Cheese & Crack is a local snack shop that serves cheese snack boxes, soft serve sundaes, slushies, and drinks. This Southeast snack bar is adored by many and has become a favorite for Portlanders and visitors alike. Cheese & Crack started off as a small food cart off of Hawthorne Boulevard, before moving to its current location as a brick-and-mortar establishment on 28th Avenue in 2012.
William Steuernagel is the proud founder and co-owner of the snack shop, and he enjoys running his own business and turning his visions into real-life creations. While he was starting to open the Cheese & Crack food cart, Steuernagel also worked as a server at Ken’s Artisan Pizza, which is coincidentally two blocks away from where his business eventually moved. Steuernagel states, “My favorite part of owning a business is the ability to make whatever changes I want whenever I have the vision for them.” However, this goes both ways: “I am accountable for any of the failures … [it] motivates [me] more to make [my business] a success and find a way,” he continues.
When walking into Cheese & Crack, there is always a diverse group of customers; though they’re mostly young adults, including teenagers, young kids can often be spotted coming in with their parents to get soft serve. Steuernagel appreciates that he has a wide variety of customers, stating, “I feel like there are a lot of spots in Portland that only have a specific age range of clientele.” He continues, “Here we have small children coming in for a treat, teens and young adults coming in for snacks, and people the age of my grandparents coming in for a treat too.”
Many Franklin and other high school students enjoy Cheese & Crack; however, they may not know it could be a possible job opportunity. Many of the staff at Cheese & Crack are 18 or older, but they do hire teenagers for lower-level positions. Kingston Irinaga, a Franklin student and “cheese and cracker,” as he refers to his job title, has been working at Cheese & Crack since September 2024. He notes that most of his co-workers are out of high school; nonetheless, Irinaga says working at Cheese & Crack has introduced him to some wonderful people.
Cheese & Crack introduces their regulars to new sundae flavors on a monthly rotation. This is alongside their three classic and permanent sundae flavors. Steuernagel says, “I come up with new sundae flavors by keeping it in the back of my head at all times.” He might see something random and consider it, wondering if it could be a good flavor. “I think that’s how any good creativity succeeds: by pulling inspiration from all the different corners of their life and always keeping an eye open for that inspiration when it presents itself,” he continues.
Steuernagel doesn’t plan to expand the menu or move to a larger location anytime soon, but he loves coming up with new products and believes that nothing makes Cheese & Crack’s customers happier than something new, fun, and exciting on the menu. Steuernagel’s personal favorite item on the menu is the frozen lemonade with soft serve.
Irinaga’s favorite item on the menu was the October 2024 special, The ‘Eye Scream’ Sundae, vanilla soft serve layered with ube pudding, chocolate cookie crumbs, and raspberry “blood” spilling from a gummy eyeball atop the sundae. “[In] October, we had [a] sundae with a gummy eyeball on it, and one of my [tasks] was to open the single wrapped eyeballs and put them in a deli container, honestly the most fun I’ve had at work,” he states.
Recently, Cheese & Crack has been extremely busy due to their newly released Dubai Chocolate Bar Sundae that dropped on Feb. 10. The Dubai Sundae, vanilla soft serve layered with housemade pistachio butter, sesame pudding, dark chocolate sauce, and crispy toasted kataifi, resembles the popular Dubai chocolate. Dubai chocolate was created in 2021, but gained popularity on social media in 2024 and is still a craze online. Since releasing the Dubai Sundae, Cheese & Crack has sold out for eight days in a row, a record-breaking spike in popularity, one that has been amazing for the business.
Cheese & Crack is only gaining popularity and has high hopes for the future, especially with summer right around the corner. Their creative sundaes along with extremely passionate staff make Cheese & Crack a great spot to go to with friends and family! Steuernagel summarizes, “At the end of the day I am so happy this is the work I get to do. … We get to be a bright spot in everyone’s day.”
