Impossible Foods, the Redwood City, Calif., startup that makes vegetarian meat and dairy products from plants, first introduced its Impossible Burger to Chicago last fall.
Now, its Impossible Taco is here, and Chicagoans can get it at River North’s Tallboy Taco, according to the taco joint’s owner, Lettuce Entertain You. The Impossible Taco is completely vegan and is served in a homemade hard shell, topped with lettuce, pico de gallo and salsa arbor.
Impossible Foods, founded in 2011 by Patrick Brown, a former professor at Stanford University, has raised more than $273 million in funding from investors like Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates and Google Ventures, according to Crunchbase.
The company has worked to establish a Chicago presence for its meatless products since introducing the Impossible Burger to the area in October. That month, the company created a pop-up shop where patrons could try their Impossible Burger, which is now available in about 150 restaurants nationwide. More than a dozen of the locations are in Chicago restaurants, including M Burger, Umami Burger and Kuma’s Corner. Additionally, the University of Chicago also began serving the burger on their campus last fall.
Beyond Meat, a Los Angeles-based food startup that also makes burgers made entirely from plants, raised $55 million in December in a funding round led by Chicago VC firms Tyson Foods and Cleveland Avenue, founded by former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson.
