Impossible Foods Expands Retail Launch to East Coast

Tomorrow, Impossible Foods will make its East Coast retail debut at all 100 locations of grocery store Wegmans across New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, along with select Manhattan, NY locations of supermarket chain Fairway Markets. Last week, Impossible Foods made its retail debut at Southern California grocery chain Gelson’s where its plant-based meat set record sales, surpassing the sales of ground beef derived from cows at participating stores, to reach the number one packaged good sold from last Friday to Sunday at all 27 Gelson’s locations. “Three years ago we introduced plant-based meat to the world in Manhattan at Momofuku Nishi, where Chef David Chang said the Impossible Burger blew him away,” Impossible Foods’ CEO and founder Patrick O. Brown, MD said. “Now all home chefs in the Northeast can experience their own ‘David Chang moment’ in their own kitchens—and accelerate the inevitable consumer movement toward plant-based food.”  

Both Fairway and Wegmans will offer the Impossible Burger in a 12-ounce package for $8.99 and sell it in both the meat and plant-based aisles. “Fairway Market started as the city’s premier produce market in 1933, with the freshest fruits, vegetables, and other plants—so being the first East Coast retailer to sell the world’s hottest plant-based food harks back to our roots,” Fairway CEO Abel Porter said. “We can’t wait for New Yorkers to experience the Impossible Burger—whether in our in-store gourmet kitchen or in their own homes.” This weekend, Wegmans will also provide shoppers with free samples of Impossible Burger to promote the launch. “Wegmans has offered the Impossible Burger in its Burger Bars and Pubs, in select stores, since the spring of 2019, and our customers absolutely love it,” Wegmans category merchant Ann Johnston said. “There’s a growing demand for plant-based options, so the fact that customers will now be able to prepare Impossible Burger at home is a big deal.” 

Impossible Foods is currently accelerating production at both its Oakland, CA facility and at a co-producing plant with OSI Group (a longtime meat supplier for McDonald’s) to facilitate a larger nationwide retail rollout to industry-leading grocery stores in key regions throughout 2019 and into early 2020.