Torrence O'Haire joins Grand Rapids Downtown Market staff

Local food entrepreneur Torrence O’Haire has joined the staff of the Grand Rapids Downtown Market as a private parties and culinary coordinator.

In this role, he will create menus and recipes for private functions, plan interesting new events and even teach a few public “boot camp-style” culinary classes for beginners and/or more advanced cooks looking to learn the process of creating recipes, and the science behind how recipes work.

The foodie entrepreneur is known in Grand Rapids for starting two successful restaurants in Grand Rapids in the past few years – Propaganda Doughnuts and ramen shop The Bandit Queen. In addition, he runs the Full Moon Supper Club, a monthly dinner party, hosted in different locations around the city, with different world cuisines prepared by O'Haire each month. He founded the Grand Rapids Cocktail Guild, an official chapter of the United States Bartending Guild, as well as The Starving Artist, LLC, where he does food writing, consulting, personal chef events and more.

“I want to help instill confidence in people to be able to cook without a recipe, by giving them a general understanding of the steps and processes of creating meals,” says O’Haire. “I like to use chemistry diagrams and talk about the science behind ingredient interactions, so that students understand the technique.”

O’Haire will work with the Market’s education department and events team to introduce some new event concepts and class ideas, such as a “Dinner and a Movie” series he’s currently planning with UICA. In addition, he’s rewriting some of the class structures, menus and recipes to bring his signature creative style to all areas of the Market’s classes and events.