of fresh bread she bakes each morning for guests or for family. The market dislocations are when visitors can't find her home or decide they'd like to stay longer when other guests are expected. Her positions are constantly checked because she needs to stay long fresh milk, coffee, tea, preserves, and the other staples that make for a great Irish, American, or Continental breakfast.

This past year was her second of operation. She notes the wide variety of guests: "On one typical week, we welcome a large variety of visitors. We met some retired U.S. navy people from Sacramento and from Virginia Beach (a group of four friends). One of the couples said that they have moved 30 times. They stayed two nights and were great fun. The other four people were South African and Hong Kong Chinese. One used to work for McKinsey and has now set up a charity. I am learning about all these different occupations. It's interesting."

In addition to vacationers, she notes, "we're getting business travelers regularly because they are visiting the many international firms that are here in Cork. They like the privacy and quiet of our home and I'm pretty sure they like my breads." Easily accessible to the golf courses, the beach, and a main stop on the heritage search for many Americans, Kilbrogan is a lucky find for its visitors. For its owner, it's turned into yet another excellent trade.

RECIPE FROM KILBROGAN HOUSE

Fitzmaurice says, "There are hundreds of variations of Irish soda bread recipes and many now include a much greater variety of ingredients than in the old days (sesame, pinhead oatmeal, etc). I find that this quite simple recipe is very popular and tastes delicious with soft butter and raspberry jam or marmalade."

Irish Brown Soda Bread

88 grams white flour

88 grams brown flour (preferably coarse wholemeal)

1/2 teaspoon bread soda

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 pint of buttermilk

Mix the flours together. Sieve the bread soda and add to the dry mixture with the salt and sugar. Stir the buttermilk into the mixture, which will become fairly wet. Put into a ½ lb. greased loaf tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes in a hot oven (400 F/200 Cent/gas 6). When cooked it will come away from the edges of the tin and will have a hard, crispy base. Cool on a wire rack.