There's definitely a bit of an arms race going on, and it's unfortunate. I find both products to be very different, and we could stand to have some diversity in the area of alternative meat products.
Off the top of my head, in terms of commercial availability I've seen them at:
Beyond:
- Safeway (both meat patties, and frozen boxed crumbles)
- Del Taco
- Carls Jr.
- Veggie Grill
Impossible:
- Umami Burger
- White Castle
- Smaller retail locations
- pilot w/ Burger King
Beyond also has a lot of products, from sausages, crumbles, and different flavors of meat.
I think Impossible is highly focused on reproducing ground beef.
I think they're afraid that one brand will be so much more successful that the other goes away. Each brand has different flavor, texture, and nutritional profiles so if any of those are particularly important to you then it's hard to make do with one of the other options.
For example, both Beyond Meat and Quorn sell meatless "beef" crumbles. Each has a noticeably different flavor and fairly different nutrition (The Quorn has significantly fewer calories, but less protein for example). I would be sad if either one went out of business because I use them differently.
It's still such a niche market that expanding it right now is the best thing for all the players. Beyond Meat revenue is $33m compared to say Tyson at $33b. The veggie meat market is also a lot less homogenic than meats since everyone makes their own proprietary blends from thousands of possible ingredients. Compared to say cheap chicken where it's impossible to tell brands apart.
The vast majority of Impossible Burger's distribution is in restaurants. I haven't been able to find them in stores. Beyond Burgers, I buy weekly at the local mainstream (non-Whole Foods) grocery. Comes out to about $2.50/burger. Works great for my near-vegan partner, and we can still cook out at home!
