Impossible Foods struggles to keep up with Impossible Burger demand

By Aaron Mamiit Published June 15, 2019

The Impossible Burger is nothing short of a breakthrough, but if maker Impossible Foods is not able to keep up with demand, the meat-like patties may soon be impossible to find.

Restaurant chains Red Robin and White Castle are suffering from shortages of Impossible Foods’ patties, amid a nationwide expansion with Burger King. According to Bloomberg, calls to a dozen each of Red Robin and White Castle locations discovered that only two of each had the Impossible Burger available.

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The unpredictable availability of Impossible Foods products at the restaurant chains, which each have hundreds of locations, are in addition to the shortages that mom-and-pop restaurants have suffered for weeks.

Impossible Foods is under pressure to manufacture enough supply of the Impossible Burger to catch up with demand, as rivals such as Beyond Meat are knocking on its doors.

The shortages coincide with the launch of the Impossible Whopper at Burger King, which started testing in St. Louis in April before expanding to cities that include Miami, Florida and Columbus, Georgia. The patties are expected to be available in all of the more than 7,300 Burger King locations in the United States by the end of the year.

Impossible Foods spokeswoman Rachel Konrad told Bloomberg that the Impossible Burger shortage of Red Robin and White Castle “has nothing to do with Burger King.”

Meanwhile, White Castle said that the beef-like meatless patties will be back in stock no later than June 17. The restaurant chain will be changing the shape of its Impossible Sliders to square from round, which it said resulted in short-term shortages.

Impossible Foods will be selling its products in retail outlets within the year, which should give fans of the Impossible Burger an option to cook them at home if restaurants keep experiencing supply shortages.

The Impossible Burger 2.0 was Digital Trends’ Overall Winner for CES 2019. The new-and-improved version of Impossible Foods’ original plant-based hamburger moves the product closer to the profile of a real hamburger, in terms of aroma, color, texture, and flavor.

The Impossible Burger is made from plants and plant-derived compounds that come together to shrink the flavor gap between real meat and fake meat, which makes it easier for everyone to make more environmentally conscious food choices.

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