Plant-based meat producer Impossible Foods is teaming up with a number of celebrity chefs and their restaurants to kick off its expansion into Canada.
The company is already established in some Asian regions, but the latest foray closer to home will make Canada the company's second-largest market outside of the U.S.
"There's been a cry for us to eventually serve this market," David Lee, CFO of Impossible Foods, told Cheddar on Wednesday.
Impossible Foods claims the vast majority of its customers are meat-eaters, and it works hard to make its products accessible to them.
"Nine out of 10 of our customers are self-avowed carnivores, and that means where they go is where we need to be," Lee said. "You've seen us increase our retail grocery business from 150 locations at the start of the year to over 10,000 today, and launch our own direct-to-consumer business because that's what the meat-eater demands."
So far this year, Impossible Foods has secured deals with major grocery store chains like Walmart, Trader Joe's, and Publix.
While plant-based competitor Beyond Meat plans to open a production facility in Shanghai, Lee says he doesn't consider the company to be its main rival.
"We believe our competition is actually meat made from an animal," Lee said. "The market opportunity for this trillion-plus dollar meat industry is one where there are plenty of room for a rising tide of great brands."
While Impossible Foods doesn't currently have its own presence on mainland China, the company has entered Asian markets like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macau.
"We wanted to start in the places that are known for being gateways to the rest of Asia," Lee said.
"It's an important market and we will be there eventually."
Seth Schachner, Managing Director at StratAmericas, weighs in on Spotify earnings and why that headline-grabbing deal with Joe Rogan could be worth that $250 million.
Mitch Roschelle, Managing Director at Madison Ventures, shares why investors may be waiting longer than expected for those interest rate cuts, and why he’s watching tech, oil, and homebuilder stocks.
Amazon saw 24% growth in their Thursday Night Football audience in 2023. Subscribers will be rewarded with even more sports, but not without enduring more ads — unless they pay extra, of course.
Low unemployment + 350 thousand new jobs in January = ...more layoffs? A bunch of tech and retail companies have laid and are laying off employees after a nationwide hiring surge during the pandemic.
The most magical place on Earth wants a protective order to keep Gov. Ron DeSantis' appointees from knowing how the magic happens. A federal judge dismissed a separate Disney lawsuit last week.
Just days before the 49ers and Chiefs play in Las Vegas, Joe Pompliano, Investor at Pomp Investments and author of the Huddle Up Newsletter, discusses why he thinks this could be the most-watched Super Bowl in history.
Chris Versace of Tematica Research LLC shares his thoughts on Jerome Powell's latest comments, the timing of those crucial rate cuts, and what semiconductor stocks he's watching closely.
We battle an onslaught of advertising every time we scroll through social media. Deinfluencers propose a less pricey, more honest approach to how we shop online. Could they convince us to spend less?
