Plant-based Impossible Burger expands in Northern California

24 Jul 2017 --- Umami Burger introduces the Impossible Burger to its Northern California locations in partnership with Impossible Foods on Friday, July 21, becoming the first better burger restaurant group to feature the famous plant-based burger in the Bay Area. Successfully debuting at nine of Umami Burger's Los Angeles stores in Spring 2017, the popular Impossible Burger will expand to restaurants in Soma, Marina, Oakland and Palo Alto.

Priced at $16, Umami's Impossible Burger is served with two patties, caramelized onions, American cheese, miso-mustard, house spread, dill pickles, lettuce, and tomato.

Based in Redwood City, California, Impossible Foods makes meat and dairy products directly from plants – with a much smaller environmental footprint than those produced from animals. The privately held company was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., formerly a biochemistry professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Open Philanthropy Project and Temasek.

A brand that remains ahead of the curve, Umami Burger continually brings together partners from the arts and design, to food and beverage, to pop culture and celebrity, inclusive of Cindy Crawford, Mindy Kaling, and Alton Brown. Constantly striving to disrupt the market, the recent Southern California Impossible Foods partnership has projected Umami Burger into the spotlight, challenging the gourmet burger trend by featuring an innovative burger patty, with premium ingredients and a message to convey. "With the ever-growing and recent success of Umami Burger's partnership with Impossible Foods in our Los Angeles restaurants, we're excited to expand our footprint with Impossible Foods to the Bay Area," states Sam Nazarian, Founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based sbe and Umami Burger's majority shareholder. "Through our partnership with Impossible Foods, Umami Burger will continue to provide guests with innovative and cravable social dining experiences that stick to the brand's differentiating taste and ambitious standards for quality."

The Impossible Burger is the world's only burger that looks, handles, smells, cooks, and tastes like ground beef from cows – but is made entirely from plants, with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. Using roughly 75% less water, generating about 87% fewer greenhouse gases and requiring around 95% less land than conventional ground beef from cows, the Impossible Burger is produced without hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol, or artificial flavors.

"Seventy years after Southern California popularized the burger and made it America's favorite food, Umami Burger ignited the 'better burger' trend and helped it spread worldwide," said Impossible Foods CEO and founder Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D. "Together, Impossible Foods and Umami Burger can keep expanding, leading global food and restaurant trends."  

Following the Impossible Burger launch at Umami Burger's Los Angeles County locations, the Impossible Burger will debut in more fine-dining restaurants and multi-unit chains throughout the United States. After the Oakland facility is fully ramped up, the company plans to launch Impossible Burger in retail outlets and key regions internationally. In addition to the Impossible Burger, the company is developing additional types of plant-based meats, dairy products, and cheeses.

Founded in Los Angeles in 2009, Umami Burger has been named GQ's "Burger of the Year," Men's Journal's "Best Burger in America" and one of the "25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands of 2016" by Forbes' CircleUp25. Currently, Umami Burger has 25 restaurants in California, New York, Illinois, Nevada and Japan with additional locations planned around the world, including nine more locations in Japan. sbe, the Los Angeles-based leading lifestyle hospitality company that develops, manages and operates award-winning hospitality venues, is Umami Burger's majority shareholder.