The Impossible Burger is making its Southern debut at Atlanta’s award-winning restaurant concept Grindhouse Killer Burgers.

The plant-based Impossible Burger is available at all five Grindhouse locations in Georgia. The famous burger joint earned “Best of Atlanta” awards from publications including Atlanta Magazine and Creative Loafing.

Founded in 2009 by Alex Brounstein, Grindhouse opened its first location in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market in downtown Atlanta. Grindhouse wins accolades for top-quality meat ground freshly in house, with burgers customized to individual preferences.

“Atlanta is the cultural and food capital of the South, and our customers expect the most innovative and delicious dishes,” Brounstein says. “They’ve asked for the Impossible Burger by name, and we’re thrilled to give them exactly what they want—in a way that’s uniquely tailored for the South.”

Grindhouse offers the Impossible Burger as one of its signature “grinds,” along with a wide variety of toppings, sauces, and sides. Grindhouse is the only restaurant in America to offer the Impossible Burger in a classic Southern style—with pimento cheese, fried green tomato, Carolina cole slaw and chipotle ranch. Customers can also order the classic “Grindhouse” build (American cheese, grilled onions, lettuce, pickles, and grindhouse sauce) or customize their burger any way they want.

While Grindhouse is the first to serve the Impossible Burger in Georgia, more than 250 restaurants in at least 18 states are already serving the award-winning burger from Impossible Foods. Click here for a full list of restaurants serving the Impossible Burger.

Restaurateurs can order the Impossible Burger through many of their preferred distributors, including Sysco, US Foods, Chefs Warehouse and Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors. To order the Impossible Burger, ask your distributor or send an email to hello@impossiblefoods.com.

Launched in 2016 in a handful of top restaurants in New York and California, the Impossible Burger is becoming one of the hottest menu items from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon—and hundreds of points in between. The Impossible Burger is one of the top selling menu items nearly everywhere it’s available and often generates increased revenue for restaurants.

“The restaurant business is one of the most competitive industries in America—and the Impossible Burger is one of those rare menu items that brings new customers in the door and keeps them coming back,” says Impossible Foods Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer David Lee. “We are happy to help restaurants increase revenue while surprising and delighting customers.”

The Impossible Burger is the only plant-based burger that’s featured in America’s most beloved “better burger” concepts Bareburger, Umami Burger, Hopdoddy, The Counter, Fatburger, Gott’s and B Spot, a Midwest burger establishment owned by Chef Michael Symon.

In development since 2011, the Impossible Burger cooks, tastes and smells like ground beef from cows—but is made entirely from plants. The Impossible Burger, which debuted in July 2016 at Chef David Chang’s Momofuku Nishi in Manhattan, won a 2017 Tasty Award for best food startup.

The Impossible Burger is produced without hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol or artificial flavors. It uses about 75 percent less water, generates about 87 percent fewer greenhouse gases, and requires around 95 percent less land than conventional ground beef from cows.

The Impossible Burger is made from simple ingredients, including water, wheat protein, potato protein and coconut oil. One special ingredient—heme—contributes to the characteristic taste of meat and catalyzes all the other flavors when meat is cooked. Impossible Foods discovered how to get heme from plants, transforming the Impossible Burger into a carnivore’s delight that’s light on the planet.

Impossible Foods launched production in September at its first large-scale manufacturing plant, in Oakland, Calif. As the Oakland plant ramps up over the next several quarters, Impossible Foods will expand distribution to even more restaurants. To learn more about Impossible Foods’ plant in Oakland, watch this video.

After the Oakland plant is fully ramped up, Impossible Foods plans to launch retail sales. The company is also developing additional plant-based meat and dairy products.

Health & Nutrition, Industry News, Kitchen Equipment