We've got no beef with pork... Impossible Foods, the privately-held alt-meat startup and Beyond Meat rival, just launched a new plant-based meat: Impossible Pork. At the risk of not saying pork enough times, Impossible's not porking around here:
- Resources: Impossible is doubling its Research & Development team so it can whip up more plant-based [insert animal here] that tastes like the real thing.
- Results: Impossible unveiled its new pork and sausage products at the Consumer Electronics Show yesterday (Impossible Sausage hits Burger King on Jan. 13).
- The trade off: Since it's focusing on new products over its existing faux beef ones, Impossible officially stopped competing for a huge/exclusive McDonald's plant-based burger partnership.
"The most significant science project and business endeavor in the world"... That's according to Impossible's CEO, whose environmental concerns back his boasting. Pork is Earth's #1 consumed meat, and Impossible thinks beef is so 2019. Plant-based meatopians love to remind us: pea/soy burgers require 99% less water, 93% less land, and create 90% less greehouse gas than their real beef brethren.
Impossible chose research over production... Resources are limited, and companies need to choose where to invest their time/cash. Impossible chose to focus on a new product (pork) rather than more of its existing product (beef). Now, rival Beyond Meat may snag that lucrative plant-based spot in McDonald's burger buns. That's why Beyond shares jumped 12% even though Impossible revealed a new product and partnership.