Burger King is trying to take National Burger Impossible. Why this could be bad news for small restaurants. | Metro

The news should thrill those who tie up the phones at the chain's gateways in Gateway City, trying to ship a fake Whopper (or a dozen) to California and elsewhere in the United States. However, it will probably remain scary for small family restaurants that have struggled to get their hands on Impossible Foods meat pies since Burger King launched its new burger this month.

According to Nick Salis, vice president of operations, "Impossible Burger" is the fifth most popular sandwich on the menu of Ted's Bulletin, which has five locations in the Washington, DC area. The chain sells about 250 a week, he said. But since his debut at Burger King, "we've seen shortages," Salis said.

Other restaurants in the area report similar problems. Ellen Cox, Executive Director of Quarry House Tavern, the popular dive bar in Silver Spring, Maryland, said, "People are disappointed. Rather than opt for the vegan burger we have now, they opt for the regular hamburger.

These restaurant managers said that version 2.0 of the Impossible Burger was a hit with diners who could not find alternative meat options that were so appealing.

"The Impossible Burger smells, tastes and chews as close to a hamburger as I've seen," said Salis of Ted's Bulletin.

This kind of demand from customers has surprisingly surprisingly surprised Impossible Foods, which has struggled to keep pace with orders.

Impossible Foods' CFO, David Lee, told The Washington Post, "We are striving to meet the demand. This is a good problem, but growth remains massive at a time. "

Impossible Foods has significantly expanded its reach in recent months. Last year, White Castle introduced an impossible slider in nearly 400 locations across the country and this year Red Robin has launched a Cheeseburger Impossible Cheese at its 570 sites.

With the launch of The Impossible Whopper, the hamburger could, by the end of the year, end up on the Burger King menus in 7,200 establishments across the country. It's above the smallest customers of Impossible Foods. (Incidentally, when she was contacted, a McDonald's spokeswoman said the chain had no news to share on a potential vegan burger.)

Lee said Impossible Foods has a 70,000-square-foot facility that, according to executives, would produce about a million pounds of meat a year. But now, executives expect the facility to produce between 75 and 100 million pounds a year, without increasing the plant's footprint. Lee Lee, impossible foods add more employees and more changes to the facility.

"There will be dislocations and short-term struggles," Lee said. "But in the medium and long term, this technology has been designed to be deployed on a global scale."

Impossible Foods has worked with all of its customers, big and small, to respond to orders, Lee said. In some cases, the company had to pay the invoice for shipping supplies by air to customers.

Jackie Greenbaum, one of Quarry's owners, said she plans to open the restaurant so she can get Impossible Burgers again next month. But if this is not the case, says Greenbaum, the limited offer will force small restaurateurs to be rigorous.

"What will happen is," said Greenbaum, "they will lose all their independence. [clients] which transports it because it is necessary at a given moment to choose the product with a reliable supply.

But then Greenbaum stopped. She wondered aloud if Quarry House would eventually return to the Impossible Burger, even though the tavern was forced to choose a different product while the California company increased its capacity. She thought that she would do it.

"The product is really so good," she said.