Food Distributors NAICS 4244

Aug 30, 2025 - SNAP Cuts Threaten Grocers

• Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka SNAP) included in President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill" signed in July threaten small, rural grocery stores, The New York Times reports. Roughly 27,000 food retailers that largely operate in rural counties are considered to be most vulnerable to the cuts, according to an analysis from the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, cited by NYT. “We’ll likely see more independent grocery stores in low-income and rural areas going under, especially during a recession,” Robert Greenstein, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution said. Stricter work requirements on recipients and the shifting of some of the program’s cost to the states could reduce benefits for some families and cause others to lose their benefits entirely, reducing grocery store sales. Distributors that serve small, rural grocery stores would see their customer base shrink if stores close.
• 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.

• 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 6.5% in July compared to a year ago, after climbing 9.9% in the previous July-versus-July 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 1.8% year over year in June, while the average industry wage remained flat over the same period at $27.31 per hour, not far from its record high, BLS data show.