Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews will launch its unique interpretation of the Impossible Burger on Monday at all 570 restaurants in the United States.
Red Robin’s Impossible Cheeseburger features a delicious, fire-grilled, plant-based Impossible patty, topped with Red Robin’s pickle relish, red onions, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo and choice of cheese. It’s served with a side of Red Robin’s famous Bottomless Steak Fries. Guests may alter toppings as desired or customize any Red Robin burger by substituting out an Impossible Burger for a traditional beef burger
“Our guests have come to expect culinary innovation and variety at Red Robin, so it was important for us to offer a new meatless protein option that appeals to traditional burger lovers, flexitarians or anyone craving a unique flavor combination,” said Jonathan Muhtar, executive vice president and chief concept officer at Red Robin. “The Impossible Burger marks a huge milestone for Red Robin, as we’re the largest casual dining restaurant chain to serve this meat-free option to guests.”
A casual sit-down chain with extensive food and beverage selections, Red Robin is widely considered the largest “better burger” franchise in America. Founded in 1969, it remains a favorite destination for burger lovers looking for a big cut above fast food.
The launch of the Impossible Cheeseburger next week will make Red Robin the largest single customer of Impossible Foods, the California food-tech startup that makes award-winning meat from plants.
“Red Robin takes meat seriously—and it’s a major endorsement that the Impossible Cheeseburger is now part of Red Robin’s justifiably famous menu,” says Lisa Will, Impossible Foods’ Vice President of Sales.
Red Robin added the Impossible Cheeseburger to the menu after the restaurant chain’s culinary team tasted Impossible Burger 2.0, the first significant product upgrade since the launch of the original Impossible Burger in 2016.
In January, Impossible Foods launched its upgrade at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where Impossible Burger 2.0 took home the show’s highest honors, including “Best of the Best,” “Most Impactful Product,” and “Most Unexpected Product.” Impossible Burger’s first product upgrade since its 2016 public debut was also hailed as the tech show’s “Best Product Launch” and a “Triumph of Food Engineering.”
Based in California’s Silicon Valley, Impossible Foods uses modern science and technology to create wholesome and nutritious food, help restore natural ecosystems, and feed a growing population sustainably. The company makes meat from plants—with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals.
To satisfy the global demand for meat at a fraction of the environmental impact, Impossible Foods developed a far more sustainable, scalable, and affordable way to make meat, without the catastrophic environmental impact of livestock.
Shortly after its founding in 2011, Impossible Foods’ scientists discovered that one molecule—“heme”—is uniquely responsible for the explosion of flavors that results when meat is cooked. Impossible Foods’ scientists genetically engineer and ferment yeast to produce a heme protein naturally found in plants, called soy leghemoglobin.
The heme in Impossible Burger is identical to the essential heme humans have been consuming for hundreds of thousands of years in meat—and while the Impossible Burger delivers all the craveable depth of beef, it uses far fewer resources because it’s made from plants, not animals.
