DEMAND SURGES FOR IMPOSSIBLE FOODS’ FIRST ALL-NEW PRODUCT SINCE THE BLOCKBUSTER IMPOSSIBLE BURGER

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Impossible Foods is experiencing unprecedented demand for Impossible™ Sausage Made From Plants, the company’s first all-new product since the 2016 debut of Impossible Burger.

The leading food tech startup launched Impossible(opens in a new tab)™(opens in a new tab) Sausage in January(opens in a new tab). Within six months, the savory patties have become available at more than 20,000 locations throughout the United States. For the full list of locations, please check our locator map.

Impossible Sausage debuts today at 30 of America’s top diners according to Yelp -- proof that Impossible Foods’ plant-based meat satisfies the most discerning comfort-food aficionados and brunchers. And starting today, all restaurants nationwide can order Impossible Sausage.

“We launched Impossible Burger in 2016 at America’s best restaurants, when consumers were just starting to get a taste for Impossible products and few realized that plant-based meat could outperform animal analogues in taste, nutrition and convenience,” said Impossible Foods’ Founder and CEO Dr. Patrick O. Brown. “By the end of 2016, we had expanded to a grand total of four restaurants. By contrast, Impossible Sausage went from zero to 20,000 restaurants in the first half of 2020 alone -- a clear bellwether for growth and a warning to incumbent meat producers.”

BEST OF THE WURST

Impossible Sausage is a pre-seasoned, pre-cooked savory patty from Impossible Foods, Inc. Magazine’s company of the year(opens in a new tab) and one of Time Magazine’s 50 Genius companies(opens in a new tab). Winner of the 2020 Food and Beverage Award(opens in a new tab), Impossible Sausage is a versatile item for drive-through, pickup or dine-in service. It outperforms conventional sausage from pigs for nutrition and sustainability.

Compared to the leading brand of pork sausage, Impossible Sausage has the same amount of protein, 60% more iron, 45% fewer calories, 60% less total fat, 50% less saturated fat and 0 mg cholesterol. Impossible Sausage has none of the negative effects of the animal analogue, and it has no antibiotics  or slaughterhouse contaminants.

The convenient, 1.6-ounce patties are pre-seasoned with traditional breakfast seasoning and arrive fully cooked in 10-pound boxes (100 patties). The juicy, savory plant-based patties that pair perfectly with traditional breakfast accompaniments and steal the show as a center-of-the-plate delicacy. To buy Impossible Sausage for your restaurant, email [email protected].

TRUST YOUR LOCAL DINER

Starting today, Impossible Foods is expanding sales of its award-winning sausage widely to all restaurants nationwide. America’s largest food distributors and redistributors, including DOT, Sysco, US Foods and others, now carry Impossible Sausage at warehouses throughout the United States.

Also today, some of America’s top-ranked diners, according to Yelp, will begin serving Impossible Sausage. Impossible Foods teamed up with Yelp to curate a list of the top diners across the country* -- and these beloved institutions are the first independently owned restaurants to feature Impossible Sausage. The full list of diners offering Impossible Sausage is available here(opens in a new tab) (and listed below). Participating diners were also offered one-month free access to tools that help them promote their new Impossible Sausage dishes, including Yelp Connect(opens in a new tab) and Business Highlights(opens in a new tab); as well as Yelp Waitlist(opens in a new tab) to help the restaurants safely reopen their dining rooms and manage capacity. 

“Plant-based meat has experienced a significant rise in consumer interest on Yelp as we’ve seen a 140% increase in review mentions of ‘plant based’ over the past two years,” said Yelp trend expert Tara Lewis. “In fact, Impossible Burger was one of Yelp’s biggest food trends(opens in a new tab) in 2019, and we don’t see that slowing down anytime soon. Consumers are looking to make socially conscious decisions when it comes to dining out and, with our curated list of top diners, they’ll know just the place. We’re thrilled to highlight some of these incredible local spots.”

FOR THE LOVE OF PIGS

Raising animals for food makes up the vast majority of the land footprint of humanity. All the buildings, roads and paved surfaces in the world occupy less than 2% of Earth’s land surface(opens in a new tab), while more than 45% of the land surface of Earth(opens in a new tab) is currently in use as land for grazing or growing feed crops for livestock.

Populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have, on average, declined in size by 60 percent in just over 40 years(opens in a new tab). Animal agriculture is a primary driver of the accelerating collapse(opens in a new tab) in diverse wildlife populations and ecosystems on land and in oceans, rivers and lakes.

While cows and chicken are America’s favorite protein sources, pigs are the most widely eaten animal in the world, accounting for about 38% of meat production worldwide(opens in a new tab).

According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the world is home to about 1.44 billion pigs(opens in a new tab); with an average weight of about 112 kg(opens in a new tab), total farmed pig biomass totals 175 billion kg. That’s nearly twice as much as the total biomass of all wild terrestrial vertebrates.

