Impossible Foods cut grocery prices 20% for the first time to chase beef parity

Impossible Foods makes plant-based meat substitutes; in 2021 it was racing from restaurants into US grocery stores.

Impossible's plan had been to move into retail much more slowly. 'Our plan was not to move this fast in retail last year until Covid hit,' said president Dennis Woodside. Production capability had increased sixfold since 2019 as lines ran more frequently and added shifts.

The grocery cut was the first retail price reduction in the privately held company's history but the third permanent discount in a year, after restaurant-distributor cuts in 2020 and January 2021. New suggested prices: $5.49 for patties, $6.99 for a 12-ounce package. Rival Beyond Meat was cutting prices too, and Future Meat Technologies said it had lowered the production cost of a cultured chicken breast to $7.50.

A pricing decision with the full ladder visible: a 20% cut that still leaves the product double the price of beef.

Shows supply-side learning as the pricing lever — sixfold capacity and supplier savings funding the discount.

Competitive context on the record: Beyond's value packs and cultured-meat cost drops squeezing from both sides.

Category creation ends at the price shelf: you can't out-story beef, you can only out-price it — and parity arrives in steps, not leaps.

As of February 2021 the cuts were rolling out in US grocery and internationally, with a possible Costco expansion pending; the source reports no sales impact data.