The move means new leadership for both natural / organic as well as conventional grocery
January 8, 2025
United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) continues to attempt to right the ship as a company, with a move to split its wholesale business into natural / organic and conventional grocery in a way it hasn’t done previously, the company announced on Wednesday.
The move comes after several years of the Providence, R.I.-based distributor struggling to find its identity within the industry. In June 2023, UNFI announced a regional restructuring—saying it would consolidate from four regions to three. It also laid off some 150 employees at that time. Not long after that, the grocer added independent board members specially focused on driving shareholder value.
This most-recent move to restructure the wholesale business means new leaders for each division, who will arguably have their own marching orders to drive value and growth in the sectors.
Last year, UNFI seemed to be putting in motion an effort to broaden the scope of its business, announcing that its selling shows for the year would support both the natural and conventional supplier as well as “all grocery retail customer channels” and positioning. A release at the time placed an emphasis on UNFI’s “full spectrum of products and services” targeting customer buying behavior. The distributor has since gone on to place an emphasis on its tech products, including a new retail media network launched in May.
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“This realignment is another step in the execution of our plan to add value and improve efficiency and effectiveness for our customers and suppliers,” UNFI CEO Sandy Douglas said in a press release. “By empowering our commercial teams to provide a more customized product and service-centered experience, we intend to help our customers and suppliers differentiate, compete, and grow profitability through a more responsive, efficient, and effective operating model.”
As part of the new wholesale restructuring, Louis Martin, currently president of wholesale for UNFI, will become president of the conventional grocery products as well as chief commercial officer. Mark Bushway, UNFI’s chief supply chain officer, will retain that title and additionally become president of the natural, organic, specialty, and fresh foods products.
Each division will have a focused sales team and will be supported by functional experts in merchandising, operations, procurement, and supplier services, the distributor said in a press release.
Areas including supply chain, professional and digital services, and private brands will work across the divisions to support sales leaders in building customized programs to help drive sales and growth.
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Despite recently reporting a couple of stronger quarterly financials, UNFI has still been plagued with layoffs and questions about the company’s overall financial viability. In early December, the distributor announced it would close an office in Rhode Island, laying off 121 workers. Over the summer, Supermarket News reported on murmurings that UNFI may even have been considering a sale, allegations that UNFI’s CEO Sandy Douglas refuted.
Read more about:
Chloe Riley
Executive Editor, Supermarket News
Chloe Riley is the Executive Editor of Supermarket News, which delivers the ultimate in competitive business intelligence, news and information for executives in the food retail and grocery industry. A graduate of the School of Journalism at Columbia College Chicago, Chloe previously served as a Digital Strategist at SEO firm Profound Strategy, Associate Editor at B2B hospitality mag HOTELS Magazine, as well as CEO of her own digital strategy company, Chlowe. She lives in Woodstock, Illinois.
Email her at [email protected], or reach out on LinkedIn and say hi.
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