As United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) works to address ongoing IT network issues, emails have surfaced on social media indicating the disruption could last until next week.
UNFI announced it suspended its systems on Monday after the wholesale distributor of natural and organic food products identified unauthorized activity in its IT systems.
The systems impacted are currently unspecified, and UNFI has yet to confirm whether or not the incident was caused by a cyberattack. No individuals or groups have claimed responsibility for the disruption to UNFI’s IT network.
Kristen Jimenez, UNFI’s communications vice president, told FreightWaves the company is “working steadily” to safely restore its systems and resume services for its customers and suppliers.
“As of today, we’re gradually bringing our ordering and receiving capabilities back online, with the goal of further increasing our capacity over the coming days,” Jimenez said in an email to FreightWaves. “The investigation is ongoing with the support of leading forensics experts. Our customers, suppliers, and associates are our highest priority. We continue to work closely with them to minimize disruptions as much as possible.”
A post on X on Wednesday reportedly showed email correspondence between UNFI’s software management team and an unnamed vendor.
“Between now and next Sunday, we plan to bring certain systems back online in a phased way, including basic order and fulfillment capabilities by Tuesday or Wednesday,” the email said.
The outage has reportedly left grocery retailers in limbo as they are unable to replenish products with new orders. One individual posted a photo on X showing a Whole Foods grocery store with several empty shelves.
A Whole Foods spokesperson told Reuters on Monday that the grocer was “working to restock [its] shelves as quickly as possible.”
