Laid off from UNFI.

What UNFI layoffs have meant for employees

UNFI, as United Natural Foods, Inc. is known, moves groceries through distribution centers, and its two largest rows in our WARN tracker since 2025 come from closing them in Allentown and Sturtevant. In both cases UNFI said the freight would go on from other centers. In 2023 a spokesperson told NJBIZ that the Logan Township work was headed to UNFI's new Allentown center, and that receiving center was itself shut once the Key Food deal ended, its volume sent to other Northeast sites, according to UNFI's 2026 annual report. In UNFI's record, a center that took on work in one round lost it in a later one. Sturtevant's service is moving to an expanded Joliet center that's getting new technology, the company told BizTimes. If you worked at a closing center, the job you did may well continue in another town, and that's worth keeping in mind when you decide what to ask the company before your last day.

UNFI's own filing says the review isn't over. The 2026 annual report says the company continues to evaluate its distribution center network, and it describes two more consolidations in that fiscal year, one of them into a nearby automated center in the Central region. If you work at a UNFI center, the closings so far point to questions worth raising early, such as whether your site's work is moving, whether you could apply where it's going, and what would happen to your seniority if you did.

The cuts on record have reached drivers and warehouse crews at closing centers, Maryland Shoppers stores, where our tracker lists 185 jobs on the four November closings, and the Lincoln office, where the 2024 layoffs followed UNFI's move of some back-office roles to an outside firm. Across the company, the head count fell by about one job in six over two fiscal years, from roughly 28,333 in UNFI's 2024 annual report to 23,431 in August 2026. Those reports don't break the drop down by cause, so it describes the size of the company more than a tally of who was let go.

Union contracts cover more of UNFI's workforce than they did. The 2026 report puts about 48% of employees under 64 collective bargaining agreements, up from about 38% under 48 agreements in 2024, and BizTimes reported more than 3,000 UNFI workers organizing with the Teamsters since 2022, Sturtevant's drivers among them. At Fort Wayne, where some of the affected workers were Teamsters, the company's notice to Indiana answered yes on separation benefits and on bumping rights. If you're covered by a union contract, it's worth asking your steward what it says about severance, bumping into another job and how long health coverage lasts.

The money side shows up in UNFI's books. Over its last three fiscal years the company booked $84 million under severance and other labor costs, and it tied the fiscal 2026 portion to retail store closings, distribution network moves and realigning corporate resources. That line is a company-wide total that also takes in pension withdrawal adjustments, so it can't tell you what any one person received. If severance is offered to you, our page on negotiating a severance agreement covers the review window and which clauses can be negotiated.

Store closings have been part of this as well. Shoppers took the bigger share of UNFI's store closings in fiscal 2026, and by August 2026 the chain was down to 13 stores around Washington. If you were laid off in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Maryland or Rhode Island, the four states besides California with UNFI rows in our tracker since 2025, our pages on unemployment in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Maryland and Rhode Island cover how to file there. If you had health coverage through a UNFI plan, our page on how COBRA works covers keeping it after your job ends.

A sourced history of UNFI layoffs

• October 2026, Northeast Philadelphia distribution center closing

  UNFI plans, per Food Trade News, to shut its Northeast Philadelphia distribution center in October and move the work to another Pennsylvania site, eliminating dozens of jobs.

• March 2026, Sturtevant distribution center closing in Wisconsin

  UNFI told state and local officials it would shut its Sturtevant warehouse and permanently lay off all 443 people there, according to BizTimes, moving service to an expanded center in Joliet, Illinois. The cuts included 68 drivers.

• October 2025, four more Maryland Shoppers stores closing

  UNFI told Grocery Dive that Shoppers stores in College Park, Laurel, Germantown and Capitol Heights would close by Nov. 8, after four other Maryland Shoppers had shut, and that the chain would keep 13 stores in the Washington area.

• June 2025, Allentown distribution center closing after Key Food split

  UNFI's notice to Pennsylvania, as Grocery Dive described it, put more than 700 layoffs at the Allentown center it opened in 2021, after UNFI and the Key Food cooperative agreed to end their supply deal. Our WARN tracker lists 716 jobs.

• December 2024, Fort Wayne warehouse and office layoffs

  UNFI Wholesale's notice to Indiana listed 157 permanent layoffs in Fort Wayne from Feb. 14, 2025. The company told Inside INdiana Business it would end warehouse and office work there but keep a number of drivers.

• November 2024, Lincoln office layoffs and back-office outsourcing

  UNFI told Rhode Island it would lay off 121 people tied to its Lincoln office, most of them remote, effective Jan. 24, 2025. Some high-volume billing, invoicing, payroll and contact-center roles had recently moved to an outside firm, a spokesperson told Grocery Dive.

• June to July 2023, regional cuts and Logan Township closing

  UNFI said it would merge its operating regions from four into three and, according to WHYY, eliminate 150 jobs, mostly in management. A spokesperson then told NJBIZ that UNFI would close its Logan Township, New Jersey, center and move the work to its new Allentown site.

What to do if you're laid off from UNFI

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. UNFI's biggest hubs: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Maryland, Rhode Island. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what UNFI's hub states run: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Maryland, Rhode Island, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.