United Natural Foods

UNFI
TypePublic
NASDAQ: UNFI
S&P 600 Component
IndustryFood Wholesale / Distribution
FounderMichael 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)
Productswholesale natural, organic, ethnic and gourmet, grocery, produce, perishables, personal care, and supplements.
Revenue US$ 20 billion
US$ 241.96 million (2015)
Number of employees
19,000 [1] (2019)
DivisionsUNFI Canada, Alberts Fresh Produce, Tony’s Fine Foods, Nor-Cal Produce, UNFI Wellness, Woodstock Farms, UNFI Brands+, Honest Green eSolutions, UNFI Easy Options
Websiteunfi.com

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

Woodstock Farms

UNFI Brands+

Honest Green eSolutions

UNFI Easy Options

Pictsweet Farms

References
  1. "United Natural Foods company profile". Craft.
  2. "UNFI Reaches Definitive Agreements to Sell 13 Shoppers Food Stores". ir.unfi.com. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  3. Klingler, Desmond (2015-02-21). 21st Century Homestead: Organic Food. Lulu.com. ISBN 9781312937598.
  4. "UNFI Grows With the Organic and Natural Food Market - Clean Yield". www.cleanyield.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  5. "UNFI to acquire Millbrook". New Hope. 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  6. "UNFI Signs Up Safeway". supermarketnews.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  7. Kaplan, Jennifer (2015-07-21). "United Natural Foods Plunges as Albertsons Contract Canceled". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  8. "UNFI, Buyer's Best Friend Create Reordering System". ProgressiveGrocer. 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  9. "UNFI acquires California produce distributor". supermarketnews.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  10. "United Natural Foods to acquire Haddon House for $217.5 million". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  11. "United Natural Foods (UNFI) Acquires Gourmet Guru". StreetInsider.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  12. "Here's Why Shares of United Natural Foods Are Tanking". Fortune. 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  13. Inc, United Natural Foods. "UNFI Completes Transformative Acquisition Of SUPERVALU". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.