Impossible Foods Launches in European Grocery Giant Lidl’s U.S. Stores

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Starting this week, Impossible Foods’ flagship product is rolling out at Lidl’s 145 locations across the United States, as both companies continue major expansion efforts in recent years. Lidl will be the largest discount grocer to offer Impossible Foods’ products.

The award-winning Impossible Burger is being introduced into Lidl stores this week across Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. Customers can find Impossible Burger in the fresh meat section of the store in convenient, versatile 12-ounce packages or in a recyclable package of two pre-formed, quarter-pound (4-oz) patties. In line with Lidl’s commitment to affordable prices, the 12-ounce Impossible Burger will be available for $5.99, and the patty package will retail at a competitively low price of under $5. Impossible Burger is also available through Lidl home delivery via shoplidl.com.

Lidl is the world’s third largest grocery chain, known for its international presence with around 11,200 stores across 32 countries, predominantly in Europe. The company established its US Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia in 2015 and currently operates 145 stores along the East Coast.

The California-based startup Impossible Foods is also eyeing a major growth year. In 2020, the company expanded its grocery footprint by more than 100x, and in early 2021 lowered its suggested retail prices by 20% for grocery stores and supermarkets throughout the United States.

“We have achieved phenomenal growth in our domestic grocery store footprint in the past 12 months as we continue to meet the rapidly growing demand for our products,” said Impossible Foods’ President Dennis Woodside. “Through our relationship with Lidl we also hope to learn valuable insights about serving the European market, one that is hugely important to us and our long-term mission. We believe that delicious and sustainable plant-based meat will help Europe achieve its ambitious environmental targets by displacing demand for resource-intensive animal agriculture.”

“We are excited to launch Impossible Foods products in our stores starting this week, especially as we see the growing enthusiasm of our customers for plant-based products,” said Stefan Schwarz, Lidl US Executive Vice President of Purchasing. “Lidl’s best-in-industry pricing for Impossible Foods’ patties is also an example of our commitment to high quality products at unbelievably low prices.”

Already considered the world’s No. 1 environmental startup, Impossible Foods’ mission is to reverse global warming and halt the world’s catastrophic biodiversity collapse by building a sustainable food system that can scale to meet the demand of the growing global population. Impossible Foods does not yet sell its products in Europe, but is eager to offer its enormous sustainability benefits to a continent set on achieving some of the most ambitious climate goals in the world.

Grocery Growth

Impossible Foods had a blazing year of retail growth in 2020 by increasing its grocery store footprint by more than 100x. The company’s award-winning Impossible Burger is now available at around 22,000 grocery stores across the US.

Impossible Burger made its grocery store debut in September 2019, when it immediately rocketed to the No. 1 item sold on the East and West coasts at some of America’s favorite grocery stores, easily outselling all ground beef from cows at many grocery stores. At one grocery store in Southern California, Impossible Burger outsold all brands of ground beef from cows — and it outsold the next most popular single product by 6X.

Delicious, nutrient-rich, sustainable

Named top plant-based burger by the New York Times and a favorite by Cook’s Illustrated, Impossible Burger rivals ground beef from cows for taste, and it’s also packed with nutrients and versatile in all ground meat recipes, including stews, chili, sauces, braises, minces, meatballs, meat pies or any other beefy menu item. It’s easy to cook on an outdoor BBQ grill, flat top, Instant Pot, high speed oven, steamer or sauté pan.

Impossible Burger has as much protein and bioavailable iron as a comparable serving of ground beef from cows. A 4-ounce serving of Impossible Burger has 0 mg cholesterol, 14 g of total fat, 8 g of saturated fat and 240 calories. (A conventional 4-ounce “80/20” patty from cows has 80 mg cholesterol, 23 g of total fat, 9 g of saturated fat and 290 calories.)

Impossible Burger contains no animal hormones or antibiotics, and is kosher, halal and gluten-free certified. And because it’s made from plants and bioengineered, it uses 96% less land, 87% less water and 89% fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional beef from cows.

Home chefs can also log into Impossible Foods’ Impact Calculator to learn how much they have reduced their land, water and greenhouse gas emissions footprints by using Impossible Burger instead of ground beef from cows.

To find a retailer near you carrying Impossible Burger, visit www.impossiblefoods.com.

About Impossible Foods:

Based in California’s Silicon Valley, Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products from plants — with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. The privately held food tech startup was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at Stanford University and a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Investors include Mirae Asset Global Investments, Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek, Sailing Capital, and Open Philanthropy Project.

Impossible Foods was Magazine’s company of the year and one of Time Magazine’s 50 Genius companies. The flagship product, Impossible Burger, was named top plant-based burger by the New York Times and received the Food and Beverage Award from the National Restaurant Association.

About Lidl

Lidl operates around 11,200 stores and is active in 32 countries, employing more than 310,000 employees globally. Lidl offers customers the highest quality fresh produce, meat, bakery items and a wide array of household products at the lowest possible prices. Lidl first established its U.S. headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in June 2015, and today sells its award-winning products in more than 140 stores across nine east coast states. For more information, visit www.Lidl.com.

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