While reports of COVID-19 outbreaks have shut down factories or disrupted supply chains for the traditional meat industry, plant-based meat company Impossible Foods has found itself expanding its reach -- this time through a new partnership with Starbucks.
The coffee chain announced this week it will be featuring the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich on its summer menu.
"Something like one-third of all the 18- to 29-year-olds in the country hit a Starbucks at least once a quarter," David Lee, Impossible Foods' chief financial officer, told Cheddar. "And so for us to be available in this way, to have nearly 20,000 locations serve our Impossible Sausage products, is a wonderful milestone for us."
Lee explained that Impossible's co-manufacturing partnerships, such as the one it shares with food supplier OSI Group, provides enough scalability to supply the market for its meat alternatives.
"It means that we can meet the large demand we expect from Starbucks, Burger King, many other partners, but also a really rapid rollout in grocery stores, which we began to speed up sometime around March or so this year," he said.
The CFO was also confident the company was addressing challenges from the coronavirus pandemic by selling Impossible Burgers that can be delivered straight to customers' homes. He reported that grocery sales of its products had grown 30 times over since March when most stay-at-home orders began, in addition to the orders made directly to Impossible.
"The theme has been scaling to meet unprecedented demand. As a result we feel relatively well-prepared to handle how this current pandemic has changed the way meat-eaters like to get their meat," he said. "We're seeing folks order it directly from us to be shipped to their home, which is why we created our direct-to-consumer business."
Still, Impossible Foods has had to weather the pandemic like many other businesses, including the meatpacking industry. According to Lee, however, the stark differences in the businesses give plant-based meat an advantage.
"Unlike many of those unfortunate meat plants, we bypass a lot of the problems they face," he noted. "We don't grow animals, slaughter them, transport them, process them, so we don't have the same challenging conditions the meat industry faces."
Lee also agreed with Impossible Foods founder and CEO Pat Brown, who predicted on Tuesday that the meat industry will be facing its own extinction in just 15 years.
"I believe in the meat-eater," Lee said. "We meat-eaters are pretty sophisticated. You give us a better product that hits the spot, that's better for our health, that's better for the world -- we vote with our stomachs."
"I think the consumer will determine the future and will determine it pretty quickly."
In March, Impossible raised $500 million in Series F funding but despite the aggressive scaling and partnerships Lee described, he said there are no current plans to join fellow plant-based meat company, Beyond, as a public company.
Jon Lowen, Co-Founder of Surfside, joined Wake Up With Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss Uber's partnership with cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke, as it's the first time a cannabis merchant has been listed on UberEats across all of its global markets.
Financial Expert Jessica Weaver joined Cheddar's Jill Wagner to discuss some money-saving tips for Americans as inflation and supply chain issues herald the most expensive Thanksgiving meal yet.
Jack Dorsey resigned from his post as CEO of the social media company on Monday and will be replaced by chief technology officer Parag Agrawal. Mitch Rubin, portfolio manager at RiverPark Long/Short Opportunity Fund, joined Cheddar to break down the move and what it means for investors in both Twitter and Square, the payment company that Dorsey also helms. "For the long-term, I think this is very positive news for both companies," he said. Rubin also talked about growing competition in the social media space and why Twitter continues to lag behind other major players.
Friday saw big sell offs, with the Dow Jones posting its worst day since October 2020, falling 905 points, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 each tumbling more than two percent as well. Much of that due to investor concerns over the new Covid-19 'Omicron' variant first detected in South Africa. Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda explains what investors should expect this week.
Earlier in the week, we saw President Biden nominate Jerome Powell to serve as Fed chair for another four-year term in the midst of the country’s struggles with covid, inflation, and supply unrest. Claudia Sahm, senior fellow at the Jain Family Institute and former Federal Reserve and White House economist explains why the markets saw a boost following the nomination.
Despite concerns over inflation, worker shortages, and global supply chain issues, retailers saw a surge in shoppers in October. Major retailers have also reported strong quarterly earnings ahead of the holiday shopping season as businesses have continued to bounce back from pandemic sale slumps. David Swartz, Consumer Equity Research analyst at Morningstar Research Services explains why consumers are still flocking to stores despite a rise in some prices.
Jack Dorsey is officially out as Twitter's CEO. Dorsey said in a statement that the platform is ready to move away from its founders and now will be led by current CTO Parag Agrawal.
Canada is looking to offset the rising cost of maple syrup by tapping its strategic reserve. Producers in Quebec, accounting for 73 percent of all the maple syrup in the world, will release half of its stockpile amounting to 50 million pounds worth.
Jared Kessler, CEO of real estate firm EasyKnock, joined Cheddar to talk about the housing market staying hot at a time it usually cools down. He attributed part of it to low interest rates and buyers wanting to secure homes before they begin rising again. "We're definitely, at some point, in for higher rates," he said. "Right now, that's a very tough question for the Federal Reserve."
