United Natural Foods
Public | |
Traded as | NASDAQ: UNFI S&P 600 Component |
Industry | Food Wholesale / Distribution |
Founder | Michael Funk and Norman A. Cloutier |
Headquarters | Providence, RI , United States |
Area served | United States, Canada |
Key people | Steven L. Spinner (CEO & Chairman of the Board) Sean Griffin (COO) |
Products | wholesale natural, organic, ethnic and gourmet, grocery, produce, perishables, personal care, and supplements. |
Revenue | |
Number of employees | 19,000 [1] (2019) |
Divisions | UNFI Canada, Alberts Fresh Produce, Tony’s Fine Foods, Nor-Cal Produce, UNFI Wellness, Woodstock Farms, UNFI Brands+, Honest Green eSolutions, UNFI Easy Options |
Website | unfi |
UNFI is a North American food wholesaler[2]
History
UNFI was founded in 1996 by the merger of two regional distributors, Mountain People's Warehouse (founded in 1976, serving the Western U.S.) and Cornucopia Natural Foods (founded in 1977, serving the Eastern U.S.), forming the first natural products distributorship with national scope.[3] Since 1996, other regional distributors have merged with UNFI, filling in the distribution footprint and making UNFI the largest distributor of natural products.[4]
In 2007 UNFI acquired Millbrook Distribution Services.[5] In 2011, UNFI signed a distribution agreement with Safeway Inc. for the distribution of non-proprietary natural, organic and specialty products.[6] This agreement was terminated by Safeway in July, 2015,[7] leading to a drop in share price and two rounds of layoffs, their first in the history of the company.
In 2012 UNFI partnered with Buyer's Best Friend to create a unified reordering system.[8] In 2016, the company announced the acquisition of Nor-Cal produce, Inc.[9] It also completed the acquisition of Haddon House Food Products, Inc. in 2016.[10] That same year, it announced the acquisition of Gourmet Guru, Inc.[11] In early 2016, UNFI worried investors by disclosing that it missed Wall Street's expectations.[12]
On October 22, 2018, UNFI completed the acquisition of SuperValu, Inc.[13]
Divisions of UNFI:
UNFI Canada
Alberts Fresh Produce
Tony’s Fine Foods
Nor-Cal Produce
UNFI Wellness
UNFI Brands+
References
- "United Natural Foods company profile". Craft.
- "UNFI Reaches Definitive Agreements to Sell 13 Shoppers Food Stores". ir.unfi.com. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
- Klingler, Desmond (2015-02-21). 21st Century Homestead: Organic Food. Lulu.com. ISBN 9781312937598.
- "UNFI Grows With the Organic and Natural Food Market - Clean Yield". www.cleanyield.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- "UNFI to acquire Millbrook". New Hope. 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- "UNFI Signs Up Safeway". supermarketnews.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- Kaplan, Jennifer (2015-07-21). "United Natural Foods Plunges as Albertsons Contract Canceled". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- "UNFI, Buyer's Best Friend Create Reordering System". ProgressiveGrocer. 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- "UNFI acquires California produce distributor". supermarketnews.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- "United Natural Foods to acquire Haddon House for $217.5 million". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- "United Natural Foods (UNFI) Acquires Gourmet Guru". StreetInsider.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- "Here's Why Shares of United Natural Foods Are Tanking". Fortune. 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- Inc, United Natural Foods. "UNFI Completes Transformative Acquisition Of SUPERVALU". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-12-10.