United Natural Foods Inc. says it has fully restored its core operations following a cyberattack that disrupted its business in June. The wholesale grocery distributor announced Tuesday that while sales have rebounded, the attack will dent fourth-quarter profits and increase operating costs.
“Operations are back to normal,” CEO Sandy Douglas told analysts on a July 16 business update call. “This was a significant disruption, but it’s one we’ve contained, and it will not have lasting operational effects.”
UNFI, which supplies 30,000 grocery stores and partners with 11,000 suppliers across North America, said its ordering, shipping, and back-office systems are now functioning normally. The company expects fill rates, delivery times, and volume to continue improving in the coming weeks.
The attack, first disclosed in early June, forced UNFI to shut down key systems. Executives said the decision helped limit the spread of the breach and protect data. Within 10 days, the company had restored its main ordering platform, and by late June, it had resumed most distribution and administrative operations.
UNFI declined to say who was behind the attack or whether it was ransomware. The company brought in outside cybersecurity, legal, and governance experts as part of its response.
While the systems are back online, the attack took a toll on the company’s bottom line.
UNFI cut its full-year earnings outlook, citing about $350 million to $400 million in lost sales during the fourth quarter and $65 million to $75 million in pre-tax costs tied to the incident.
These costs include:
- $5 million in cybersecurity and legal expenses
- $20 million in added labor, spoilage, and inefficiencies from manual workarounds.
- Higher overtime pays and slower warehouse operations during the outage.
“We had to keep products moving, even when our systems were offline,” said Douglas. “That meant using less efficient manual processes that cost more.”
The company said it expects most of the financial hits to be limited to the final quarter of its fiscal year.
UNFI now expects:
- Net sales are between $31.6 billion and $31.8 billion — slightly higher than earlier projections.
- Full-year profit (adjusted EBITDA) of $535 million to $565 million — down from previous forecasts
- Capital spending of $250 million — $50 million lower, due to reallocated resources.
- Free cash flow of about $200 million — up from its earlier projection of $150 million
Despite the setback, UNFI said its long-term plans remain unchanged. The company still expects to reduce its debt ratio to 2.5 times earnings by the end of fiscal 2026—one year earlier than initially projected.
CFO Matteo Tarditi said the company’s strategy remains intact. “We’re still delivering above-market growth,” he said. “This was a temporary disruption, not a structural issue.”
UNFI plans to provide updated long-term financial targets later this year as it begins fiscal 2026.
Executives repeatedly thanked customers, suppliers, and employees for working through the crisis. “We know this created headaches for everyone we work with,” said Douglas. “But their patience, and our team’s response, helped us recover quickly.”
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