“What are you grateful for?” For Rachel DesRochers, owner of Grateful Grahams in Newport, Kentucky, this is the single most powerful question one can ask. It is also an effective way to sell smallbatch graham crackers.

“It is a pure heart-to-heart action,” she says, “because the question puts us back in our bodies; you have to take a breath in thinking of a response.” Gratitude messages are included on the packaging of Grateful Grahams products and their website even includes a blog page dedicated to gratitude messages.

The idea was born 10 years ago when DesRochers, pregnant with her second child, took a year off from her marketing job at Wild Oats (now Whole Foods) yearning to create something new. Realizing the importance of being a role model for her children, she merged her desire to spread positivity with her memories of enjoying graham crackers at her grandmother’s house. Though fine-tuning the recipe took some time, she knew she wanted the graham crackers to be vegan as a nod to her father, who became vegan while battling prostate cancer.

With the support of her husband, Jim, it didn’t take long before the business grew to a point where DesRochers had to move from baking at home and selling at farmers’ markets to sharing commercial space with other local food producers. Just a few years later, she leased her own commercial kitchen space and started a second company, the Incubator Kitchen Collective, which offers not only kitchen space but consulting help for new food artisans.

“We wanted to help people build healthier business models while taking the burden from trying to find affordable space to make their products and build a business.” Over the past seven years, DesRochers has mentored over 150 companies in Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas.

“We can offer real and honest support,” she says, “and sharing space with other artisans offers a lot of peer-to-peer support.”

A creative spirit at heart, DesRochers used the quarantine earlier this year to create Gratitude Grams, a 52-card deck of gratitude cards illustrated by DesRochers. The cards have been used by teachers and yoga instructors around the region.

“With all that is happening in our lives, we need these simple reminders that we can live a joyful life,” she says. “We can remove the barriers and allow gratitude in.”

WHERE TO FIND
 

Products available online at
 

GratefulGrahams.com
513-227-6537
Ships nationwide.

Also available at
 

Whole Foods and select Kroger stores in Kentucky and New Albany, IN