Meatless Farm, Impossible Foods Name New Marketing Execs

Plant-based food companies The Meatless Farm and Impossible Foods recently hired new marketing executives.

U.K.-based Meatless Farm named Lone Thomsen global chief marketing officer. In her new role, Thomsen will be at the forefront of driving market awareness and help further the company's international expansion. She aims to make the company a household name globally with a specific focus on leveraging Meatless Farm’s role as a challenger brand in the U.S. market. 

Before joining as a full-time executive, Thomsen served as a strategic advisor to Meatless Farm, which produces meat-free burgers, meatless ground and sausage products. She also previously served as head of media and communications for Coca-Cola Co., where she was integral to launching a number of emerging products, such as Coca-Cola Energy, Fuze, Honest Tea and Coca-Cola Signature Mixers, to the Western European market.

“It’s a pivotal time for Meatless Farm in North America. Not only is there a growing consumer appetite for and awareness of plant-based meat alternatives; our launch with Whole Foods Markets in the U.S. has created demand from the retail and restaurant trade as well,” said Kasper Vesth, general manager, North America at Meatless Farm, in a media release. “We’re looking forward to building on the current momentum with [Thomsen and newly appointed vice president of sales Mark Cook] at the forefront.”

Plant-based meat and dairy manufacturer Impossible Foods recently appointed Jessie Becker to the newly created role of senior vp of marketing. Becker will lead the B2B and B2C marketing, insights and brand marketing teams at Impossible Foods, effective immediately. 

Becker joins Impossible Foods from Google, where she served as director of marketing. Prior to Google, Becker was chief marketing officer at Optimizely, a B2B software company. She will report to Impossible Foods’ president Dennis Woodside, a tech industry executive who joined Impossible Foods in March. 

Last month, the company's flagship product, the Impossible Burger, made its worldwide debut in grocery at all 27 Gelson’s Markets stores in Southern California, all 100 Wegmans stores in the Northeast and two Fairway locations in Manhattan. It was the first time the general public was able to buy and cook the Impossible Burger at home. The Impossible Burger is also available in more than 17,000 restaurants the U.S. and in nearly every type of cuisine from burgers to tacos. After an initial test, Burger King will roll out an Impossible Whopper burger nationally by the end of the year. 

“I’m thrilled to join Impossible Foods at such a significant inflection point for the company as it embarks on unprecedented growth and new channel launches,” Becker said in a media release. “It’s an incredible opportunity to build the plant-based food category with world-class marketing — while having a profound impact on our planet.”