Whole Foods has informed its employees that product shortages occurring throughout its stores are due to a cybersecurity incident impacting its primary distributor, United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI). In an internal message distributed to staff, Whole Foods explained that UNFI is currently facing a “nationwide technology system outage” triggered by the cyberattack, which has disrupted the distributor’s ability to process orders and ship goods from its warehouses.
The communication to staff indicated that disruptions may persist for several days, directly affecting product availability and the regular delivery timelines. To manage customer inquiries, Whole Foods directed its employees to utilize a single approved phrase, describing the issue succinctly as “temporary supply challenges.”
In response to the situation, a spokesperson from Whole Foods issued a statement assuring customers that the retailer is actively working “to restock shelves as quickly as possible,” expressing regret for inconveniences stemming from this incident.
UNFI, one of North America’s largest grocery distributors, serves over 30,000 grocery stores and supermarkets, distributing a wide range of grocery items and fresh produce across the United States and Canada. The distributor publicly confirmed the cyberattack through a regulatory filing, revealing it had proactively taken its entire network offline shortly after detecting the intrusion late last week.
Although UNFI has yet to provide additional comment or a recovery timeline, anecdotal reports have already surfaced indicating empty shelves at Whole Foods and other grocers dependent upon its distribution network. Signs posted in the aisles of at least one Whole Foods store described unspecified “temporary out of stock issues.”
The wider impact of this disruption on consumers and grocery supplies is expected to become clearer in the coming days.
