Impossible Foods accelerates retail expansion with The Kroger Co.

USA – Plant-based meat unicorn, Impossible Foods has partnered with America’s largest grocery retailer, The Kroger Co., to rollout its flagship product at more than 1,700 grocery stores owned by Kroger nationwide.

In addition to grocery shelves at Kroger-affiliated brick-and-mortar stores, Impossible Burger will also be available for online ordering through Kroger.com for Kroger Curbside Pickup and Delivery.

The rollout of Impossible Burger at Kroger represents a 18-fold increase in Impossible Foods’ retail footprint so far in 2020.

The company’s plant-based meat is now on shelves in about 2,700 U.S. grocery stores and through select online ordering systems, including: Kroger-owned stores, Albertsons stores, Jewel-Osco stores, Gelson’s Markets and Fairway Markets.

Impossible Burger made its retail debut in September 2019, when it immediately rocketed to the Number one item sold on the East and West coasts, easily outselling all ground beef from cows at many grocery stores.

At one grocery store in Southern California, Impossible Burger outsold the next most popular single product by more than six-fold.

Impossible Foods expects to expand its retail footprint more than 50-fold in 2020 as demand for Impossible Burger skyrockets among home chefs.

“The launch of Impossible Burger at Kroger grocery stores nationwide signals our intention to make Impossible Burger available everywhere America shops — at brick-and-mortar retailers and their increasingly popular online ordering and delivery services,” said Impossible Foods’ President Dennis Woodside.

“Our existing retail partners have achieved record sales of Impossible Burger in recent weeks.

“We expect our retail footprint to expand more than 50-fold in 2020, and we are moving as quickly as possible to expand with additional outlets and in more retail channels.”

Joe Grieshaber, Kroger’s senior vice president of merchandising added: “Kroger’s new partnership with Impossible Foods is one more way we are providing our customers with convenient access to popular fresh plant-based meats.

“Plant-based food remains one of the fastest-growing categories at Kroger. We’re excited to continue growing our selection, especially as more customers than ever are purchasing meat products made from plants.”

Impossible Burger comes in 12-ounce packages and can be found fresh or frozen in the meat aisle, in the vegetarian section, or in special promotional displays; grocery store placement varies by location.

According to the company, the plant-based burger has as much protein and iron as a comparable serving of ground beef from cows, contains no animal hormones or antibiotics, and is kosher, halal, and is gluten-free certified.

A 4-ounce serving of Impossible Burger has 0 mg cholesterol, 14 grams of total fat, 8g of saturated fat and 240 calories.

In addition to more than 2,700 grocery stores nationwide, Impossible Foods continues to supply thousands of restaurants including Burger King, Qdoba, White Castle, Red Robin, Cheesecake Factory and Hard Rock Cafe restaurants.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Impossible Foods has launched collaborations with restaurants nationwide to sell Impossible Burger inventory directly to consumers.

Last month, the e-commerce grocery start-up Cheetah began selling Impossible Burger with “contactless” pickups throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Impossible Foods recently raised US$500 million in a Series F funding round which the company intends to invest in fundamental research and innovation; accelerate its manufacturing scaleup; expand its retail presence and its availability in key international markets.