Whole Foods tells staff cyberattack at its primary distributor UNFI will affect product availability

Whole Foods has informed its workforce that the ongoing disruptions at its primary distributor, United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), could take several days to resolve. An internal communication obtained by TechCrunch revealed that UNFI is facing a significant "nationwide technology system outage," which the company attributes to a cybersecurity incident. In the memo, Whole Foods noted that this cyberattack is hindering UNFI’s ability to select and ship products from its warehouses, leading to disruptions in normal delivery schedules and product availability. Employees were instructed to limit customer communications, with the only approved message being that the grocery chain is currently experiencing "temporary supply challenges." A spokesperson for Whole Foods, Nathan Cimbala, stated, "We are working to restock our shelves as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused for customers." However, UNFI has not responded to requests for comments and has yet to provide a timeline for recovery from the incident. UNFI, one of North America’s largest food distributors, services over 30,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada. The company disclosed the cyberattack in a filing with federal regulators on Monday. UNFI's CEO, Sandy Douglas, informed investors that the company took its entire network offline after detecting the breach last Friday. In its latest financial report, UNFI announced $8.1 billion in net sales for the quarter ending May 3, 2025. Reports from various Whole Foods locations indicate empty shelves, with some stores posting notices regarding temporary out-of-stock issues. The full extent of the impact on grocery stores and their customers is expected to become clearer later this week. If you have insights into the cyberattack at UNFI or are a corporate customer experiencing disruptions, you can reach out securely via encrypted message to the reporter.