Plant-based meat co. Impossible Foods counters Bloomberg report with ad in NYT

Plant-based food company Impossible Foods has hit back after Bloomberg Businessweek published a story that called vegan meat substitutes ‘just another fad’. The article claimed how, instead of upending the world’s $1 trillion meat industry, ‘fake meat’ has turned out to be a flop.

This prompted a rebuttal from Impossible Foods, a key player in the American plant-based meat industry, that took to 'The New York Times' to share its response. In a full page ad, Impossible Foods has taken a nonchalant stance over the discussion, while making its position clear.

The ad features a screenshot of a Reddit thread, where netizens have called the story ‘an opinionated paid article’.

Some netizens also took to Twitter to share their views on the Bloomberg story. People expressed their displeasure with the article in response to a tweet by Deena Shanker, the original author of the piece.

“Doubtful that it’s a fad, it’s just stalling out. Solutions for replacing animal consumption will continue to improve over time…,” said one user in response to the tweet. 

“This is not a good take. Fake meat is not doing well because it has to compete with meat that does not factor in the costs of negative externalities into its production costs,” another user tweeted.

Towards the bottom of the ad, the brand has also placed a link to its website, where its actual response to the Bloomberg story is published.

Impossible Foods called out the magazine for publishing an opinionated piece devoid of any facts, calling it a ‘subjective, one-sided take’. 

“Across several pages rife with one-sided anecdotes and editorialised framing, the story works hard to create a misperception that plant-based meat, once celebrated for its significant environmental potential, has nowhere to go but down. The reporting is scarce of any data to support its position,” the article said. 

Bloomberg, in its story, had cited data collected by retail data company IRI and market researcher NPD Group, to point out a plunge in supermarket sales of plant-based meat and a decline in restaurant orders for the products. Impossible Foods addressed the claims by highlighting the increase in sales of frozen plant-based meat across the category.  

Founded in 2011 by Stanford University biochemist Patrick Brown, Impossible Foods has been around for roughly a decade. According to its website, the global plant-based meat category has expanded to a $7 billion evaluation in that time frame. Shedding some light on the history of the category, the brand’s public statement revealed that it has achieved record sales ‘every year’ since it first launched on menus, including 2022. 

The statement ends with Impossible Foods' optimism towards the future, calling the journey long and worth it. “We feel good about our position and plan. We’re going to continue to improve our products’ taste and nutrition, bring down prices as we scale, and invite new consumers to try our products with welcoming, open-minded messaging - something our CEO, Peter McGuinness, told Bloomberg just a few months ago.”

In 2016, Impossible Foods partnered with fast food restaurant chain Burger King to launch its signature product, the Impossible Burger. The brand has since partnered with other companies such as Kroger, 7-Eleven, Domino’s, etc., to build and sell its line of proprietary meat substitutes. 

You can read Impossible Foods' response here.