EVERETT — A cyberattack at a grocery chain supplier has resulted in food shortages, including in at least three grocery stores in Snohomish County.
Grocery distributor United Natural Foods said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday night that it became aware of unauthorized access to its computer systems on June 5, and then began shutting down portions of its network. The filing stated that the intrusion has impacted its ability to deliver orders.
United, which specializes in supplying natural, organic and specialty foods, added that the company was continuing to serve its customers “when possible” by implementing workarounds, but did not provide details.
Evidence of the supply disruption could be seen at two stores in Snohomish County on Tuesday and Wednesday.
At the US Foods CHEF’STORE in Everett on Wednesday morning, the entire produce section consisted of only four boxes of oranges. Many areas containing meats and perishable goods were half empty.
Tony Collins, of Snohomish, was at the US Foods store searching for beef ribs, spare ribs and baby back ribs to feed his family of eight. He said he was headed to Costco in Everett but decided to stop in at the US Foods store first because the pricing can be lower.
Collins came away empty handed.
“I have not seen such a shortage of food here since the pandemic,” he said.
On Tuesday evening, The Whole Foods Markets Store in Lynnwood also had low amounts of perishable food and had empty shelves of bottled water, personal hygiene products and canned goods during a visit Tuesday evening.
United serves Snohomish County from a warehouse in Ridgefield in Southwest Washington, 20 minutes north of Portland.
In an emailed response, a US Foods CHEF’STORE spokeswoman attributed the empty shelves to a temporary supply chain disruption, which has impacted some deliveries.
“The third-party supplier is working diligently to resolve their disruption as soon as possible,” she said. “Our customers remain our top priority, and we are implementing measures to mitigate potential disruptions.”
She did not go into details.
A green sign posted on the front doors of the US Foods CHEF’STORE in Everett and Lynnwood warned customers that some items might be out of stock.
“Due to an unforeseen disruption in our supply chain, some items may be temporarily unavailable. We are working diligently to restock as quickly as possible,” the sign read.
Whole Foods had signs posted throughout its Lynnwood supermarket on empty shelves.
“We are experiencing a temporary out of stock issue for some products,” they read. “We apologize for the inconvenience and should have your favorite products back in stock soon.”
A Whole Foods spokeswoman said in an email that the company is working to restock shelves as quickly as possible. She declined to comment further.
Back in May 2024, United and Whole Foods signed an eight-year extension to an existing contract, agreeing that United would continue to be Whole Foods’ primary supplier.
Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.
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