Impossible Foods announced today that its plant-based Impossible Burger is now available at nearly 2,100 Walmart stores across the U.S.
Whomever is in charge of retail operations/relations at Impossible has definitely been burning the midnight oil. Today’s announcement comes just days after Impossible announced that it was available at Trader Joe’s stores. Impossible Burger is now available at 8,000 retail outlets nationwide.
Part of what makes this news notable is just how quickly Impossible has ramped up production. In April of this year, just four months ago, Impossible Burger was only available in 1,000 retail locations. This ability to scale is a far cry from the production shortages Impossible experienced in 2019.
Walmart is the largest food retailer in the U.S., with grocery sales of $288 billion and more than 26 percent share of all groceries sold, according to FoodIndustry.com. So it was only a matter of time before Impossible hit Walmart shelves.
This has been a summer of aggressive moves by Impossible. In addition to new retail partners, the company launched its own direct-to-consumer sales channel, partnered with Starbucks and Burger King for plant-based sausage sandwiches, and made its Impossible sausage available to restaurants across the country.
Beyond Meat, Impossible’s rival, has been no slouch this summer either. The company launched another test of its plant-based chicken at KFC earlier this month, created a bulk package SKU that brought down the price of its burger, and made international expansion moves into China.
Both companies are striking while the iron is hot, as it were. Sales of plant-based meat have surged during the pandemic, with the coronavirus highlighting ethical issues around the production of animal meat. A lot is uncertain in these times, but it’s a pretty safe bet that we will be hearing even more news from both Impossible and Beyond throughout the rest of the year.
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