THE HIGH COST OF PORK SAUSAGE

Using pigs as a protein production technology comes with a high environmental cost -- on both a global(opens in a new tab) and local scale(opens in a new tab): Industrial pork production releases excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus into the environment, and the high doses of copper and zinc fed to pigs to promote growth accumulate in the soil. Feces and waste often spread to surrounding neighborhoods, polluting air and water with toxic waste particles.

In addition to the environmental toll, human’s reliance on animals for food has been a public health disaster(opens in a new tab) for at least a century. Consuming animals has been the root cause of a disproportionate number of viruses and pandemics -- including the 1918 “Spanish flu” (from swine viruses), HIV/AIDS, SARS and the majority of human cases of influenza A (from live or dead infected poultry) -- and, most recently, COVID-19.

Eating animals imparts risk of zoonotic outbreaks, by bringing wild animals in close proximity to humans (via markets or via deforestation) and by creating ‘reservoirs’ for pathogens in the form of domesticated livestock.

The mission of Impossible Foods(opens in a new tab) is to eliminate the need for animals in the food system. Transitioning away from eating animal products is one of the best ways to reduce the likelihood of future animal to human pandemics.

30 of America’s Top Diners According to Yelp:*

Little Richard's Family Diner(opens in a new tab) — North Pole, Alaska

Little Anthony’s Diner(opens in a new tab) — Tucson, Arizona

Beach Break Cafe(opens in a new tab) — Oceanside, California

Broadway Diner(opens in a new tab) — Middletown, Delaware

Boynton Diner(opens in a new tab) — Boynton Beach, Florida

Daily Eats(opens in a new tab) — Tampa, Florida

Little Duck Diner(opens in a new tab) — Savannah, Georgia

Oxbow Diner(opens in a new tab) — Bliss, Idaho

Gallery Pastry Shop(opens in a new tab) — Indianapolis, Indiana

Drake Diner(opens in a new tab) — Des Moines, Iowa

D. Nalley's(opens in a new tab) — Louisville, Kentucky

Miss Portland Diner(opens in a new tab) — Portland, Maine

The Diner at 11 North Beacon(opens in a new tab) — Watertown, Massachusetts

Al’s Breakfast(opens in a new tab) — Minneapolis, Minnesota

Brent’s Drugs(opens in a new tab) — Jackson, Mississippi

Union Diner(opens in a new tab) — Laconia, New Hampshire

Marlboro Diner(opens in a new tab) — Englishtown, New Jersey

Plaza Cafe Downtown(opens in a new tab) — Santa Fe, New Mexico

Plaza Cafe Southside(opens in a new tab) — Santa Fe, New Mexico

Champs Diner(opens in a new tab) — Brooklyn, New York

The Dive N(opens in a new tab) — Pineville, North Carolina

Canal Street Diner(opens in a new tab) — Bolivar, Ohio

Cafe Lift(opens in a new tab) — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Early Bird Diner(opens in a new tab) — Charleston, South Carolina

Inskip Grill(opens in a new tab) — Knoxville, Tennessee

Maple Leaf Diner(opens in a new tab) — Dallas, Texas

Ruth’s Diner(opens in a new tab) — Salt Lake City, Utah

Bob’s Diner(opens in a new tab) — Manchester Center, Vermont

Anchor Allie’s(opens in a new tab) — Virginia Beach, Virginia Fare Well(opens in a new tab) — Washington D.C.

*This is an all-time list of 30 of the top diners across the U.S. according to Yelp. The company identified independently owned businesses in the diners category, then ranked those spots using a number of factors including the total volume and ratings of reviews. When available, all businesses on this list have a passing health score, and were confirmed open and operating with either dine-in, delivery or takeout as of June 1, 2020. Each diner has a claimed Yelp page and agreed to participate in the campaign.

ABOUT IMPOSSIBLE FOODS:

Based in California’s Silicon Valley, Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products from plants — with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. The privately held food tech startup was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at Stanford University and a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Investors include Mirae Asset Global Investments, Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek, Sailing Capital, and Open Philanthropy Project.

Impossible Foods was Inc. Magazine’s company of the year(opens in a new tab) and one of Time Magazine’s 50 Genius companies(opens in a new tab). The flagship product, Impossible Burger, was named top plant-based burger by the New York Times(opens in a new tab) and received the Food and Beverage (FABI) Award(opens in a new tab) from the National Restaurant Association.  

Media kit: www.impossiblefoods.com/media(opens in a new tab)

About Yelp Inc.

Yelp Inc. (www.yelp.com(opens in a new tab)) connects people with great local businesses. With unmatched local business information, photos and review content, Yelp provides a one-stop local platform for consumers to discover, connect and transact with local businesses of all sizes by making it easy to request a quote, join a waitlist, and make a reservation, appointment or purchase. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in July 2004. Since then, Yelp has taken root in major metros in more than 30 countries.

Media Contact: Jessica Appelgren ([email protected](opens in a new tab))