Numerous Minnesota Grocery Stores Impacted By Major Cyber Attack

A cyber attack is leading to issues for multiple grocery stores around Minnesota, which is likely to have ripple effects for customers as we get into the summer season.

On Monday, it was revealed that a major distributor to grocery store chains around Minnesota was hit by a cyber attack, leading to empty store shelves for a number of products.

Some of the grocery stores that carry products from this provider include chains like Cub Foods, Super One Foods, and Lunds & Byerlys, and smaller shops like Duluth's Mount Royal Fine Foods.

The company hit by the cyber attack is United International Foods (UNFI), whose brands include Essential Everyday, Wild Harvest, and Culinary Circle. UNFI's products include food, beverages, and some items found at pharmacies.

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UNFI says it "promptly responded" when it detected what it says were unauthorized activities in some of its IT systems. Some of their response included proactively taking some of their systems offline.

The result of the cyber attack and their response measures has led to issues in fulfilling orders from their customers, the grocery stores to which they provide goods.

Stores have been alerting customers to the likelihood of products going missing from their shelves as supplies run out, until things are able to get back to normal. Super One Foods in Northern Minnesota, for example, has placed signs at the entry doors to their store to let customers know about the reasons for the temporary supply issues.

While UNFI says they are working to mitigate the effects, it is unclear how far into the summer this temporary disruption will ripple into the summer.

They say they are working with their partners to minimize the disruptions and effects of this issue. The company says they are still shipping on a limited capacity to customers. While the recovery is a "work in progress", they say "it’s getting increasingly positive each day".