United Natural Foods
Judith Palmer
MGT/521
April 14, 2015
Daniel Kearney

Founded in 1996, United Natural Foods, also known as UNFI, is the leading national distributor of natural and organic foods in the United States and Canada (United Natural Foods, 2009). UNFI serves more than 40,000 customer locations, which includes natural food stores and supermarkets. With Whole Foods as one of their leading retailers here in the United States, UNFI currently has 33 distribution centers. Although UNFI has experienced revenue growth, organic food is still only a small part of our food system, and the price of organic foods remains more expensive than conventionally produced foods. The biggest complaint from consumers is the high price of organic foods. Organic foods cost more because of their inefficient distribution network.
Strategic and Operational Plans
Organic foods are more expensive because of scale. Organic farms don’t operate at scale, so the cost of marketing and distributing organic food is higher. Also, in addition to UNFI’s scale, UNFI also suffers from inefficient distribution network. Now with scale, distribution, supply, and cost taken into consideration, shoppers are limited to purchasing organic foods. UNFI strategic and technology plans to improve their distribution and efficiency of their supply chains is to: * Improve Operations (distribution): The challenge to deliver their organic food in the most efficient way would be dissolved by using distribution software. * Communication (between buyer and supplier): The lack of buyer-supplier communication keeps organic foods priced high. By using supply chain software, this will keep updates on inventory, and inform distributors when a grocer’s stock levels are low.
Strategic or Operational Goals
Smart technology can make distribution routes improve rapidly, as well as manage delivery routes,