White Castle is going all out to lure millennials and teens — and McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC should be scared

Impossible Foods slider at 140 White Castle locations

Impossible Foods held its launch party at a White Castle in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn on April 11.

To start the night off, Questlove (a percussionist for The Roots) DJed.

New and old-school hits from Rihanna, DJ Khaled, Beyoncé, N.W.A., and David Bowie boomed from the speakers.

Ghostface Killah later performed, and everyone got down.

Throughout the night, White Castle employees served three types of cocktails inspired by fountain soda …

… and cups of ice cream infused with walnut liquor and topped with French parsley.

They also came around with trays of unlimited Impossible sliders, onion rings, and fries.

contain

Young Americans appear to be jumping on-board with meatless foods, and Impossible seems to be capitalizing on that.

survey "plant-based menus" and "sustainable seafood"

White Castle also seems to be taking notice.

While White Castle's customers span across generations, CMO Kim Bartley said that Generations Y and Z are important demographics, because they drive food trends.

At the party, the two companies invited big-name celebrities who are popular with millennials and teens.

People chatted and took selfies with Wareheim, a comic best known for playing himself in the surrealist Adult Swim show "Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories" and as Arnold in the Netflix series "Master of None."

a recent op-ed

Wareheim told BI he wanted to host the party because he often ate “succulent sliders” at this White Castle location with collaborator Tim Heidecker in the late 1990s.

When asked whether he thinks plant-based meat will become a big thing, Wareheim said, "It’ll eventually become the only thing once we exhaust our planet of its resources."

Impossible Foods and other plant-based food startups bill their products as an environmentally-friendly alternative to meat, arguing their processes require much less land and water.

White Castle's partnership with Impossible Foods may give the fast-food chain an edge on other traditional fast-food giants, which have struggled to appeal to younger customers.

burger with sriracha and kale

KFC data

Research suggests that millennials are attracted to options that appear healthier as well.

50% more veggies

Impossible Foods is just one of several companies pursuing the growing plant-based foods market.

recent Nielsen data

$72 million $387.5 million

The main challenges for these startups have been refining their products and driving costs down.

David Lee, COO of Impossible Foods, said that the company hopes to expand to every White Castle in the US.

“We don’t want to just be the McDonald’s for the next generation,” he told BI. “We want to wherever the meat-eaters want to be served.”

Before Questlove closed with another DJ set, Lee listed the environmental benefits of the Impossible sliders.

In response, a young woman with an oversized furry jacket screamed "Wooooo!"

Reporting by Leanna Garfield; Photography by Sarah Jacobs

White Castle is going all out to lure millennials and teens — and McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC should be scared

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