Your Frequently Asked Questions Answered Here

UNFI (United Natural Foods, Inc.) is North America's premier grocery wholesaler delivering the widest variety of fresh, branded, and owned brand products to more than 30,000 locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, ecommerce providers, and food service customers.

UNFI also provides a broad range of value-added services and segmented marketing expertise, including proprietary technology, data, market insights, and shelf management to help customers and suppliers build their businesses and brands. As the largest full-service grocery partner in North America, we're committed to building a food system that is better for all and is uniquely positioned to deliver great food, more choices, and fresh thinking to customers.

To learn more, please visit our About Us page.

UNFI is committed to building a food system that is better for our people, our communities, and our world.

To learn more about our commitments and actions, please visit our Impact page.

UNFI actively engages with the communities we serve and charitable initiatives through our UNFI Foundation. We support non-profits in our communities whose main mission or innovative programs focus on one or more key areas: Climate Smart Agriculture, Food Access Innovations, Food Equity and Local Food Economies.

For more information about how we support sustainable food systems and our communities, and how to get involved, Visit our UNFI Foundation website.

For detailed information on open roles and career opportunities with UNFI, please visit our Careers Page.

UNFI is deeply committed to food safety and regulatory compliance. Our food safety vision is to have a world class food safety management system that achieves the highest level of industry standards and exceeds consumer expectations.

To see how UNFI is preparing for the Food Traceability Rule, and to see UNFI retailer and supplier requirements, please visit our Food Traceability page. 

UNFI serves both large and small partners, including chains, independent retailers, community grocers, supernatural chains, as well as foodservice, ecommerce, conventional military business, and other sales customers.

Our minimum order requirements may vary by location and type of customer. The starting minimum order requirement for all customers is $1500 weekly.

To become a customer, please fill out our New Customer Inquiry form here.

We offer a wide-ranging, innovative portfolio of products to extend your reach and grow your business. Our portfolio includes organic and natural foods, fresh, produce, specialty foods, health and wellness products, supplements, and non-food items. We also offer a selection of premium private brands, as well as private label custom packaged snacks through our Woodstock Farms Manufacturing division.

UNFI International is the global trade division of UNFI Inc. We serve manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers worldwide providing access to markets and products to grow sales. Our strong supply chain relationships and advanced global logistics management simplify the complexities of accessing new opportunities. We manage a large and diverse portfolio of national, regional and private label U.S. brands for international markets and offer high quality grocery, seasonal and general merchandise assortments.

To learn more about how we serve international, please visit here.

To become a supplier or vendor for UNFI, please fill out our New Supplier Inquiry form here.

If selected, suppliers will be required to complete and submit certain documents during the onboarding process, depending on the distribution centers to which Supplier delivers its products to and product type. Key documents include, but are not limited to the following:

• A signed supplier agreement.
• Certificate of Insurance for the amounts set out in Section 13 (Insurances).
• Completed New Supplier New Item Form with information on Supplier and Products.
• Freight Form.
• New Store Opening and Reset Program Form. This requires a physical signature.
• Completed and signed recent W9 Form, or W8 if an international Supplier.
• All applicable certificates (Kosher, Non-GMO, Organic, and/or Fair Trade).
• Distributor Price List and Specification Sheet.
• Copy of latest third party food safety audit certificate. All Suppliers must adopt and operate in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).
• Digital files containing legible Product labels, inclusive of the front, back, UPC, and, if applicable, recycling redemption states and values.

Suppliers are also required to acknowledge the UNFI Supplier and Vendor Code of Conduct and comply with its terms.

UNFI sources a wide range of natural, organic, and specialty food products, as well as health and wellness items, from suppliers. We value high-quality, sustainable, and ethically produced goods.

UNFI is also committed to developing, fostering, and retaining relationships with small businesses owned by disabled individuals, minorities, women, veterans (and service-disabled veterans), and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Our goal is to provide opportunities to those businesses that can offer quality, innovative, competitive, and cost-effective products, and services to our supply chain. We also support UNFI customers in achieving their own corporate supplier diversity goals. To learn more about our Inclusive Procurement programs and how to register, please visit our Inclusive Procurement page for more information.

UNFI believes our impact begins with the decisions made by our partners and suppliers, well before products reach our distribution centers. While we don’t directly control these processes, we take those impacts very seriously. We’re investing in programs and partnerships that will help build a more equitable system and carry our values further upstream.

In 2022, UNFI's science-based emissions reduction targets consistent with avoiding the worst effects of climate change were validated. With this important Science-Based Target (SBT) milestone, UNFI joined a global movement of companies leading the transition to a low-carbon economy.

UNFI has launched the Climate Action Partnership program that seeks to encourage and support climate action amongst our supplier partners. Climate Action Partners will be rewarded for their progress towards a more sustainable future with benefits provided by UNFI. For information on how to get involved, please visit our Climate Action Hub to learn more.

For more information about our policies and practices, please visit the links below. Please be sure to read our Supplier and Vendor Code of Conduct.

California Transparency 

Animal Welfare Standards 

Deforestation Policy

UNFI is committed to developing, fostering, and retaining relationships with small businesses owned by disabled individuals, minorities, women, veterans (and service-disabled veterans), and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Our goal is to provide opportunities to those businesses that can offer quality, innovative, competitive, and cost-effective products, and services to our supply chain. We also support UNFI customers in achieving their own corporate supplier diversity goals.

If you're interested in our program, first read about our registration process to ensure you're ready to register with us. Then, begin the registration process by using our Supplier Management System. To learn more, contact supplierdiversity@unfi.com.

To learn more about our Supplier Diversity programs and how to register, please visit our Inclusive Procurement page for more information.

United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) is committed to the distribution of safe, wholesome, high quality products that meet the highest safety, regulatory, and quality standards. While dedication to product excellence is our mission, situations may arise requiring our immediate action in order to contain the problem to avoid potentially harmful products from entering the consumer pipeline. To prepare for these incidents and provide guidance when actions are necessary, it is prudent to have guidelines in place in the form of a Product Recall & Withdrawal Policy for Suppliers.

Suppliers must provide, in writing, their most current recalls and withdrawals contact information to their UNFI Supplier Manager and must promptly update UNFI of any changes to this information. Furthermore, suppliers must immediately notify UNFI and all of the National Recall Team members (recalls@unfi.com) of each and every recall and withdrawal and must provide all of the pertinent information regarding the recall or withdrawal.

UNFI International is the global trade division of UNFI Inc. We serve manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers worldwide providing access to markets and products to grow sales. Our strong supply chain relationships and advanced global logistics management simplify the complexities of accessing new opportunities. We manage a large and diverse portfolio of national, regional and private label U.S. brands for international markets and offer high quality grocery, seasonal and general merchandise assortments.

To learn more about how we serve international, please visit our International page.

UNFI UpNext is UNFI's destination program for innovative, emerging and diverse brands. The benefits of UpNext go beyond the relationship with your Supplier Development Manager. Leverage your partnership with UpNext to unlock sales opportunities through our multiple sales channels, unique marketing offerings, and tradeshow experiences.

To learn more about UpNext, please visit our UpNext page.