[HN Gopher] Impossible Foods Plans to Lay Off About 20% of Workers
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       Impossible Foods Plans to Lay Off About 20% of Workers
        
       Author : JumpCrisscross
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2023-01-30 20:58 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
        
       | telotortium wrote:
       | http://archive.today/qtCSd
       | 
       | They claim their sales are up by 50% in dollar terms in 2022:
       | 
       | > Closely held Impossible Foods recently said its sales were up
       | more than 50% in 2022 in dollar terms at US retail stores. In a
       | September interview, Chief Executive Officer Peter McGuinness
       | said Impossible Foods has a strong balance sheet and good cash
       | position.
       | 
       | What's the trick here? Seems like interest in general has fallen:
       | 
       | > Impossible Foods has rapidly expanded to restaurants and
       | supermarkets. Maintaining momentum will become challenging as
       | performance of the broader plant-based meat category slips.
       | Supermarket sales of refrigerated meat alternatives fell 15% by
       | volume for the 52 weeks ended Jan. 1, according to market-
       | research firm IRI, while they declined 14% in dollar terms. In
       | restaurants and food-service outlets, orders of plant-based
       | burgers dropped 9% in the 12 months ended in November, according
       | to market researcher NPD Group. Impossible Foods sells products
       | at major restaurant chains, including White Castle, Qdoba and
       | Burger King, which offers the Impossible Whopper. Data from
       | HundredX, a consumer-experience strategy firm, also suggests
       | falling interest. The percentage of shoppers who have eaten
       | Impossible products but say they're less likely to eat as much
       | going forward has risen, according to feedback collected from
       | 1,723 consumers in the last year.
        
       | cuteboy19 wrote:
       | Why are people so obsessed with creating fake meat? I've always
       | found that meat > vegetarian food >>>> "vegan" "meat"
        
         | twayt wrote:
         | It's a better way to ingest protein and calories.
         | 
         | Vegetarian food has less protein by volume than meat and some
         | of the protein substitutes taste bad and / or have a disgusting
         | texture.
        
         | rongenre wrote:
         | I like the taste of meat. I choose not to eat it. So if I want
         | a burger, I'll use a meat alternative.
        
         | legostormtroopr wrote:
         | Because people like burgers and hot dogs? Because changing
         | peoples diets is easier if they have a similar foods they can
         | cook? Because people want to make a positive change, without
         | limiting their options? Because people want to introduce others
         | using safe familiar foods?
         | 
         | There are a myriad of reasons why, and many of them have to do
         | with transitioning people from a meat focused diet to a meat
         | free diet. Usually by changing 1 ingredient in a dish rather
         | than upending their whole process.
         | 
         | Also, there are plenty of vegan meat substitutes that are
         | excellent. Eg. if you are looking for a vegan substitute for
         | meat in stew or pulled pork look for Fable (its just shredded
         | shitake with food binders) https://fablefood.co/ (Not
         | affiliated, but its delicious).
        
         | nh23423fefe wrote:
         | It's because your preferences aren't universal.
         | 
         | There is interest in the space for a variety of reasons. Animal
         | welfare, land usage, agricultural pollution, climate change,
         | etc.
        
         | MomoXenosaga wrote:
         | Because Western food culture is based on meat.
         | 
         | Japan has always been a densely populated mountainous island
         | incapable of large scale livestock production untill very
         | recently. Meat was a luxury. So they turned to fish and rice.
        
         | drooby wrote:
         | Same..
         | 
         | As a vegetarian, I think I would actually buy from them if they
         | had some very minimally processed (think tofu), preferably
         | unprocessed (think lentils) food and if they just added their
         | heme ingredient and did no other processing.
         | 
         | I just like the umami flavor, and I want to get that from
         | minimally processed/weird products. Soy heme is significantly
         | similar to the real thing that I don't really mind how it was
         | created.
         | 
         | I just want to add that umami to something healthy.
        
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       (page generated 2023-01-30 23:01 UTC)