Reflections on 2020
The year 2020 presented unique challenges for all of us. It provided loss and heartache for many. New fears emerged as we watched this virus affect our companies, families, and society at large in ways we have never witnessed before. But 2020 also inspired us.
At UNFI, we value our partnerships with Suppliers and Retailers above all. This tragic and difficult year showed us the value of empathy and humanity in all things. Your adaptability and willingness to think outside of the box to get products to people in need has not gone unnoticed. Many of us have been in this industry for many years, but everyone’s willingness to operate outside of the norm was the only way we could have navigated through this difficult year. I sincerely thank you for your partnership.
While I have been impressed with what we are capable of through video calls from home, I very much look forward to seeing you in person again. Here’s to lessons learned in 2020, and cheers to brighter days ahead in 2021.
Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Updates
An updated list of UNFI Supplier Relationship Managers (SRMs), contact info, line, and category assignments can be found here on UNFI’s Supplier Support Site.
Procurement Team Updates
An updated list of UNFI Procurement Team contacts and assignments can be found here on UNFI’s Supplier Support Site.
Accounts Payable (AP) Updates
An updated list of AP contacts and assignments can be found here on UNFI’s Supplier Support Site.
Sales Team Contact Updates
An updated list of Sales Team contacts can be found here on UNFI’s Supplier Support Site.
Unloading Service Rates
Since the acquisition of Supervalu (now recognized as UNFI-Conventional), the combined UNFI organization has been making great strides in driving operational excellence within our supply chain operations. As we continue to bring our two companies together (UNFI-Natural and UNFI-Conventional), it’s clear that we have many opportunities to begin to align policies, procedures, and processes.
Our operations leadership has applied focus to evaluating our combined company inbound management processes. Both UNFI and Supervalu have historically leveraged the same business partner for unloading services at our collective distribution centers. As we take steps to align our receiving policies with our unloading partners, it’s been made clear that their handling service fees do not reflect the current market rates within the food distribution industry.
We have completed an analysis to evaluate our position in the market and updates by our unloading service partners have been recently approved. We believe we owe our supplier and carrier community the transparency that they deserve. Effective January 31, 2021, the unloading service rate for all UNFI-Natural, Tony’s, and Albert’s distribution centers will be updated to $.115 per case. This increase moves UNFI-Natural to median market rates and closes some of the gap between UNFI-Natural and UNFI-Conventional. All other elements of service fees will remain consistent with previous policies until we can fully align our service agreements across the entire UNFI enterprise. There are no changes for UNFI-Conventional. Again, this change is specific to the per case rates and only being implemented in legacy UNFI, Tony’s, and Albert’s distribution centers.
Our goal moving forward is to build on the strengths of our supply chain operations as we merge UNFI and Supervalu together, leveraging the best of both to drive value.
Warehouse Change Policy
This is a friendly reminder that all Supplier warehouse changes must be submitted to your SRM on a freight form a minimum of 90 days before the expected change date as detailed in our Supplier Policies section 4.T.1. This allows time for all business systems and logistics updates to be completed.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your SRM or SupplierSupport@unfi.com.
Whole Foods/Amazon Store Service Move
The current group of 24 stores (18 Whole Foods and 6 Amazon) that are serviced from the Rocklin, CA warehouse will be moving to the Gilroy, CA warehouse location in phases beginning on 1/31/21 with an expected completion time of 5/23/21. Inventory demand for the Gilroy, CA warehouse location will begin to increase while the Rocklin demand will decrease.
Customer Portal Search Term Program
In July of 2020, we had a soft launch of our Customer Portal Search Term program, and it was met with a lot of enthusiasm. We are very excited to continue to build momentum in 2021.
The program is incredibly simple. Your brand “owns” a search term on the Customer Portal for at least one quarter. When that term is searched on the Customer Portal, a banner ad of your choosing will pop up and the first three SKUs listed will be yours.
Reach out to Aaron May at amay@unfi.com to discuss setting your brand up for success using the Customer Portal Search Term Program.
Supplier and Broker Seminars
UNFI has recently begun a series of seminars to educate the Supplier and Broker communities on how to best work with UNFI. Our first seminar was very popular and featured information on deductions. Future seminars will include the New Item Process, using the Supplier Portal, Reporting, Marketing Programs, Circular Item Selection, and Logistics.
Keep an eye out for an invite! With questions, please reach out to Nora Cline at nfcline@unfi.com.
