The chief financial officer of Impossible Foods told Bloomberg that the company’s veggie burger – “it looks like a burger and even bleeds like a burger,” says the news agency – is being offered to food service companies. The food service sector, which includes school and corporate cafeterias, accounts for half of U.S. consumption of ground beef.
Impossible Foods “is ramping up production of its blend of wheat and potato protein which is used along with other ingredients to create the burger,” says Bloomberg. “A molecule called heme is also added,” to create blood-like juices. The new plant in Oakland has a capacity of 1.4 million pounds a month. The USDA estimates U.S. beef consumption of 26.8 billion pounds this year, or 57.6 pounds per capita.
David Lee, CFO of Impossible Foods, said restaurant sales of the veggie burger are burgeoning.