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Several major U.S. grocery businesses were disrupted by cyber incidents between November 2024 and June 2025, but they were not all the same kind of event. Ahold Delhaize USA took parts of its own information-technology environment offline and later confirmed that files were removed from some internal systems. A ransomware attack on technology provider Blue Yonder disrupted operations for customers including Albertsons and Kroger. United Natural Foods (UNFI) took systems offline after detecting unauthorized activity, affecting order fulfillment for Whole Foods and other retailers. A claimed Sam’s Club listing on a leak site remains unverified.
Those distinctions matter: a retailer’s network can remain uncompromised while a supplier outage still delays deliveries, weakens inventory visibility or leaves shelves short. No authoritative public tally covers every major grocery-chain incident or the number of affected shoppers.
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Incidents involving major grocery businesses
Ahold Delhaize USA: internal systems taken offline
In November 2024, Ahold Delhaize USA took parts of its information-technology infrastructure offline after an incident. The company said some U.S. brands and services were affected, including pharmacies and e-commerce operations. The group’s U.S. business spans 7,910 stores and serves about 72 million customers each week, according to figures reported by TechRadar in 2025.
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In April 2025, Ahold Delhaize confirmed that “certain files were taken from some of our internal U.S. business systems,” while saying its investigation was continuing. TechRadar reported that the company had not established whether customer information was included. The public record therefore supports confirmed file theft from internal systems, but not a conclusion that shoppers’ personal data was exposed.
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Blue Yonder: ransomware at a technology supplier
On November 21, 2024, Blue Yonder said a disruption to its managed services was “the result of a ransomware incident.” Blue Yonder provides supply-chain software and services used by retailers and other businesses. Reporting identified Albertsons and Kroger among major U.S. grocery customers affected by the disruption.
The consequences were primarily operational: delivery delays, problems with warehouse and inventory-management processes, and contingency or manual workarounds. An outage at a shared supplier does not by itself show that Albertsons, Kroger or another retailer’s own network was breached, nor that customer data was stolen from those retailers.
United Natural Foods: distributor outage affected orders
In June 2025, United Natural Foods detected “unauthorized activity” and took systems offline. The company’s securities filing, summarized by the Associated Press, said the incident affected its “ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders.” Whole Foods and other grocery businesses reported leaner supplies while services were restored.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11UNFI is a distributor rather than a supermarket chain. Its incident demonstrates how a compromise at a wholesaler can affect store availability without establishing that each retailer suffered a direct intrusion. Public reporting did not establish that the disruption involved customer-data theft.
Sam’s Club: leak-site claim not confirmed
In March 2025 reporting, Check Point said the Clop extortion group listed Sam’s Club on a leak site and that the retailer was investigating. No proof of a breach had been published, and Sam’s Club had not disclosed specific incident details. This is an allegation, not a confirmed breach, so it should not be counted with the verified incidents above.
How the incidents differ
| Business or event | Direct retailer or third party | What is confirmed | Shopper-facing or operational effects | Public disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahold Delhaize USA (November 2024) | Direct internal U.S. systems | Parts of IT were taken offline; files were later confirmed taken from some internal systems. Customer-data exposure was not established. | Some brand services, pharmacies and e-commerce were affected. | Investigation was still continuing in April 2025. |
| Blue Yonder (November 21, 2024) | Third-party supply-chain provider | Blue Yonder described the managed-services disruption as ransomware. | Retail customers including Albertsons and Kroger experienced delivery, warehouse and inventory problems and used manual or contingency processes. | Public information focused on service disruption rather than a retailer-network breach. |
| United Natural Foods (June 2025) | Third-party distributor | UNFI detected unauthorized activity and took systems offline. | Order fulfillment and distribution were impaired; Whole Foods and other grocers saw leaner supplies. | Details were disclosed through the company’s filing and public reporting. |
| Sam’s Club claim (reported March 2025) | Alleged direct listing | Clop reportedly listed the company; no public proof of breach was provided. | No specific impact was confirmed. | Retailer investigation was reported, without incident details. |
What Kroger’s own filing says
Kroger’s fiscal 2025 Form 10-K states that the company was not aware of a material cybersecurity threat or incident that had materially affected it during at least the preceding three years. That statement addresses incidents material to Kroger itself. It does not negate the Blue Yonder disruption or other incidents at suppliers and software providers used by retailers.
The same filing describes Kroger’s scale as approximately 2,800 supermarkets, distribution warehouses, fulfillment centers and food-production plants. A large operating footprint can experience service effects from a supplier outage even when the retailer does not report a material compromise of its own network.
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What shoppers should do
- Verify unusual messages. Treat emails or text messages about refunds, loyalty points, account resets or order problems as possible phishing. Open the retailer’s recognized website yourself or call the official customer-service number printed on a statement or the company’s website; do not use links or phone numbers in the message.
- Use a unique grocery-account password. Do not reuse it on email, banking, delivery or other services. Reused credentials can enable credential-stuffing attacks when a password from one service appears in another breach.
- Enable multifactor authentication. Turn it on wherever the retailer offers it. For compatible accounts, a FIDO2 physical security key provides a hardware-based sign-in factor.
- Watch for an official notice. A service outage alone does not prove that personal information was exposed. If a retailer confirms that personal data may have been involved, follow its notification instructions and consider a credit freeze or fraud alert.
- Expect operational workarounds. During supplier incidents, delivery windows, online inventory, pharmacy processing or product availability may be unreliable even when payment cards and customer accounts are functioning normally.
What is known—and what is not
The confirmed cases show several paths to disruption: a retailer can lose access to internal systems, a software provider can halt supply-chain services, or a distributor can be forced offline. Public statements do not establish that every outage involved stolen customer information. A named company on an extortion site is not proof of compromise, and a third-party incident is not proof that a retailer’s own network was breached.
Because investigations, notifications and service restoration can change over time, shoppers should rely on dated statements from the affected company, regulatory filings and established reporting for the latest status rather than assuming that a reported outage automatically means a data breach.
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