Former Chobani President Joins Impossible as New CEO

Alt-protein player Impossible Foods announced today that former Chobani president and COO Peter McGuinness has joined the company as its new CEO, succeeding founder Pat Brown.

McGuinness’ appointment comes just weeks after his departure from Chobani was announced to employees on March 3. The company has yet to publicly discuss his departure or a succession plan. He will assume the helm at Impossible on April 4 and oversee day-to-day business operations.

Brown will continue to hold the title of director, also taking on the newly created position of chief visionary officer. In this role he will focus on research and technology innovations, longer term strategic efforts and public advocacy work. The move plays to Brown’s background as a scientist — he holds a M.D. and Ph.D. in biochemistry— and will allow him to focus on developing new products that Impossible believes will hold the key to the company’s long-term success.

“As Impossible’s business has grown in size, scale and complexity, the demands of that business have increasingly encroached on the time I have available to lead strategic initiatives; to communicate our mission to the public and policy-makers; and most importantly, to guide the research and technology innovation that continues to power our long-term success,” Brown said in a blog post about the leadership change. “Given the momentum of our business, our accelerating product pipeline, ongoing international expansion and the magnitude of our mission, the leadership demands of the commercial business will inevitably continue to grow.”

The change also comes only months after the company’s chief science officer, John York, stepped down to return to Vanderbilt University where he previously served as chair of the Biochemistry department, Bloomberg reported. York joined Impossible in late 2020 as the company looked to ramp up R&D, stating it had plans to double that department in 2021.

McGuinness joins Impossible at a similar inflection point as to when he joined Chobani in 2013. At that time the dairy company was known for reinvigorating the category with its higher protein Greek yogurt but had yet to find a long-term brand strategy. Under McGuinness’ tenure the company has expanded into creamers, milk, RTD coffee, probiotic beverages and nut butters as well as moved from solely dairy-based products into other alt-dairy bases. Concurrently, he also helped solidify Chobani’s positioning among conventional shoppers and helped ward off competition from numerous other brands that have launched their own Greek yogurt products.

Impossible, meanwhile, debuted with a ground-beef alternative before expanding into burgers, sausages, meatballs and, most recently, chicken nuggets. Initially launched in restaurants in 2016, Impossible’s products are now sold in 40,000 restaurants, including Burger King, which launched an Impossible Whopper in early 2019.

The company moved into brick and mortar retailers in September 2019 after receiving GRAS certification from the FDA for its development of a soybean root-derived heme protein, the proprietary ingredient that gives its beef alternative its “bleeds-like-meat” taste, aroma and appearance. While it has seen rapid growth, Impossible must now execute on its goal of moving into seafood and establish a wider-spread consumer base — all while competing with the plethora of other brands all vying for the same shoppers and promising a closer-to-meat taste.

Financially, Chobani and Impossible also find themselves in similar marketplace situations, both (reportedly) considering listing on the public markets. Though Chobani has filed paperwork with the SEC — telling NOSH this week it had decided to delay the IPO due to “market conditions — Impossible’s potential listing is still simply a rumor, with Forbes reporting last month it was considering such a move.

Also potentially in preparation for an IPO, in August Impossible brought on David Borecky as CFO. Borecky had previously held senior-level finance positions at Square Inc. prior to its own public offering.

The alt-meat brand has become one of the top funded companies in the alternative protein space and after closing a $500 million funding round in March 2020, it announced in November it had closed another round generating the same amount of capital. To-date, the company has raised over $2 billion since its inception in 2011. According to an Impossible blog post about McGuinness’ appointment the company saw “hundreds of million dollars in annual revenue and 85% growth in quarterly retail revenue at the end of 2021.”