DC Velocity - May 2020

the manufacturing process, everything around the prod-
uct’s quality, we make sure that we are delivering on that
promise of taste.

One of the things they discovered a long time ago wasthat there is an iron molecule called “heme” that is naturally found in all living things: in animals as well as plants.This is the key ingredient that makes meat taste like meatand gives it that flavor and texture people crave. Back then,we were creating heme in very small quantities, but now wecreate heme through a standard fermentation process usinga strain of yeast that our scientists developed and have continued to improve on over the years. That is what we use inall of our products.

Q Since this is a processed product, does it have the nutri- tional value of beef?AYes. Nutrition is a key part of our product offering. When you lookat our quarter-pound patty, it has zeromilligrams of cholesterol. So, from acholesterol perspective, it is much better than the animal equivalent. It contains no gluten, no animal hormones,no antibiotics. So overall, when you arecomparing it with patties from cows, itis much more nutritious.

QWhat kind of vege- tables go into your
products?

AWe use soybeans from the U.S. Midwest. We use sunflower oil andcoconut oil to give some of the “fat”aspect that people are looking for. Ittook a very long time to find the right set of ingredients,particularly the right type of soy that interacts with ourheme in order to deliver on our taste.

Q Sustainability seems to be very important to your com- pany. In fact, I understand that one of the reasons why
you’re looking to replace animals as a food source is the
environmental impact of raising animals.

AYes. It is well documented that relying on animals in the food chain is the top cause of the greenhouse gases
that have ultimately led to the challenges we face with
climate change. When we compare our product with beef
from cows, we use 87% less water and 96% less land, and
produce 89% fewer greenhouse gas emissions. The message
we want to convey to consumers is that our product is not
only healthy for you, but it is also healthy for the planet.

QLet’s talk about the supply chain behind the product. Could you tell us about your infrastructure?AYes. Our headquarters are here in Redwood City, California. Our first manufacturing facility is actuallyjust about 30 minutes away in Oakland. This is where thefirst Impossible Burgers came out, and we continue to doproduction there today, using ingredients sourced fromboth foreign and domestic suppliers.

Then in July of last year, we announced a partnership
with one of the largest food manufacturers in the world—

the OSI Group. They are now part of our supply chain.We will have other co-manufacturers as part of our supplychain, but when we signed the deal with OSI last July, wedid so with an eye toward quadruplingour production.

QHow is your distribution handled?

AWe tend to have distribution cen- ters through partners very close toour facilities. Ultimately, what we aretrying to do is go right off the manufacturing line to the consumer’s plate. Wethink about minimizing the number oftouch points in order to do that.

QSo, you look for third-party service providers and partners to help with
your distribution? Why did you choose
to go that route as opposed to building
your own distribution infrastructure?

AThe thinking was that in order to ptimize our speed, it made senseto use an existing physical infrastructure. But it was important that we build the correct digital infrastructure so thatwe maintain touch points with our channel partners, operators, and distributors to make sure that the flow of productis happening correctly.