Impossible Foods has dropped the prices of its plant-based meat substitutes such as burger patties sold in the United States by up to 20% as it moves ahead with its grand plan to make its faux meat foods as cheap as beef.
Based in California, the maker of the plant-based Impossible Burger launched in 2016 said the suggested retail prices would drop to $5.49 in U.S. grocery stores.
Specifically, Impossible Foods announced a 20% reduction on patties to $5.49 and to $6.99 for a 12-oz. package.
The nationwide price cut involves major grocery chains such as Walmart, Kroger, Target, Publix Super Markets, Safeway and Trader Joe's, among others. The company said similar price cuts are planned in Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Impossible Food products are still awaiting regulatory approval in China.
Impossible Pork (meatless ground pork or plant-based pork) will spearhead the company's push into China, which is calls its priority market in Asia. China is the world's top pork consumer.
To make its meatless pork taste and look like the real thing, Impossible Foods' scientists developed meatless meat with a more subtle taste and higher fat content than beef. Impossible Pork is also gluten-free and designed for kosher and halal certification.
The latest U.S. price cut is the third double-digit reduction in less than a year. Impossible Foods President Dennis Woodside said the price drops will become a "seasonal move."
"We want to eventually achieve price parity with ground-beef prices," said Woodside to MarketWatch. A beef patty costs from $2 to $3.
"If anything during the pandemic, consumers have shown an increasing hunger for our product because they can't go to restaurants and they're more health conscious," he said. "Today's price cut is merely our latest -- not our last."
The company's best-selling Impossible Burger is now available in 17,000 grocery stores nationwide compared to 150 a year ago.
Impossible Foods has seen its business grow over the past two years as consumers concerned about their health and animal welfare turn increasingly away from chicken, pork and beef to cultured or faux meats.
There was a surprising jump in demand for plant-based meat during the COVID-19 pandemic after beef and pork producers shut many meat plants after dozens of employees became infected with COVID-19.
The improvement in demand has also been reflected in Impossible Foods' stock price. Its shares surged 18% last week following news it had signed a deal to make snacks and beverages with PepsiCo.
