Food Distributors NAICS 4244

Jul 30, 2025 - Distributor Hit by Cyberattack

• A June cyberattack at United Natural Foods -- one of the nation’s largest food distributors -- left shelves sparsely stocked or empty at some of its grocery store customers, The Wall Street Journal reports. The incident exposed the food supply chain’s vulnerability to cyberattacks, with some retailers unable to place orders with the distributor and UNFI unable to order from food companies. Cyberattacks are costly, with UNFI estimating losses of up to $425 million in lost sales and breach-related expenses. UNFI first detected the cyberattack on June 5 and shut down its entire network on June 6, leaving customers in limbo for days. UNFI restored its ordering systems on June 16. CEO Sandy Douglas during a guidance call said the distributor had restored its core systems and “broadly returned to more normal operating capacity” across its distribution network by June 26. By mid-July the company said it was almost fully recovered.
• C&S Wholesale Grocers (CSWG) is moving to grow its grocery distribution and retailing businesses by acquiring SpartanNash in a deal valued at more than $1.7 billion, Grocery Dive reports. Except for Maryland, Texas, and Florida, where both companies have distribution centers, there is relatively little overlap between the two to draw negative attention from regulators, as in CSWG’s previous attempt to acquire hundreds of stores and multiple distribution centers from grocers Kroger and Albertsons as part of their failed merger. The combined company would operate almost 60 complementary distribution centers across the US and would serve close to 10,000 independent retail locations, with collectively more than over 200 corporate-run grocery stores, according to the press release announcing the deal. The larger scale of the combined company will enable it to offer the best possible delivered cost of goods and promotional discounts, per CSWG.

• One of the US’s largest supermarket operators is telling suppliers it won’t accept any price increases due to President Trump’s tariffs on imports, Supermarket News reports. An April letter from Albertsons’ head of merchandising to suppliers reads: “With few exceptions, we are not accepting cost increases due to tariffs,” adding “Suppliers are not permitted to include tariff-related costs in invoices without prior authorization by Albertsons Companies. Any invoices that include such charges without prior authorization will be subject to dispute and may result in payment delays.” Once submitted, the company will take up to 30 days to review the forms and approval is not guaranteed, per SN. As intermediaries between food manufacturers and retailers, food distributors are stuck between grocers taking a hard-line approach regarding tariff-related price increases and manufacturers looking to pass along higher costs to consumers.
• Producer prices for grocery and related product merchant wholesalers rose 2.1% in June compared to a year ago, after jumping 20% in the previous June-versus-June annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Industry producer prices have been rising steeply amid food price inflation since about mid-2021, but have eased from their peak in March of this year. Employment by grocery distributors grew 1.5% year over year in May, while the average industry wage remained flat over the same period at $27.05 per hour, BLS data show.