Shortage of Impossible Burgers

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—There is a national shortage of Impossible Foods’s popular meat-free patties, Bloomberg.com reports. Restaurant chains Red Robin and White Castle are reporting scarcities—or no patties at all—even as the plant-based food producer begins a nationwide partnership with Burger King.

Phone calls to one dozen Red Robins and the same number of White Castles last week found that only two locations of each chain had Impossible Foods Inc.’s plant-based meat patties on hand. Individual locations with the burger on their menu from New York to Hillsboro, Oregon, told customers that they’re fresh out.

White Castle said on Friday the patties would be back no later than June 17 and announced it’s changing the shape of its Impossible Sliders to square from round.

“As we geared up for the change, we had short-term shortages here and there, but not universally,” White Castle said in an email. Impossible Foods is a “great partner and we’re confident they’ll quickly power through the process of ramping up production to meet growing demand.”

The shortages underscore the pressure Impossible Foods is facing to manufacture meatless meat for the mass market and its race get a head start on wide distribution before rivals can catch up.

The shortages coincide with the announced arrival of the Impossible Whopper at Burger King, which was tested in St. Louis in April before expanding to cities, such as Miami and Columbus, Georgia. According to the partnership, Impossible Foods patties will be inside Burger Kings nationwide by the end of this year. The chain has 7,300-plus U.S. restaurants in the U.S.

According to Rachel Konrad, spokeswoman for Impossible Foods, the current gap between supply and demand “has nothing to do with Burger King.”

The supply challenge may be a sign of how eager companies are to expand market share as demand for meat alternatives soar. While overall meat consumption is rising globally, including in the U.S., there’s also been a rise in plant-based diets in wealthy nations. This has resulted in a wide array of meat substitutes, ranging from products that are meat-like but made from plant matter, to meat that’s grown in a lab instead of taken from slaughtered livestock. Lab-grown meat isn’t yet available to the public.

As major restaurant chains latch on to the plant-based meat craze, they are going to want assurances that once an item is placed on the menu, it can stay there, said Linda Ashbrook, director of innovation and customer solutions at Datassential.