UPDATE: the latest about the UNFI Disruption
Dear Food Co-op Shoppers,
First off — thank you. Your patience and understanding over the past couple of weeks have made a big difference in helping to ensure there are groceries for everyone.
As you may know, our primary distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI), experienced a major cyberattack on June 9. This impacted not just The Food Co-op but thousands of retailers, including Whole Foods, PCC Community Markets, Fred Meyer, and others. While our center-store departments were most affected, our Produce, Deli, and Meat departments remain largely stocked because we source a lot of our perishable items locally.
Speaking of local — thanks to our incredible network of local vendors, we’ve been able to keep many of our “dry grocery” categories partially filled. Our vendors’ flexibility and quick deliveries helped us weather this disruption better than many. This experience has solidified for us just how vital supply diversification is to maintain a secure, resilient food system.
We’re especially grateful to you, our community, for dealing with the temporary outages in such a graceful manner!
Here’s where things stand now:
UNFI is rebuilding their systems from the ground up. While not yet back to full speed, they’re making steady progress.
We are now receiving fuller deliveries — though there are limitations. UNFI is “smoothing” shipments to ensure that all stores, big and small, get at least some product.
While some items are still out of stock, most shoppers are finding the majority of what they came in for.
We expect shelves to look much better by the end of this week, though it could take several more weeks for things to fully return to normal.
In the meantime, the good news? Local produce is poppin’! Organic cherries, raspberries, and strawberries are at their absolute peak — sweet, juicy, and oh-so-good. If you haven’t yet, stop by soon to grab these seasonal delights before they’re gone.
On behalf of all of us at the Co-op: Thank you for continuing to shop with us, for supporting our local food system, and for being part of this community. We’re honored to be your grocer.
Warmly, Kenna