NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Impossible Slider will make its fast-food debut today at White Castle.
The “Impossible Slider” will be available anytime in 140 locations throughout New York, New Jersey and Chicagoland.
The plant-based burger will be topped with smoked cheddar cheese, pickles, onions and served on a signature bun. The Impossible Slider will be available individually for $1.99, and can be ordered as part of a combo meal.
The award-winning burger from Impossible Foods will provide an all-new plant-based option for White Castle’s loyal fans, who are dubbed “Cravers” for their insatiable hunger for the irresistible, snack-sized sliders. White Castle is known as the progenitor of American fast-food. The Original Slider® is still considered “the most influential burger of all time.”
“White Castle’s model has been often imitated but never duplicated -- an impressive feat in the hypercompetitive fast-food sector,” said Impossible Foods’ Founder and CEO Dr. Patrick O. Brown. “We look forward to working closely with White Castle, and together learning how to popularize plant-based meat with mainstream burger lovers.”
CRAVING INNOVATION
White Castle basically invented the fast-food industry in 1921. The company pioneered food innovations such as the hamburger bun and the ultra-efficient sandwich assembly line, which other chains studied and tried to copy years later.
Columbus, Ohio-based White Castle, which has 376 restaurants throughout the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, is still known for its innovative approach and its ability to listen and respond to customer feedback -- from Seafood Crab Cake Sliders to the growing demand for plant-based meals.
“Innovation has been core to everything we’ve done at White Castle since our founding in 1921,” said CEO Lisa Ingram, the fourth-generation family member to lead White Castle. “The fact that we are the first-fast-food chain to offer the Impossible Burger to our loyal customers epitomizes our history of being on the ‘bleeding edge’ of a rapidly evolving industry.”
BIG TASTE, SMALL FOOTPRINT
In development since 2011, the Impossible Burger debuted in July 2016 at Chef David Chang’s Momofuku Nishi in Manhattan. The Impossible Burger is the only plant-based burger to win a 2017 Tasty Award and a 2018 Fabi Award from the National Restaurant Association.
White Castle is by far the largest single restaurant group to serve the Impossible Burger. Beyond the fast-food chain, the Impossible Burger is available in about 1,300 restaurants nationwide, including beloved “better burger” concepts Fatburger, Umami Burger, Hopdoddy, The Counter, and B Spot, the Midwest burger restaurant owned by Chef Michael Symon.
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 a scalable, affordable way to make heme without animals: the company engineers and ferments yeast to produce a heme protein naturally found in plants, called soy leghemoglobin. The heme in the Impossible Burger is identical to the essential heme humans have been consuming for hundreds of thousands of years in meat — and while it delivers all the craveable depth of beef, it uses far fewer resources.
The Impossible Burger is produced without hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol or artificial flavors. It uses about 75% less water, generates about 87% fewer greenhouse gases, and requires around 95% less land than conventional ground beef from cows.
Impossible Foods launched production in September at its first large-scale manufacturing plant, in Oakland, Calif. With demand still outstripping supply, the company plans to add a second shift and double production in the coming months. Later this month, Impossible Foods will launch in Asia -- its first market outside the United States.
White Castle will be testing the Impossible Slider with plans to potentially expand its offering nationwide. To find a White Castle near you, visit www.whitecastle.com.
ABOUT IMPOSSIBLE FOODS
Based in Redwood City, California, Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products directly from plants — with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat 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, Temasek, Sailing Capital and Open Philanthropy Project.
ABOUT WHITE CASTLE
White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain based in Columbus, Ohio, has been making Bold Moves™ as a family-owned business for 97 years. The company was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921, serving The Original Slider®, made from 100 percent USDA inspected beef. Today White Castle owns and operates nearly 400 restaurants in 13 states. The pioneering original slider, Time Magazine's most influential burger of all time, is served alongside a menu of creatively crafted sliders and other tasty food options. White Castle's commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants and bakeries as well as three frozen food processing plants. The retail division markets White Castle's famous fare in grocery, club stores, convenience stores, vending operations and concessions across the United States and in a growing number of international locations, including military base exchanges around the world.
Cravers on-the-go can access sweet deals and place a pick-up order any time in the official White Castle app. Download the app today from the iTunes App Store or Google Play. For more information on White Castle visit whitecastle.com.
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