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The final frontier for the Impossible Burger
Three years after the Impossible Burger first appeared on consumers’ radar, Impossible Foods is taking its final step toward mainstream relevance: the grocery store aisle. Starting this Friday, the plant-based, faux-meat, “bleeding” burger will make its supermarket debut in 27 Gelson’s Markets stores in Southern California, before eventually rolling out to East Coast stores later this month. By mid-2020, Impossible Foods says, it plans to reach every region of the U.S.
Impossible Foods’ playbook of market penetration has shrewdly followed the lead of other cult-y food companies like Blue Bottle, Soylent, and alternative-meat rival Beyond Meat, as Eater’s Monica Burton wrote in June. First, appear on the menus of high-end, trendy restaurants like David Chang’s Nishi; then expand to smaller fast-food brands like Bareburger, before going big in national fast-food chains like White Castle and Burger King. Now, the last hurdle to widespread ubiquity and normalization — direct-to-consumer — is being cleared. Congrats, Impossible, you’re officially normie.
And in other news…
- Elsewhere in fake meat world, Tim Hortons is pulling Beyond Meat products from most locations in Canada due to a lack of demand. [CBC News]
- Burger King kids’ meals will no longer come with plastic toys in the U.K. (and, eventually, other markets). [CNN]
- In its Birmingham, Alabama, locations, Taco Bell is testing a new Nachos Party Pack, a.k.a. a big ol’ cardboard tray of nachos presumably meant to feed more than one person. [Thrillist]
- Michael Jordan joins the celebrity liquor club with Cincoro, a new tequila that’s also backed by the president and controlling owner of the LA Lakers, the co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, and the lead owners of the Boston Celtics. [Esquire]
- Nobody:
- Jacobin: The Great British Bake Off is a socialist dream. [Jacobin]
- Instagram users under the age of 18 will soon be blocked from seeing posts that promote dieting products, among other kinds of sponcon. [BuzzFeed News]
- Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda is in love with Shake Shack delivery:
Me racing a Shake Shack delivery to my house from work? It’s likelier than you think
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) September 18, 2019
• All AM Intel Coverage [E]