Impossible Foods Joins Beyond On The Shelves Of Walmart, America’s No. 1 Meat Seller

Walmart
WMT
’s busy butchers just got some fresh competition.

Impossible Foods’ beef alternative launches in 2,000 Walmart locations today, a few days after it nabbed distribution at Trader Joe’s, putting the plant-based protein products on the shelves of America’s biggest meat seller.

It’s a crowning achievement in a year that has seen Impossible’s reach soar from 150 grocery locations at the start of the year to more than 8,000 locations across all 50 states, one of the few companies to benefit from the pandemic. The company remains far behind plant-based competitor Beyond Meat, which has been sold at Walmart since 2016 and can be found at 25,000 grocery locations in the U.S. 

“There’s no more important institution in retail food than Walmart,” CEO and founder Pat Brown says, citing how 90% of Impossible customers are meat-eaters. “It sells best when it’s placed in the fresh meat department. That makes perfect sense because our consumers are looking for meat.” 

Impossible’s sales have boomed since stay-at-home orders began in March, and particularly as meatpackers around the country struggled with major outbreaks of Covid-19. An estimated 38,000 workers have been infected and at least 171 have died during the pandemic, according to the Food and Environmental Reporting Network, leading to factory shutdowns.

Prices soared, supply chains buckled, shoppers panicked—and plant-based food manufacturers capitalized. While plant-based meat still accounts for less than 1% of total meat sales, refrigerated alternatives like Beyond and Impossible were up 241% during the peak of meat panic-buying this spring, as grocers curtailed meat purchases amid supply fears.

Now that meat prices are approaching pre-pandemic levels, Impossible is betting on scale to bring down its costs and make it more competitive with commodity beef. 

At Walmart, Impossible’s soy-based product will cost $7.94 per pound, at least to start (the retailer can change the price as it wants after launch). Beyond’s frozen beef alternative, meanwhile, which is non-GMO certified and made from pea protein, sells at Walmart for $5.48 per pound. Its fresh burger comes in at $4.84 per pound. 

After hitting record highs, industrial beef ground prices are currently at $3.39 per pound this week, while burger patties cost an average of $5.28 per pound.

Impossible expects to give monthly updates on how prices will continue to decrease, but declined to say whether the company was close to going public amid the expansion and raising $1.3 billion to date. Given Beyond Meat’s share price rising 175% since its IPO last year, there’s quite the appetite. 

“No offense to our investors,” Brown said, “I spend zero time thinking about that.”

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