Co-op navigating shortages after distributor hit with cyberattack

One of the main food distributors for Cook County Co-op, United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), experienced a nationwide system outage due to a cyberattack on one of its internal systems.  The outage means deliveries to the Grand Marais co-op will be limited in the short term, and some ordered products may not be received.

The co-op is currently working with food cooperators at National Co+op Grocers, local vendors, and other distributors to mitigate the impact.

“UNFI at this point is doing their absolute best to kind of navigate their overall inventory by sending out as much food as possible using kind of what I’d kind call this old school methodology,” Cook County Co-op General Manager Ahren Grunow told WTIP.  “I would imagine some type of kind of like paper and pen type of tracking where they’re sending this stuff out.”

United Natural Foods, Inc. is one of the largest distributors of natural products in the country. Their customers include the Whole Foods Market franchise, which is owned by Amazon.  UNFI also owns Super Value, which owns all Cub Foods grocery stores and other chains throughout the Midwest.

“In the grand scheme of scale, when you’re comparing Cub and Whole Foods Markets, you know, at a certain point, we’re kind of also waiting for those, those huge, big box people, to also be motivating, UNFI, to get this corrected,” Grunow said.

UNFI supplies the Cook County Co-op with a variety of products, including eggs, milk, meat, and cheese options.  The co-op is hoping to pivot to other partners in an effort to limit the impact.

“It’s only been a few days since this has happened, so I’m hoping that they get this online and back, kind of where it’s supposed to be, and not too long,” Grunow said.

Cook County Co-op cautions that some common or essential items may be in shorter supply, and there is no current timeframe for UNFI to resolve the issue.

WTIP’s CJ Heithoff spoke to Cook County Co-op General Manager Ahren Grunow on North Shore Morning.  The audio of that conversation can be found below.

Josh Hinke June 14, 2025