Celebrating Grocery Retailers at UNFI's 2025 Holiday and Winter Selling Gala
UNFI Celebrates Retail Excellence at 2025 Holiday and Winter Selling Show
United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) recently hosted its inaugural Holiday and Winter Selling Show in Las Vegas, where it recognised 11 high-performing retailers for their innovative products, programs, and experiences.
The event, which marked UNFI's second annual Customer Circle of Excellence Awards, brought together over 5,300 attendees, including 2,200 UNFI retail customer representatives and more than 900 supplier brands.
In the Central Region, Marohn's Marketplace won the Local Independent Performance Award, while Plum Market took home the Local Independent Impact Award. Dave's Supermarkets and Lucky's Markets of Ohio won the Regional Chain Performance Award, and Dierbergs was honoured with the Regional Chain Impact Award.
Meanwhile, in the West Region, Market of Choice earned the Local Independent Performance Award, Jimbo's was named the Local Independent Impact Award winner, Good Food Holdings received the Regional Chain Performance Award, and Raley's was recognised with the Regional Chain Impact Award.
At the national level, Harmons Neighborhood Grocer was named the Local Independent of the Year, Vallarta Supermarkets was crowned the National Chain of the Year, and National Co+op Grocers (NCG) received the National Chain Impact Award.
UNFI also showcased solutions like the UNFI Media Network's Audience Optimizer and AI-Powered Loss Prevention at the show. Additionally, the company partnered with GreenChoice to offer shelf tags for independent retailers, simplifying shopping by health condition, diet, and other attributes.
The UNFI Holiday and Winter Show for the East region will take place at the Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in July. The company, ranked No. 20 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer's 2025 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, is North America's premier grocery wholesaler, delivering products to over 30,000 locations throughout North America.
UNFI also hosted its Pitch Slam competition in Las Vegas, giving emerging suppliers the chance to present their products to retail buyers. Despite a recent cyberattack, UNFI revised its fiscal 2025 outlook but expects to continue underlying momentum.
Sources: [1] UNFI Press Release – 2025 Customer Circle of Excellence Awards [2] Progressive Grocer – The PG 100: Top Grocery Retailers in North America [3] Supermarket News – UNFI Announces Winners of 2025 Customer Circle of Excellence Awards [4] Food Dive – UNFI announces winners of 2025 Customer Circle of Excellence Awards
- The UNFI Holiday and Winter Show highlighted the diverse supply chain, integrating over 900 supplier brands from various business sectors, aiming to create innovative retail experiences.
- In the finance aspect, UNFI's Pitch Slam competition provides an avenue for emerging suppliers in the industry to secure partnerships with retail buyers, contributing to the dynamic growth of the business sector.
