Domini Kemp

Domini was a former show-jumper before training as a chef at Leith's in London in 1996, and then returning to Ireland to co-write New Irish Cooking and working in the Michelin-starred Peacock Alley, Dublin.

In 1999, the Kemp sisters opened the first ITSA on Abbey Street. Since then, the company has created and developed many unique and award-winning brands, including Joe’s, Alchemy Juice Co., Hatch & Sons and Feast catering, Itsa and stand alone restaurants and cafes. In 2020, the group had grown to 150 employees across 12 restaurants and cafes, as well as catering and event management. Their most recent ventures include The Commons cafe in the new Museum of Literature (MOLi) on St Stephen’s Green and Hugh Brown’s and Edition cafe in Brown Thomas.

Domini was food-writer for The Irish Times Saturday Magazine from 2008-2016. Over the years she has contributed to many publications and was columnist for both Image and The Dubliner Magazine and regularly appears on TV and radio. She is currently the resident chef for Food & Wine Magazine.

The sisters won the IMAGE “Businesswoman of the Year” award in November 2009 and were nominated as one of the finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, in 2011.

After her breast cancer diagnosis in 2013, Domini drastically changed her eating habits to low-carb and followed an integrated lifestyle. This was the catalyst for Domini's fifth cook-book, "The Ketogenic Kitchen" - released in Spring 2016, and a best-seller both here in Ireland and the US. Since then, Domini completed an MA in Gastronomy & Food Studies in TUD in 2018 and a Prof. Dip in Positive Health in the Royal College of Surgeons in 2021. She has presented to many healthcare professionals on the topics of “Food & Cancer” and “Food as Medicine”. She was a speaker at Food on the Edge in 2017 and the Keto Live Medical Conference in Bergün, Switzerland in 2019.

Domini is on the Social Enterprise Steering Committee and since 2016 has worked with prisoners helping to develop their potential by teaching them how to set up their own businesses upon release - as part of prisoner rehabilitation within the Irish Prison Service (IPS). February 2020 saw the 4-part documentary, “Prison Breaks” on our screens on Virgin Media Television. Domini completed the Diploma Company Direction in the IoD and is also studying for a Diploma in Culinary Medicine (UK).

In 2022, Peaches took over as CEO of ITSA Group and Domini is now CEO of Valence Hospitality with Brian Montague (Winding Stair Group) https://thecurrency.news/articles/73746/two-of-irelands-most-successful-restaurateurs-are-launching-a-e20m-fund-to-acquire-20-restaurants-this-is-why/