Peter McGuinness, president and CEO of Impossible Foods recently announced the introduction of new packaging at the National Products Expo West. McGuinness stated, “We want packaging that lived up to and reflected the deliciousness of our products while really popping on the shelf.” He added, “What we want to do is educate consumers that they can still enjoy meat by incorporating into their diet a version that’s made from plants instead of animals.”
McGuinness is clearly a marketing expert but appears to be insensitive to both accounting realities and the organoleptic properties of his products. Plant based meat alternatives are clearly inferior with respect to appearance, texture and taste. Shelf prices are higher than the product they purport to replace. Although Impossible Foods is not a publicly quoted company and therefore does not release financial reports, competitors Beyond Meat and the plant-based division of Maple Leaf Foods confirm non-profitability.
Impossible Foods should concentrate more on improving the quality of the product since the packaging is discarded and not eaten. The fact that the Bezos Earth Fund is making available grants to food science departments of universities to improve organoleptic qualities of plant-based foods confirms the reality of inferiority despite the Impossible Foods hype.