Impossible Foods, the company known for it’s lab-enabled plant-based protein, and more specifically, it’s ‘Impossible Burger’ (the patty that ‘bleeds’) is now partnering with fast-food giant Burger King.
Burger King announced it will be introducing the ‘Impossible Whopper’, and has already introduced the menu item to over 50 stores in St. Louis, and is aiming to hit 7, 000 location across the States.
This is not the first time we’ve seen fast-food chains get into the plant-based game on a mass scale. A&W and Carl’s Jr have successfully been selling their plant-based burgers (made with ‘Beyond Meat’ — Impossible Foods’ competitor) for a few months; and White Castle started selling an ‘Impossible Slider’ at 400 locations last year.
“It’s something that can be a real milestone for us as a brand. It’s definitely a milestone for Impossible Foods,” Burger King’s global chief marketing officer Fernando Machado told Forbes.
Machado says that Burger King has tested veggie burgers in the past, but none of them caught on.
“They failed to capture a loyal consumer base and be scalable,” Machado says. “We ended up selling very few, and in quick-service, because it’s such a high-volume business, when you sell something not that much, holding times go up and the muscle memory is not there on how to prepare it.”