Impossible Foods slashes price for retailers in Singapore by up to 30 per cent

SINGAPORE — Consumers in Singapore will soon be able to buy cheaper Impossible Foods products after the Silicon Valley-based company announced on Tuesday (Feb 2) that it will cut prices for retailers here by up to 30 per cent.

However, the company stressed that it typically does not own or operate the final point of sale for its plant-based products and prices are instead determined by the retailers themselves.

In a press statement, Impossible Foods said that it is lowering its prices for the third time in the past year “as part of its mission to displace ground beef”.

The faux-meat company added that it will continue to do so until its products are “more affordable than meat from livestock”.

Impossible Foods said it is able to lower the prices “thanks to (the) tremendous growth and economies of scale over the past year”.

Earlier in January, the company had said that it would lower its international prices by an average of 15 per cent for food service distributors in Canada, Hong Kong, Macau as well as Singapore.

On Tuesday, it announced that its latest price cuts will occur in retail stores not just in Singapore, but Canada and Hong Kong as well.

It is also cutting suggested retail prices by 20 per cent for grocery stores throughout the United States, where its retail footprint has grown more than 100 times — from 150 grocery stores to more than 17,000 now.

The company added that the sale of its products are increasingly displacing animal-derived foods where production of such foods is one of the “biggest generators of greenhouse gas emissions and the leading driver of the global meltdown in wildlife”.

It said that its flagship product — the Impossible Burger — uses 96 per cent less land, 87 per cent less water and generates 89 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional beef from cows.

Dr Patrick O Brown, its chief executive officer and founder, said that his company’s plan is to “reverse global warming and halt our planet’s extinction crisis by making the food system sustainable”.

“With economies of scale, we intend to keep lowering prices until we undercut those of ground beef from cows. Today’s price cut is merely our latest — not our last,” Dr Brown said.

In October last year, Impossible Foods began selling its mock beef to about 79 NTUC FairPrice stores and online grocer RedMart in a quick pivot to retail sales during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The company said then that it had previously focused its efforts on supplying its plant-based meat products to restaurants, but as the pandemic hit the food-and-beverage industry, it had to accelerate its plans to expand into retail sales.

In response to TODAY’s queries, a spokesperson for Lazada, which operates RedMart, said on Thursday (Feb 4) that as an early partner of Impossible Foods, RedMart is “happy to be part of their growth in Singapore”.

“This latest discount offered by Impossible Foods is part of their vision to make the food system more sustainable, and RedMart is pleased to be able to pass this discount directly on to the consumer.

“Impossible Beef was priced at S$16.90 for 340g but with the discount it will now be S$11.90 from March 1,” Lazada said.

The e-commerce company acquired the online supermarket platform in 2016.

TODAY has also sought comment from the NTUC FairPrice chain of supermarkets.