Adding to its growing roster of culinary talent, Orange Palate by Porter Novelli has signed outspoken and acclaimed southern Chef John Currence as the newest client to join the specialty practice. Chef Currence joins the rapidly expanding Orange Palate client roster, which already includes Brooklyn Brewery, Chef Kelly English, Chef Eli Kirshtein and Old Fourth Distillery. The recently-launched specialty offering within the Porter Novelli global network will support Chef Currence and the City Grocery Restaurant Group for all public relations and marketing efforts.
Revered by chefs across the country, Chef Currence is best known for both his uncompromising stewardship of southern culinary traditions, as well as his take-no-prisoners defense of the causes and issues shaping the food industry and his home state of Mississippi. Recognized for his talents as the 2009 winner of the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Southern Chef, he devotes much of his expertise and influence to serving as a sitting member of the Southern Foodways Alliance Board of Directors – a non-profit organization that studies and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the changing American South. His first cookbook, “Pickles, Pigs and Whiskey,” a nod to his “three favorite food groups,” was released in 2013 and is currently nominated for a James Beard Foundation Book Award for American Cooking. Currence currently owns and operates six restaurants across the south, including: City Grocery, Bouré, Big Bad Breakfast (in both Oxford, Miss and Birmingham, Ala.), Snackbar and Lamar Lounge a not-for-profit restaurant that selects a new charity to donate its proceeds to each year.
“I was immediately impressed with the scope of work that Porter Novelli has done worldwide and the influence that they’ve had on campaigns in the past,” says Chef John Currence. “I think the world of the staff that I’ve had the chance to meet and work with so far, and I admire the thoughtfulness, creativity and energy that they bring to this partnership.”
“Bringing on someone of Chef Currence’s caliber is a huge win for the Orange Palate practice, signaling the potential that this offering has within the food industry and for the entire Porter Novelli network,” added Darlan Monterisi, Executive Vice President, Managing Director, Porter Novelli New York, where Orange Palate is based. “With Porter Novelli‘s important media relationships and deep knowledge of the food and beverage space, we have the expertise to build Chef John’s ‘big, bad’ personality into a household brand.”