'Big Win' For Impossible Foods As Starbucks Adds Breakfast Sandwich To Summer Menu

Starbucks Corporation SBUX launched a new breakfast sandwich Tuesday featuring plant-based food maker Impossible Foods, in a potential blow to rival Beyond Meat Inc BYND. 

What Happened: Starbucks is adding a new Impossible breakfast sandwich to its U.S. food menu, and CNBC's Aditi Roy said it gives Impossible a "huge win" over its rivals.

Beyond and Impossible have been fiercely battling within the fast-food space to gain new exposure.

Impossible's products will be included at 15,000 Starbucks stores, and Roy said this triples the number of restaurants that sell Impossible products. 

Beyond recently won a deal to supply Starbucks stores in China with its plant-based products. Beyond's items can also be found in Canadian Starbucks stores.

Why It's Important: Impossible has faced supply chain issues that may have prevented a large-scale deal with a major restaurant.

This time around, the plant-based food maker struck a relationship with a large manufacturer that gives it ample capacity to ramp production.

The new partnership comes at a time when traditional beef companies are experiencing forced shutdowns and supply issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Impossible's facilities are very different compared to meat rivals.

It is heavily automated, with separation between people even under normal circumstances, said CNBC's Roy. 

What's Next: The breakfast sandwich is now available at the majority of Starbucks stores as part of the summer menu.

SBUX, BYND Price Action: Starbucks shares were up 0.44% at $75.74 at the time of publication, while Beyond Meat shares were down 3.36% at $154.26. 

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Photo courtesy of Starbucks.