Shelves at whole foods, Other Grocery Stoles Go Empty Amid Unfi Outage – ryan

The aisles of your Local Grocery Store Might Look More Sparse than usual going into the weekend.

The Reason Involves a Food Distribution Company That Few Shoppers have probably heard of: United Natural Foods.

The Grocery Supplier, Also Known As Unfi, Noticed “Unautorized Activity” on Its Its Last Week, The Company Said in a Filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. UNFI Shut Down Its Network in Response to the Cyberattack, Ceo Sandy Douglas Said on the Company’s Earnings Call Tuesday.

The Result has snarled both its delivery system and the story ‘ability to place orers. That’s Leaving Some Supermarkets, From National Chains Like Whole Foods to Family-Run Markets, out of stock on everything from milk to pasta this week.

In a video sentomers to customers on wednesday and viewed by Business insider, douglas said that unfa “aimit to return to a state that resembles Our previous operative capacity” by Sunday.

“We Never Want to Be the Reason that you’re out of Stock on Certain Items,” He Said in the Video.

Empty Shelves in the Snack Aisle at A Whole Foods Store in Washington, DC

Alex Bitter/Business Insider

Still, at a whole foods Store in Washington, dc that bi visited on wednesday afternoon, shelves that normally containe breakfast cereal, pastes, and snacks wellly bars. There were also empty spaces in coolers and freezers where some frozen corn, ice cream, and milk should be.

A sign at a whole foods Store apologizing for an out-of-strock Product.

Alex Bitter/Business Insider

At Each Empty Spot, Store Staff Posted a Sign Apologizing. “We are experiencing a temporary out-of-strock Issue for Some Products,” The Signs Read.

Similar signage was up on some cats containing Juice, Ice Cream, and Other Cold Items at a Whole Foods Store in City Bi Also Visited on Wednesday.

A WHOE FOODS SPOESESSON SAID The Company is “Working to Restock Our Shelves as Quickly As Postible” and Directed Additional Questions to Unfi.

Grocery Story Arees Scrambling to Keep High-Demand Products in Stock

Smaller Grocery Stoles Are Also Facing Empty Shelves – and Finding New Suppliers to Solve The Problem.

Linda Gommel, The Ceo of Lucerne Valley Market and Hardware in Southern California, First Notized Something was WRONG LAST FRIDAY WEND SHOW DOWNLOAD INVOICES THAT NEEDED FROM UNFI’S DIGITAL SYSTEM.

“IT’S JUST GOTTEN WORK FROM THERE, CECAUSE WE GOT NO GROCKERY LOAD MONDAY, and No Frozen and Refrigerated Load Tuesday,” Gommel Told Bi. “We Still don’t know about the rest of the Week.”

Most canned and shelf-stable grossies were Still in Stock at Lucerne Valley Market on Tuesday, Gommel Told Bi. But some dairy products, Such as Cottage Cheese and Sour Cream, Were Starting to Run Out.

The outage has forced gommel to get Creative to avoid running out of high-demand products that would normally come from unfi.

Said she bought some fresh meat on tuesday from Sysco, a Company Better Known for Supplying Restaurants Than Supermarkets. She’s Also Stocking Up on Bottled Water From A Local Supplier in Case Her Normal Shipment doesn’t Come Through.

For Products, Such As Health and Beauty Items, She’s Turning to Two Sources that are of the Smaller Chains Like Hers: Amazon and Walmart. “That’s just little bits here and there,” She Said.

One Employee at A Cooperative Market in the Northeastern US Said That Management at the Store Where Work Told The Outage on Saturday Morning. The co-op is a Member of the National Co-op Grokers, or NCG, which negotiates Supply Contracts with Unf for Its Stores.

The co-op was out of bulky paper goods bi spoke to the employs on tuesday afternion.

“IT’S A PRETY SMALL STORE, SO we’re not going to have the way of back-strock the way that that is a crogler or who is going to have,” The Emploee Said. They as asced not to be identified by name and not authorized to speak publicly, but thyir identity is known to b.

The Employee Said Unfi Had Told the Store That It Wouuld Be more Selection of 50 Top-Seling Products this Week to Prevent the Shelves from Becoming Too Bare.

That’s an Unusual Strategy, The Employee Said. The Store’s Staff Normally Orders Specific Products from Unfi Based on what’s selling at that location.

Without Regular Orders Coming in, Products Could Could to Go Out of Stock Over The Next Few Days, the Employe Estimated.

“Our Management is hoping that wrists up by the end of the weeks and that unfi is back to normal,” the employs said. Ncg did not immediately respond to a Request for Comment from Bi.

Do you have a story to share about the unf outage? Contact this reporter at [email protected].