Customers on social media have expressed concern following the cyberattack, with some noting empty shelves at Whole Foods.
WASHINGTON — United Natural Foods Inc., a primary distributor for Whole Foods, has taken some of its systems offline following an apparent cyberattack.
The distributor said it became aware of the incident affecting its information technology systems on June 5, which caused “temporary disruptions to the company’s business operations,” according to an SEC regulatory filing.
“We have identified unauthorized activity in our systems and have proactively taken some systems offline while we investigate. As soon as we discovered the activity, an investigation was initiated with the help of leading forensics experts and we have notified law enforcement,” UNFI said in a statement on their website. “We are assessing the unauthorized activity and working to restore our systems to safely bring them back online. As we work through this issue, our customers, suppliers, and associates are our highest priority. We are working closely with them to minimize disruption as much as possible.”
UNFI works with more than 30,000 retail locations across North America, supplying them with a variety of “fresh, branded and private-label grocery items,” according to their site. In 2024, Amazon-owned Whole Foods extended its contract with the primary distributor for another eight years.
Customers on social media have expressed concern following the cyberattack, with some noting empty shelves at Whole Foods.
One post on Reddit appears to show an empty refrigerator with a sign that says, “experiencing a temporary out of stock issue for some products.”
Another user on X posted another picture of an empty refrigerator section.
“If ur main grocery store is Whole Foods… good luck,” the post read.
The extent of the cyberattack and its impact on store shelves is not yet known.
A Whole Foods spokesperson said the company is “working to restock our shelves as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused for customers.”