Share Crackers
“Share Crackers is a sourdough cracker company based in Detroit that focuses on using only ethically-sourced ingredients, intriguing flavors, and artisanal baking methods. The results are carefully crafted and delicious crackers – a heartwarming snack that centers around the act of sharing”
1. Why and how did you decide to start a food business?
My first sourdough came from a house guest during the first year of the pandemic, who explained as they left that it had come from Italy originally, by way of a Detroit pizza shop. Before that, I had been caring for a sick parent, who passed away. In my grief, I took up a different kind of care: nurturing a community of beneficial bacteria and wild yeast, and discovering the wonderful human community built around the ancient practice of fermentation.
For me, grief and the pandemic both seemed to slow down and contort time. That slowness fell into rhythm with the unhurried pace of fermentation, and I began making bread and lots of crackers from my sourdough discard. I enjoyed experimenting with different flavors and sharing my cracker creations with the few people I saw. Noticing how much I loved baking and giving them away—and how much people loved snacking on them—I began to wonder how I might turn that joy into my life's work.
2. How long have you been in business?
I started baking crackers for fun in 2021. The idea of turning a hobby I loved into a business slowly grew, and I learned and felt my way through the realities of small-batch, consumer-packaged goods. Share Crackers arrived on the shelves of markets and grocery stores in February 2023.
3. How has owning a business changed now from when you first got started?
In the early days it was just me baking crackers, first in my home kitchen and then alone at Coriander Kitchen and Farm while they were closed. I did every part of the business myself for nearly two years. On bake days now, we're a team of seven, working together to feed our starters, measure batter, hand-form, bake, package and deliver. In the beginning, most of our customers were local, Michigan-based stores; today we ship to 250 stores and markets across 40 states. I'm grateful to work alongside—and depend on—so many inspiring people to share our crackers.
4. Can you please tell us about your signature items?
We make three flavors of sourdough crackers: everything, za'atar and plainish.
Everything: inspired by the comfort-food classic, the everything bagel. In the kitchen we call it "All of It!" for fun.
Za'atar: our take on the Middle Eastern spice blend, heavy on sumac and includes thyme. A few customers have told me it tastes like home, in Palestine.
Plainish: an olive-oil-and-sea-salt cracker, but ours has a savory umami depth—think of an elevated Cheez-It.
5. How has utilizing the food business programming and/or incubator kitchen in Eastern Market impacted your growth as a business?
Being a tenant of Eastern Market's Shed 5 incubation kitchen let me self-fund and grow the business at my own pace—without borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars to build out a production space. It's been a rare chance to build the brand intentionally and incrementally.
6. Do you have advice for future food business entrepreneurs?
I love to eat delicious snacks—please, make more for me to munch! If you have an idea, do it. It's possible to make and share food in a way that doesn't force you to take on massive amounts of debt.
