REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Impossible Foods launched a new sales channel with DOT Foods, America’s largest food redistributor.
The DOT partnership gives Impossible Foods a national sales network and allows more restaurateurs to order the award-winning Impossible Burger. Mt. Sterling, Ill.-based DOT has nine distribution centers serving all 50 states, with deliveries of the Impossible Burger starting January 2, 2018 nationwide.
Launched in 2016 in a handful of top restaurants in New York and California, the Impossible Burger is now available in nearly 400 restaurants from Hawaii to Maine. Demand heated up in December when Impossible Foods launched its #DemandImpossible campaign, with about 8,000 consumers asking local restaurants to start serving the plant-based burger.
“The Impossible Burger is that rare menu item that excites customers and generates lines around the block — a real differentiator in America’s highly competitive restaurant sector,” said Impossible Foods’ SVP of Sales, Stephanie Lind. “We want to make it as easy as possible for restaurants to get the Impossible Burger, and that means working with the most trusted, reputable distributors in the food industry.”
DOT’s comprehensive, nationwide network will make it easier for restaurants — from high-volume establishments and regional chains to mom-and-pop diners — to order and serve the Impossible Burger in response to local demand.
Impossible Burger: boosting restaurant revenue from coast to coast
The Impossible Burger is the only plant-based burger featured in all of America’s most beloved “better burger” concepts Bareburger, Umami Burger, Hopdoddy, The Counter, Fatburger, Gott’s and B Spot, owned by Chef Michael Symon. In many restaurants and chains, the Impossible Burger is outselling conventional burgers from cows.
According to restaurant data, adding the Impossible Burger to the menu has increased guest headcount by up to 13% compared to restaurants in the same chain that do not have the burger. In addition, adding the Impossible Burger to a restaurant’s menu has increased gross sales by up to 30% year-over-year compared to restaurants in the same chain that do not have the burger. The Impossible Burger has increased repeat customer visits by up to 30%.
Click here for a full list of restaurants serving the Impossible Burger. To order the Impossible Burger, contact your local distributor. Other questions can be emailed to Hello@impossiblefoods.com.
Big taste, small footprint
In development since 2011, the Impossible Burger looks, cooks and tastes like ground beef from cows — but is made entirely from plants. The Impossible Burger, which debuted in July 2016 at Chef David Chang’s Momofuku Nishi in Manhattan, won a 2017 Tasty Award for best food startup.
The Impossible Burger is produced without hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol or artificial flavors. It uses about 75% less water, generates about 87% fewer greenhouse gases, and requires around 95% less land than conventional ground beef from cows.
The Impossible Burger is made from simple ingredients found in nature, including water, wheat protein, coconut oil and potato protein. One special ingredient — heme — greatly contributes to the characteristic taste of meat and catalyzes flavors when cooked. Impossible Foods discovered how to get heme from plants, transforming the Impossible Burger into a carnivore’s delight that’s light on the planet.
Impossible Foods launched production in September at its first large-scale manufacturing plant, in Oakland, Calif. As the Oakland plant ramps up over the next several quarters, Impossible Foods expects to expand distribution to even more restaurants. To learn more about Impossible Foods’ plant in Oakland, watch this video.
After the Oakland plant is fully ramped up, Impossible Foods plans to launch retail sales. The company is also developing additional plant-based meat and dairy products.
About Impossible Foods:
Based in Redwood City, Calif., Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products directly from plants — with a much smaller environmental footprint than foods from animals. The privately held company was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., formerly a biochemistry professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek and Open Philanthropy Project.
Source: Impossible Foods
