Starbucks is discontinuing its Impossible Breakfast Sandwich, removing the coffee giant’s only US menu item featuring plant-based meat and ending a more than six-year partnership with Impossible Foods.
The sandwich, which launched nationwide in June 2020, will be phased out across the US this month. It featured an Impossible Sausage patty alongside a cage-free egg and aged cheddar cheese on a ciabatta bun. Despite its plant-based meat centerpiece, the sandwich was never vegan, and removing the egg and cheese would not have made it suitable for vegan customers, as the ciabatta bun contains dairy.
“While we no longer offer the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich, our baristas would be happy to recommend an alternative sandwich,” Starbucks told Bloomberg.
The company added that it regularly reviews its menu using “various criteria” to meet customer and business needs.
Starbucks
A six-year partnership comes to an end
The Starbucks and Impossible Foods partnership began in 2020, when the coffee chain introduced Impossible Sausage as its first plant-based meat offering on its US menu. At the time, Starbucks positioned expanding plant-based food options as part of its sustainability efforts, recognizing the environmental benefits of shifting toward more plant-forward eating.
Impossible Foods expressed appreciation for the longstanding relationship. “We’re proud to have partnered with Starbucks for more than six years to bring Impossible Sausage to breakfast lovers across the country,” a company spokesperson told Green Queen.
The discontinuation also comes as Starbucks prepares to introduce a braised short rib grilled cheese sandwich to its US menu on November 5, alongside its new holiday beverage offerings.
Starbucks
What happened to Starbucks’ climate commitments?
The menu changes raise questions about how Starbucks intends to reconcile its food offerings with its previously stated environmental ambitions. In 2020, the company pledged to cut absolute greenhouse gas emissions across its direct operations and supply chain by 50 percent by 2030, using 2019 as its baseline. Expanding plant-based menu options was one way to help address the environmental impact of its food business.
However, though its recently released 2025 Global Impact Report touted a 17-percent reduction in its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (operations and electricity), total emissions actually increased by 7 percent relative to the 2019 baseline. Worse, its Scope 3 emissions (dairy milk, agricultural production, and product transport—which account for more than 90 percent of its total emissions) rose 8 percent, prompting the company to actively reassess its broader 2030 goal, it says.
Starbucks has not publicly connected the Impossible sandwich’s discontinuation to its climate strategy or explained how the decision factors into its emissions targets. But with the chain removing its sole plant-based meat offering while adding another beef-based menu item, its food strategy appears to be moving in a different direction from the plant-forward ambitions it highlighted six years ago.
Starbucks
Starbucks’ vegan options get even slimmer
The departure leaves Starbucks without a plant-based meat option on its advertised US menu, although the chain still offers a handful of vegetarian choices and one certified vegan savory food item: the Spicy Falafel Pocket.
Added to the permanent menu in 2025, the pocket combines mashed falafel, hummus, roasted red bell peppers, pickled onions, and spicy herb sauce, all wrapped in toasted lavash flatbread. Starbucks has also continued expanding its non-dairy beverage customizations, including removing the additional charge for non-dairy milk in 2024.
The sandwich’s removal has prompted frustration among customers and employees. In a Reddit discussion about the discontinuation, one commenter wrote: “It’s been very apparent for two years now that this company does not care about vegans or dairy-free customers. It’s very upsetting, but not surprising at this point.”
For more plant-based stories like this, read:
JUMP TO ... Latest News | Recipes | Guides | Health | Subscribe
