Impossible Food’s deal with Burger King
Some of you may recall that I was extremely impressed with Beyond Meat’s vegan burger last year – and you may have seen my reaction to it on the video on my YouTube channel – but it turns out that rival Impossible Foods has just signed a distribution deal with Burger King and has applied for fresh funding to finance an increase in its production capacity.
Impossible launched its “Impossible Burger 2.0” at the CES in Las Vegas at the beginning of this year and said that consumer demand since then has been stronger than initial expectations.
This is huge news for the company as it will double its distribution footprint and reflects the increasing popularity of plant-based meat alternatives.
According to recent figures, US retail sales of such foods shot up by 17% in the year to August last year.
Impossible’s rival Beyond Meat is currently preparing for an IPO to finance further international expansion.
Amazon to cut prices at Whole Foods
The second thing I wanted to talk about today was Amazon’s decision to lower prices on over 500 products at Whole Foods from tomorrow.
They will be the most wide-ranging price cuts since Amazon bought the grocery retailer for almost $14bn in 2017 and represent an attempt to alter its reputation as an expensive place to shop.
Although the price cuts will narrow the gap between Whole Foods and the likes of Kroger and Walmart, I think it will take quite some time for the perception to shift.