Whole Foods Faces Delivery Disruptions Due to Cyberattack at Primary Distributor
The ongoing outages and disruptions at United Natural Foods (UNFI), the primary distributor for Whole Foods, have caused significant challenges for the retail giant. Whole Foods informed its employees that it may take “several days to resolve” the issues stemming from a nationwide technology system outage at UNFI, which the distributor has attributed to a cybersecurity incident.
According to an internal communication seen by JS, Whole Foods stated that the cyberattack has impacted UNFI’s ability to select and ship products from their warehouses, leading to disruptions in normal delivery schedules and product availability. As a result, the grocery chain has instructed its staff to limit communications with customers and provide only a single approved talking point about “temporary supply challenges.”
In response to inquiries, Whole Foods spokesperson Nathan Cimbala expressed apologies for any inconvenience caused to customers and stated that the company is working diligently to restock shelves. However, UNFI has not provided a timeline for its recovery, leaving many uncertainties surrounding the situation.
UNFI, a major food distributor in North America, serves over 30,000 stores and supermarkets in the U.S. and Canada. The company disclosed the cyberattack in a regulatory filing on Monday and CEO Sandy Douglas confirmed that the entire network was taken offline after the intrusion was detected.
Despite reporting $8.1 billion in net sales for the quarter ending May 3, 2025, UNFI’s operations have been severely impacted by the cyber incident. Reports of empty shelves at Whole Foods and other stores reliant on UNFI have surfaced, indicating potential challenges for customers in the coming days.
While some stores have displayed notices of temporary out-of-stock issues, the full extent of the disruption’s impact on grocery stores and their customers may only become apparent later this week. As the situation unfolds, stakeholders are urged to stay informed and prepared for potential delays and shortages.
If you have information regarding the cyberattack at UNFI or have been affected by the disruption as a corporate customer, you can reach out to this reporter securely via encrypted message at zackwhittaker.1337 on Signal.
