United Natural Foods trucks groceries to thousands of North American stores and keeps a sliver of each sale. In fiscal 2026 profit returned while sales shrank; planned heavier spending in fiscal 2027 will test whether that lasts.
The jar of organic peanut butter or bag of frozen vegetables in a grocery store may not have come straight from its maker. It may have passed through United Natural Foods. The company is a wholesaler: it buys from manufacturers, holds the goods briefly in its warehouses and delivers them to thousands of retail locations across the United States and Canada. It earns by reselling those goods for a little more than it paid.
Retailers pay United Natural Foods to get a huge range of products, from frozen food to personal care items, delivered reliably by one partner. After paying for the goods it resells, the company kept about 13% of sales in . Warehouses, trucks and workers then consumed nearly all of it. Its biggest business, called Natural, includes its largest customer. That customer's share of total sales has risen every year and reached 28%. Warehouses and trucks cost roughly the same whether busy or half-empty. So extra orders through existing buildings earn far more than orders needing new capacity, while lost orders take away revenue but leave much of the cost behind. On a markup this thin, savings such as filling trucks completely weigh heavily on what remains.
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