Impossible Foods Debuts Plant-Based Chicken Nuggets at Major Groceries and Chef-Led Restaurants

Impossible Foods will lean into its celebrity-restaurant roots with the launch of its first faux chicken product at high-end eateries owned by David Chang, Marcus Samuelsson and Traci Des Jardins. The Silicon Valley-based brand, a major player in beef and pork substitutes, will also roll out its chicken-less chicken nuggets at mass-market regional chains like Fatburger, Gott’s Roadside and Dog Haus. And almost simultaneously, retail giants such as Walmart, Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons will begin stocking the product in their freezer sections. By year’s end, Impossible’s nuggets are expected to be available at more than 10,000 grocery stores across the country. The move follows the brand’s early playbook of seeding its plant-based protein with influential foodies before expanding to mainstream retail. But like much of the company’s growth during the past 18 months, the distribution timeline has accelerated significantly. Poultry wars Chicken-free poultry is one the latest battlegrounds in the hyper-competitive plant-based food space, which saw massive sales spikes during 2020’s coronavirus public health crisis. Into 2021, flexitarian consumers have continued to demand alternative dairy and protein products—everything from oat milk to faux sausage—citing health, environmental and animal welfare concerns. Executives at Impossible, which has made waves with its realistically “bleeding” burgers and its "We Are Meat" national ad campaign from Wieden + Kennedy, said they plan to eventually offer products across the food spectrum, including faux steaks, seafood and milk. Its nuggets mark the first foray into poultry, where a blind taste test conducted recently in Texas found that seven out of 10 meat-eating consumers preferred Impossible’s new product to conventional animal nuggets, according to the brand. “Poultry is the most consumed meat in the U.S., and Impossible Chicken Nuggets represent an incredible opportunity to transform the industry with a more delicious and sustainable version of a classic,” Dennis Woodside, president of Impossible, said in a statement. Chik'n evolution Beginning today, consumers will find Impossible’s nuggets at critically lauded restaurants like Sean Brock’s Joyland in East Nashville, Samuelsson’s Red Rooster in New York and Miami, Des Jardins’ family-friendly El Alto Jr. popup in the San Francisco area, Tal Ronnen’s Crossroads Kitchen in Los Angeles and Chang’s Fuku in New York. Some Impossible competitors like Greenleaf Foods’ Lightlife and Daring Foods have already moved past the finger-food nugget format into more sophisticated offerings like tenders and filets. Beyond Meat, a behemoth in the category, broke into the faux chicken space with this summer's debut of its tenders at 400 independent restaurants. That was a significantly smaller intro than the one Beyond mounted for its flagship burger, which tested and later joined the permanent menu at thousands of fast-food restaurants, among them Denny’s, Carl’s Jr. and Del Taco. Still, the company has said publicly that it’s committed to fake poultry, striking deals with the Panda Express chain for trials in New York and L.A., as well as with A&W in Canada. There’s no word yet on whether its existing relationships—notably, Yum Brands and McDonald’s—will offer its chicken products, though tests at a number of KFC locations in 2019 and 2020 proved to be solid hits with consumers. Good Catch Trolled Subway by Giving Away Fake-Seafood Sandwiches Outside Its Restaurants