This week at CES Impossible Foods unveiled their “burger 2.0” amid lots of fanfare and mini-sliders.
They’re actually the second plant-based company this week to debut a new and improved version of their product. On January 2nd, Beyond Meat announced the release of their own “Beyond Burger 2.0″ (albeit with much less pomp). The new iteration still has pea protein (the primary ingredient of the original burger), and also adds mung bean and rice proteins into the mix. It’s apparently lower in saturated fat and has a better, more meat-like texture than the Burger 1.0.
As far as I can tell, this is the first big product revamp by Beyond since they launched their burger back in 2016. I haven’t tried it yet, but I have tried the Impossible burger 2.0 and have to say, it’s a high taste bar for Beyond to beat.
But in the end, it doesn’t really matter: plant-based meat companies’ biggest competition isn’t each other, it’s the industrial meat industry. “If other people are making great products… we love it,” Ethan Brown told The Spoon in an interview. “They’re not our competition — they’re on the same mission we’re on.”
The announcement came two days after Beyond Meat announced its partnership with fast food chain Carl’s Jr. In addition to Carl’s Jr., their new “burger 2.0” will also be available at all A&W locations in Canada (who have been serving Beyond burgers since July 2018).