Impossible Foods, a company that has been creating innovative plant-based substitutes for meat products. Launched in 2011, the founding objective of this California based faux meat manufacturer was to give people the taste and nutritional benefits of meat without the negative health and environmental impacts associated with livestock products.
Over the years they created a successful recipe for meatless patties branded as ‘Impossible Burgers’ which have been widely accepted across eateries as well as grocery chains. As of December 2018, over 5,000 restaurants across the nation served Impossible Burgers. Their plant-based sausages are recent addition to the restaurant menus.
Plant-based giant managed to scale through numerous fund-raising rounds collecting over USD 1.5 billion since 2011 with latest round amassing USD 200 million, valuing them at over USD 4 billion. A major chunk of these funds goes towards research and development of meat and dairy substitutes, developing new products, scaling up the manufacturing, increasing retail footprint and expanding sales in the international market.
Globally, the plant-based meat market is currently valued at USD 12.1 billion (~0.8% of the Global meat market which is valued at USD 1.4 trillion) and is projected to reach USD 27.9 billion by 2025.
Impossible Foods is slowly but surely winning over the meat eaters. Some key indicators are:
- According to the stats, 9 out of 10 consumers of their animal-free burgers eat meat
- Only 5% of the American population is vegan or vegetarian. However, 40% of the population is trying to eat plant based meats
Plant-based foods not only help regulate one’s health and nutrition but also benefit the numerous underlying environmental issues that we are facing. Even if the alternative meat industry manages to seize 5% of the global meat market in the next decade, Impossible Foods will witness a massive surge in their profits all while leaving a green footprint.
Impossible Foods may not completely replace the incumbent meat industry, never, but they certainly intend to disrupt their market share by offering products that are healthier and better in all consumer categories — taste, nutrition, convenience, affordable, all while being environmental friendly. It certainly helped put the company that no one wants to bet against on the map and watch out for. Their long-term success is imminent yet impending on how they manage to win over those fogyish meat eaters. Thus far, it’s worked, — 9 out of 10 of their customers are self-identified meat eaters. Perhaps, a blind tasting?
