(NEWS RELEASE)
IMPOSSIBLETM BURGER MAKES MIDWEST DEBUT AT CHEF MICHAEL SYMON’S B SPOT RESTAURANTS
• Famous plant-based burger from Impossible Foods will go on menus at B Spot restaurants in Michigan today, then Ohio and Indiana next week
• Known for his “meat-centric” cuisine, Symon will demonstrate how to cook the Impossible Burger today at noon ET on Facebook Live
• Impossible Foods hosting a “Burgers, Beer and Bowling” party tonight in Detroit with free samples
DETROIT (September 15, 2017) — The Impossible Burger will debut today at B Spot, the award-winning Midwest burger chain from Chef Michael Symon.
The famous plant-based burger from Impossible Foods will be available starting at lunch Friday at the B Spot in Royal Oak, Mich. — the first time the Impossible Burger has been available in the Midwest. Next week it will become available at all other B Spot outlets in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
B Spot focuses on high-quality comfort food — burgers, brats and beer in particular — in a casual setting. The restaurant group, which has eight outlets, was named a “Top 10 burger joint” by Bon Appetit magazine and won a People’s Choice Award at the SoBe Wine & Food Festival.
Symon, a Cleveland native who describes his cuisine as “meat centric,” has won accolades from Food & Wine magazine, The James Beard Foundation Award and the Detroit Free Press, among others.
“We make hearty, soul-satisfying Midwestern comfort food for the 21st century — and the Impossible Burger is a perfect addition to B Spot’s menu,” said Symon, also co-host of ABC’s The Chew, an Iron Chef on Food Network’s Iron Chef America, and regular guest on The Best Thing I Ever Ate. He's also the author of numerous cookbooks including "Carnivore" and "Live to Cook."
B Spot will serve the Impossible Burger “Thin Lizzy” style, with griddled onions, mayo, dill pickles, and cheddar cheese, for $9.99. Customers can also add the Impossible Burger to any “build your own” sandwich or salad.
LIVE DEMO, LIVELY BOWLING
Symon will demonstrate how to cook the famous plant-based burger in a cooking show later today at B Spot in Royal Oak, Mich., along with another award-winning chef, Traci Des Jardins. The public can follow the cooking show in real time on Impossible Foods' Facebook page starting at 12 p.m. Eastern Time.
Later today, Impossible Foods will provide free samples of the Impossible Burger to the public on a first come, first served basis from 5 p.m to 7 p.m. at The Garden Bowl at The Majestic in Detroit’s Midtown district.
The Impossible Burger is served at more than 50 restaurants throughout the United States, including multi- unit restaurant groups Bareburger, Umami Burger and Hopdoddy. The burger is also sold at award-winning establishments in New York, California, Texas and Nevada. Click here (impossiblefoods.com/findus/) for the full list of restaurants.
BIG TASTE, SMALL FOOTPRINT In development since 2011, the Impossible Burger is the world's only burger that looks, handles, smells, cooks and tastes like ground beef from cows — but is made entirely from plants, with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals.
The Impossible Burger is made from simple ingredients found in nature, including water, wheat, coconut oil and potatoes. One special ingredient — heme — contributes to the characteristic taste of meat and catalyzes meat’s unique flavors when cooked. Impossible Foods discovered how to get heme from plants, transforming the Impossible Burger into a carnivore’s delight — but light on the planet.
The Impossible Burger is produced without hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol or artificial flavors. It uses about 75% less water, generates about 87% fewer greenhouse gases and requires around 95% less land than conventional ground beef from cows.
Impossible Foods launched production last week at its first large-scale manufacturing plant in Oakland, Calif. As the Oakland plant ramps up, more and more restaurants will begin serving Impossible Burgers. The company is also developing additional plant-based meat and dairy products.
To learn more about Impossible Foods’ plant in Oakland, watch this video (https:// impossiblefoods.app.box.com/v/presskit/file/220599143994) and stay tuned for more restaurant debuts.
ABOUT B SPOT BURGERS Michael Symon's B Spot offers a menu consisting of all of his favorite B-words: burgers, bologna, brats and beer. With several locations throughout Ohio and Michigan, Symon brings comfort cuisine to Midwest diners to enjoy in his industrial-inspired dining rooms, each complete with a signature "B" mural, made with recycled beer cans. His award-winning burger menu (four-time SOBEWFF Burger Bash champ!) includes favorites such as the Fat Doug with coleslaw, pastrami, stadium mustard & swiss cheese; the Porky with pulled pork, coleslaw and Cleveland BBQ sauce; and the Yo! with fried salami, capicola, hot peppers, shasha sauce & provolone cheese. Bologna, brats, big salads and badass shakes round out the menu of locally inspired cuisine, and to wash it down, a list of over 30 craft beers and a wide selection of bourbon.
ABOUT IMPOSSIBLE FOODS Based in Redwood City, California, Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products directly from plants — with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. The privately held company was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., formerly a biochemistry professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek and Open Philanthropy Project.
More information on Impossible Foods: impossiblefoods.com www.twitter.com/impossiblefoods www.facebook.com/impossiblefoods
Press kit: https://impossiblefoods.app.box.com/v/presskit
Video news release of Oakland plant: https://vimeo.com/231970630 Password: impossible
New media b-roll of Oakland plant: https://vimeo.com/231781847 Password: impossible
Media Contact: Impossible Foods: Jessica Appelgren, [email protected]