United Natural Foods plans North Californian expansion

08/03/05 United Natural Foods, Inc. has announced plans to open a new state-of-the-art distribution facility in Rocklin, California. The Company purchased a new facility on March 1, 2005, and plans to move its current operations in Auburn, California to Rocklin by late summer of 2005. The new building is 487,000 square feet and will be the largest facility in UNFI's nationwide distribution network. The Rocklin facility is scheduled to commence operations by September 2005 and will serve as a distribution hub for customers in northern California and surrounding states.

United Natural Foods currently has 17 distribution centers throughout the United States, consisting of approximately 3.0 million square feet of space. United Natural Foods has the largest warehouse capacity of any distributor in the natural products industry. "We are excited about the opportunity to further strengthen our distribution network and open a new state-of-the-art facility in northern California," commented Steven Townsend, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We remain focused on meeting the strong and growing consumer demand for natural and organic products and are committed to being the highest quality and most efficient distributor for the natural products industry. The Rocklin center will utilize innovative technologies to create greater efficiencies and productivity, and will ensure that our customers continue to receive enhanced product diversity and superior customer service."