PROVIDENCE – United Natural Foods Inc. announced Wednesday it is eliminating 150 jobs companywide as it consolidates its four operating regions into three.
It was unclear how many jobs will be eliminated in Rhode Island. UNFI representative Charles Davis said Wednesday the company is not releasing specific numbers or timing by location. UNFI employs 803 in Rhode Island, according to PBN’s 2023 Book of Lists rankings for public companies in the state.
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The three new regions will be called East, Central and West. The organic and specialty food distributor said the primarily management or supervisory positions will be cut in this latest restructuring effort.
The move also comes after United Natural Foods saw its profits narrow to $7 million in the company’s fiscal third quarter that ended April 29, or 12 cents per diluted share. The company reported a $67 million profit a year prior, or $1.10 per diluted share.
“These changes are a step in our transformation plan. The regional realignment will decrease layers of administrative management, increase leaders’ span of geographic responsibility, better align us to serve customers with less complexity and support faster decision making,” CEO Sandy Douglas said. “These changes are also intended to make our company more efficient and more profitable.”
UNFI’s new East region will span from Maine to Florida and as far west as Tennessee. Led by Region President Kelly Sosa, it will encompass 22 distribution centers and service more than 10,000 customers.
The Central region will cover an area from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, comprising 21 states, 16 distribution centers and approximately 9,000 customers. It will be led by Tandy Harvey.
The West region, led by Region President Bob Garibaldi, will cover 10 states from Utah to Alaska and serve approximately 11,000 customers from 14 distribution centers.
Each of the regional presidents will report to Steve Dietz, UNFI’s chief customer officer.
David Matthews will continue to lead UNFI’s national accounts team while Stacey Kravitz will continue to lead UNFI’s Canada business.
In June 2022, UNFI launched its “Fuel the Future” along with a new leadership structure. The strategy shift, UNFI said, will allow the grocery wholesaler to focus on four areas of the business with growth potential: services, wholesale, retail and corporate business.
(Update: number of Rhode Island UNFI employees added in 2nd paragraph.)
(Update: Comment from UNFI added in 2nd paragraph.)
