Walmart to Sell Impossible Burgers, a Milestone for Faux Meat

(Bloomberg) -- Walmart Inc. will sell Impossible Foods Inc.’s plant-based burger in over 2,000 stores across the U.S., the maker of meat substitute products announced Thursday.

The expansion into the world’s largest retailer, which begins today at more than a third of Walmart’s total U.S. locations, brings the availability of Impossible Foods products to over 8,000 brick-and-mortar stores across the U.S.

Impossible Foods has rapidly expanded its distribution in a short period of time as the company leaves behind last year’s supply hiccups and consumers increasingly warm to the idea of meat-like products made from plants. Impossible Foods is capitalizing as quarantined consumers cook more at home and eat less animal meat.

Walmart will stock the patties in its meat aisle, a move that’s been shown to bolster sales of plant-based meat by 23% compared to offering it in the refrigerated section.

Conversations with Walmart have been occurring for at least three years, Impossible Foods Chief Financial Officer David Lee said in an interview.

“It’s an important milestone, because we are ready now to serve the masses at scale,” Lee said.

Impossible competitor Beyond Meat Inc. has also reported accelerated growth in recent years, although Covid-19’s disruption of the restaurant industry has upended one of the companies’ fast-growing sales channels. Beyond Meat will report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 4.

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