REDWOOD CITY, Calif.– Impossible Burger debuted on store shelves earlier this month, immediately becoming the No. 1 product sold at some of America’s favorite grocery stores — and remaining the top performer ever since.
Impossible Burger is the award-winning, plant-based meat sold in more than 17,000 restaurants nationwide. The flagship product from Impossible Foods made its worldwide debut in grocery stores Sept. 20 at all outlets of Gelson’s Markets in Southern California.
Since its Sept. 20 debut, Impossible Burger has remained the No. 1 packaged item at Gelson’s 27-unit chain. Since its launch, Gelson’s has sold more Impossible Burger than all types of ground beef from cows, based on both revenue and total number of pounds sold.
“No one could have predicted this level of pent-up demand for Impossible Burger,” said John Bagan, Gelson’s Chief Merchandising Officer. “We had die-hard Impossible fans buying 10 packages at a time, and we saw a record number of new customers who have never shopped Gelson’s before. It’s the biggest product launch we’ve ever had.”
On Sept. 26, Impossible Burger became available in all 100 outlets of Wegmans in seven states and two Fairway locations in New York City. Impossible Burger immediately became the No. 1 single item sold in the meat department at Fairway’s two Manhattan locations.
In addition:
- During its first full weekend on store shelves in Southern California, Impossible Burger outsold by more than six times the No. 2 most popular standalone SKU.
- Impossible Burger buyers spent 72% more than the average shopper.
- More than one-third of all shopping carts with Impossible Burger contained at least two 12-oz packages; Gelson’s imposed a 10-pack limit for the $8.99 item.
- The most commonly cross-shopped items were: brioche buns, marinara sauce and cheddar cheese slices.
Accelerating growth
The retail launch comes as Impossible Foods accelerates production to meet scorching demand.
Last month, Impossible Foods announced a co-manufacturing collaboration with global food provider OSI Group, one of the largest food producers in the world. OSI has already begun to produce the Impossible Burger, adding short-term capacity to Impossible Foods’ plant in Oakland, Calif. OSI will continue to expand production of Impossible Foods’ flagship product throughout 2019 and thereafter.
In addition to its retail performance update, Impossible Foods also announced today that it hired tech industry sales leader Dan Greene as Senior Vice President of US Sales. Read more details in this news release.
Greene leads the Impossible Foods’ US sales team as it enters an unprecedented growth phase. Greene oversees both the foodservice division (which sells to restaurants, universities, theme parks, stadiums and other outlets) and the retail division, which will announce more grocery store partners throughout the next year.
Scorching demand
The Impossible Burger is served in all 50 states and in nearly every type of cuisine — from burgers, tacos and pizza to poke sushi burritos. The Impossible Burger is now America’s most popular late-night delivery snack, according to Grubhub’s “State of the Plate” report, with delivery sales surging 529% in the first half of 2019 — proof that the product satisfies the midnight cravings of carnivores on the prowl for chow.
The Impossible Slider at White Castle is considered one of America’s best fast-food burgers, and Impossible Burger mentions on Yelp are on fire; it’s the only plant-based meat on Yelp’s 2019 hot list. Political commentator and Texas cattle rancher Glenn Beck couldn’t tell the difference between the Impossible Burger and ground beef from cows in a side-by-side taste test, and the Washington Post called Impossible’s plant-based burger a “wake-up call to the meat industry.”
In April, the world’s second largest burger chain, Burger King, debuted the Impossible Whopper in a regional test in St. Louis. The regional test of the Impossible Whopper at Burger King restaurants in St. Louis went exceedingly well; in August, the Miami-based restaurant chain rolled out the Impossible Whopper to 7,200 U.S. restaurants nationwide.
Stay tuned for more news — including the next retail launches — by visiting impossiblefoods.com/media and on social media.
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 company 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 Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek, Sailing Capital, and Open Philanthropy Project.
