Impossible Foods first shared its ambition to expand beyond ground meats, sausages, chicken and into steak products with Spoon in 2019, after debuting Burger 2.0 at that year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Brown is also talk about Impossible’s grand plan with Temple returns in 2020 and delves into the challenges of creating an alternative steak:
[T]Does he feature a really good steak? I think we have to have something with a very good version of that muscle structure and texture; you must be able to produce the right mechanical properties. It has some connective tissue, a nonwoven fabric that contains protein, and then it has interstitial adipose tissue. And for adipose tissue, what matters? Well, its mechanical properties matter to some extent, its melting properties matter, and its chemical taste matters.
Since then, competitors have either created their own prototypes for the steak or announced their intention to do so. Rival company Beyond Meat introduced its Beyond Steak product at Jewel-Osco Grocery Store and is launching a Beyond Carne Asada Steak partnering with Taco Bell this week at select restaurants.
Brown concludes that the real test will not be what he thinks of the tenderloin, but what consumers do.
“Stay tuned,” Brown said. “It’s definitely coming.”
