The Impossible Whopper arrives in the Bay Area

Impossible Foods is dramatically expanding its Bay Area presence Monday with 111 Burger King restaurants in the greater San Francisco Bay Area beginning to offer a Whopper using the meat alternative.

The big picture: It's part of a rolling introduction of the Impossible Whopper as the Redwood City, Calif.-based company aims to expand to Burger Kings nationwide by the end of the year, without leaving its current restaurant customers short.

• "It's great progress," Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown told Axios, but quickly added: "We’re a tiny, tiny fraction of the way on our mission. We have to double in size every year for the next 15 years to achieve our mission."

Why it matters: Impossible Foods and rivals like Beyond Meat have managed to generate interest and demand for plant-based meat alternatives. Now they have to show they can satisfy those customers, in all senses of the word.

What's next: The company still hopes to have its first retail products in grocery stores by the end of this year, provided it can meet demand from Burger King and its other restaurant customers.

Go deeper:

• The fake meat gold rush
• Beef: America’s dinner and a juicy climate controversy