Impossible Foods Starts DTC Sales & Speeds Up Retail Growth

• Starting today, the leading food tech startup’s all-new e-commerce site allows people throughout the contiguous USA to buy Impossible™ Burger -- with compostable, recyclable packaging, free shipping and two-day home delivery 

• As America faces meat shortages for the first time since World War II, retail demand for the award-winning, plant-based Impossible Burger hits an all-time high

• Impossible Foods distributes its flagship product to more than 3,000 grocery stores and distributors nationwide, including Albertsons, Gelson’s, H-E-B, Kroger, Safeway, Wegmans and others; company plans to expand its retail footprint more than 50-fold this year alone

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Impossible Foods is launching an all-new e-commerce site today, allowing people in the lower 48 states to buy the award-winning, plant-based Impossible Burger and cook it at home.

The startup’s direct-to-consumer channel offers family-size quantities of the award-winning, plant-based Impossible Burger starting at $49.99 (plus tax). The orders come with compostable and recyclable packaging, free shipping and two-day home delivery. 

Impossible Foods has increased its retail footprint nearly 20-fold since the start of 2020, and its flagship product is now available in over 3,000 grocery stores nationwide, including Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Gelson’s, H-E-B, Kroger, Ralphs, Safeway, Smith’s, Wegmans and more. 

Grocery store demand for Impossible Burger broke records in March -- then again in April and May. Impossible Foods plans to expand its retail footprint more than 50-fold in 2020 alone.

“With America facing meat shortages for the first time since World War II, we want to make it as easy as possible to get Impossible Burger -- whether you shop in person at your local supermarket, with Instacart or other delivery services, or direct online,” said Impossible Foods’ President Dennis Woodside. “Shelter-in-place and social distancing restrictions due to COVID-19 altered our buying and eating habits -- and many of these changes are permanent. Our intention is to make Impossible Burger available everywhere people shop and eat, including directly from our online store.”

Bundles of Burgers — Oh Boy!

Impossible Burger made its grocery store debut in September 2019, when it immediately rocketed to the No. 1 item sold on the East and West coasts at some of America’s favorite grocery stores, easily outselling all ground beef from cows at many grocery stores. At one grocery store in Southern California, Impossible Burger outsold all brands of ground beef from cows -- and it outsold the next most popular single product by 6X.

As demand for online shopping surges and many grocery stores impose quotas on meat, home cooks can purchase Impossible Burger in larger quantities on the company’s website:

• “Impossible™ Convenience Pack” includes four 12-oz. packages for $49.99

• “Impossible™ Combo Pack” includes two 12-oz. packages and ten quarter-pound patties for $59.99

• “Impossible™ Family Pack” includes a single, 5-lb bulk package for $64.99

• “Impossible™ Grilling Pack” includes twenty quarter-pound patties for $69.99

Earlier this month, Impossible Foods published its first official cookbook, Impossible™: The Cookbook (Chronicle Books, $29.99). Within the first week of pre-orders, the cookbook became the No. 1 New Release in Amazon.com’s “Sustainable Living,” “Burger and Sandwich Recipes” and “Vegan Cooking” categories. The cookbook highlights the convenience and versatility of Impossible Burger -- and it shows how simply switching to plant-based meat can transform the global food system. 

Home chefs can also log into Impossible Foods’ Impact Calculator to learn exactly how much land, water and emissions they’ve saved by using Impossible Burger instead of ground beef from cows.

Delicious, Nutritious, Ubiquitous

Named top plant-based burger by the New York Times, Impossible Burger rivals ground beef from cows for taste, and it’s also nutritious and versatile in all ground meat recipes, including stews, chili, sauces, braises, minces, meatballs, meat pies or any other beefy menu item. It’s easy to cook on an outdoor BBQ grill, flat top, Instant Pot, high speed oven, steamer or sauté pan. 

Impossible Burger has as much protein and bioavailable iron as a comparable serving of ground beef from cows. A 4-ounce serving of Impossible Burger has 0 mg cholesterol, 14 grams of total fat, 8g of saturated fat and 240 calories. (A conventional 4-ounce “80/20” patty from cows has 80 mg cholesterol, 23 grams of total fat, 9g of saturated fat and 290 calories.)

Impossible Burger contains no animal hormones or antibiotics, and is kosher, halal and gluten-free certified. And because it’s made from plants and bioengineered, it uses 96% less land, 87% less water and 89% fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional beef from cows.

In addition to the Impossible Foods’ e-commerce site, Impossible Burger is available at more than 3,000 grocery stores nationwide. Starting this week, Impossible Burger is rolling out at over 600 Albertsons-owned stores throughout the state of Colorado, the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest, with an additional 274 Acme and Safeway stores along the Eastern seaboard adding the product to shelves later in June. The full list of retail outlets carrying Impossible Burger include:  

• Albertsons-owned stores across 27 states: Acme, Albertsons, Andronicos, Carrs, Jewel-Osco, Pak 'N Save Foods, Pavilions, Safeway and Vons 

• Kroger-owned stores in 28 states nationwide: Baker's, City Market, Copps, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Gerbes, King Soopers, Kroger, Marianos, Metro Market, Payless Super Market, Pick n Save, Quality Food Center, Ralphs and Smith's

• H-E-B and Central Market stores across the state of Texas

• All Wegmans stores along the Eastern seaboard

• All Gelson’s Markets in Southern California

• All Fairway Markets in the New York City region

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Impossible Foods has also launched collaborations with restaurants nationwide to sell Impossible Burger inventory directly to consumers. 

Last month, the e-commerce grocery startup Cheetah began selling Impossible Burger with “contactless” pickups throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and the third-generation butcher Pat LaFrieda began selling Impossible Burger through its eponymous website. In the Los Angeles area, Pink Dot started offering Impossible Burger third-pound patties directly to consumers through on-demand delivery with Postmates. 

Named Inc. Magazine’s company of the year and one of Time Magazine’s 50 Genius companies, Impossible Foods continues to supply thousands of restaurants -- from large chains to mainstreet diners. Impossible Burger is available at Burger King, White Castle, Red Robin, Cheesecake Factory, Hard Rock Cafe and thousands of independent restaurants. Please find the nearest location to you at www.impossiblefoods.com.

About Impossible Foods:

Based in California’s Silicon Valley, Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products from plants — with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. The privately held food tech startup was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at Stanford University and a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Investors include Mirae Asset Global Investments, Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek, Sailing Capital, and Open Philanthropy Project.

Impossible Foods was Inc. Magazine’s company of the year and one of Time Magazine’s 50 Genius companies. The flagship product, Impossible Burger, was named top plant-based burger by the New York Times and received the Food and Beverage (FABI) Award from the National Restaurant Association. 

Media kit:

www.impossiblefoods.com/media  

Media Contact: Rachel Soeharto (pr@impossiblefoods.com)