As Plant-Based Protein Sales Soar In Fast Food, Suppliers Struggle To Fill Orders

Imitation meats made by Beyond Meats and Impossible Foods are revolutionizing the quick service restaurant industry. While many restaurants have offered vegetarian options for decades, this new generation of plant-based proteins smells, tastes, and even bleeds like real meat. Burger King is the newest fast-food giant to introduce the Impossible Whopper, which they launched in efforts to appeal to both long-time vegetarians and a younger, more eco-conscious audience.

After launching at select locations, Burger King experienced a 17% increase in visits from the previous month. However, while the meat alternatives require only a fraction of the resources of real meats, the production process is comparatively expensive and time-consuming.

Impossible Foods and Beyond Meats are making staffing and production increases to combat shortages, but have no projected date for when demand will be filled. “It will take us some time to get back into that synchronization of supply and demand,” Chief Financial Officer of Impossible Foods David Lee recently told The Wall Street Journal. Beyond Meat claims that greater scale would lower the cost of their product, closing the gap between real and plant-based meat products.