After month-over-month production records and new economies of scale, Impossible Foods is expanding its product lineup and dropping prices. The price cut applies to distributors and averages 15 percent on Impossible Foods’ current U.S. foodservice products.
The move comes amid increasing demand for the flagship Impossible Burger, now served at thousands of restaurants including Burger King, Red Robin, Qdoba, Cheesecake Factory and Hard Rock Cafe. Recently, Impossible Burger was named the official plant-based burger of Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and Disney Cruise Line.
The product expansion and price reduction reflect the company’s vision to compete against ground beef from cows in every way that matters to the consumer: taste, nutrition, sustainability, convenience and affordability.
“We launched Impossible Burger at America’s top restaurants, and we still enjoy a premium reputation among the world’s best chefs and gourmets,” said Impossible Foods CEO Dr. Patrick O. Brown. “But our stated goal since the founding of the company has always been to drive down prices through economies of scale, reach price parity and then undercut the price of conventional ground beef from cows. Today’s price cut is just the latest step toward our goal of eliminating animals in the food system.”
The award-winning, plant-based Impossible Burger rivals ground beef from cows for taste, the company says, yet unlike ground beef from cows, the Impossible Burger requires a tiny fraction of the world’s resources to produce. By contrast, raising animals for meat collapses biodiversity, accelerates climate change and provokes public health crises.
In addition to the price cut, Impossible Foods is expanding its product lineup, which now includes quarter-pound and third-pound Impossible Burger patties.
Impossible Burger quarter-pound (4 oz.) patties are now fully stocked at DOT Foods. Later this month, the company will introduce all-new third-pound (5.33 oz.) Impossible Burger patties—a thicker and juicier patty that will be available to order by restaurants nationwide.
The food tech startup will continue to make its 5-pound bulk package of Impossible Burger.
The plant-based Impossible Burger shrinks less during cooking than conventional “80/20” ground beef from cows, which loses approximately 25 percent of its weight when cooking. Lower shrinkage means more Impossible Burger ends up on the plate than a dish cooked with the same amount of conventional ground beef from cows.
“Our customers have been extremely eager for patties, which are convenient and popular—both in the back and front of house,” said Dan Greene, SVP of U.S. sales at Impossible Foods. “We are thrilled to expand our lineup of SKUs and give customers what they’ve been demanding.”
Impossible Burger has as much bioavailable iron and protein as a comparable serving of ground beef from cows. The quarter-pound patty has 0mg cholesterol, 14g of total fat, 8g of saturated fat and 240 calories; the third-pound patty has 0mg cholesterol, 19g of total fat, 11g of saturated fat and 320 calories.
Impossible Burger contains no animal hormones or antibiotics and is gluten-free certified. And because it’s made from plants, it uses 96 percent less land, 87 percent less water and 89 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional beef from cows—environmental benefits that also translate to economic efficiencies.
Demand for Impossible Burger in both restaurants and grocery stores continues to skyrocket, even as the food tech startup achieves new production records month after month at its manufacturing facility in Oakland, California. Production quadrupled throughout 2019, both in Oakland and at multiple plants owned by co-manufacturing partners. The company will announce additional manufacturing capacity later this year.
