Impossible Foods Is Laying Off 20% Of Workers Despite Being Everywhere
Plant-based meat is everywhere right now, and Impossible Foods is one of the most recognizable brands around. Craving fast food? You can bite into a juicy Impossible burger at Burger King. Need breakfast on the go but don't eat meat? Grab a breakfast sandwich at Starbucks made with an Impossible sausage patty. Peckish on a long flight? You can now order Impossible meatless options on United Airlines and Delta flights (per Time). They also grace the menu at celeb-owned chain Wahlburgers (per Wahlburgers). Plus, how many restaurants have you been to where the menu's burger section says you can swap any beef option for an Impossible patty for a few extra bucks?
But despite what seems to be a high level of market saturation, the company's CEO Peter McGuinness said in an interview with Time that only 17% of Americans are aware of the company and a shockingly low 5% of households have tried the product. While McGuiness claims his company has a high rate of return customers, it seems it's just not getting enough people to try the product to begin with. This may be the bottom line behind the brand's upcoming plans for a 2023 and 2024 advertising push. But to get there, they'll need funds, and that may require making cutbacks in other areas. One area where this money could theoretically be coming from is Impossible Foods' own employees.
Impassable hurdles at Impossible Foods?
Though Peter McGuinness, the CEO of Impossible Foods, told Time that sales increased by 50% in 2022, the year was uncertain for plant-based meats overall (per Business Insider). Supermarket sales of plant-based meat products dropped 15% in 2022 while sales fell 14% in real dollars, according to Bloomberg. And despite this increase in sales, Impossible and McGuinness are feeling the crunch. They're gearing up to lay off 20% of their 700 employees.
Per Insider, this will be the company's "third round of layoffs in roughly a year," and the fourth attempt to get rid of employees. Previously, a small number of employees were fired last January, and in October 2022, the company laid off 6% of its staff. Following that, a more serious attempt was made to lure employees away with a "voluntary buyout" plan at the end of 2022. CEO Peter McGuinness said at the time of the October 2022 layoffs that they would allow the company to "continue to hypergrow," but it appears these measures just weren't enough.
McGuinness, however, remains optimistic about the future of plant-based meat. "The fact is, we are growing," he told Time.