Ms. Graham joins the Board of Directors with over 25 years of experience in the
natural products industry. She is currently the general manager of Mississippi
Market Natural Foods Cooperative, a consumer owned and controlled cooperative in
St. Paul, Minnesota, and vice chair of Blooming Prairie Cooperative's board of
directors, the largest volume distributor of natural foods in the Midwest region
of the United States. On September 28, 2002 the membership of Blooming Prairie
Cooperative approved a proposal to sell the regional distribution company to
United Natural Foods. Consummation of the transaction is contingent upon, among
other things, execution of an asset purchase agreement. From 1997 through 2000
Ms. Graham served as chairperson of the board of directors of Blooming Prairie
Cooperative.
Michael Funk, Chief Executive Officer of United Natural Foods, said, "We are
pleased that Gail has joined our Board of Directors as an outside director. Her
distinguished business career, extensive industry knowledge and over 30 years of
experience on board of cooperatives, non-profits, foundations and community
organizations should be of great value to our Company. We look forward to the
benefit of her counsel and believe her experience offers a key complement to the
expertise already available on our Board."
From 1986 through 1999, Ms. Graham was the general manager of Seward Co-op
Grocery & Deli, one of the oldest community-owned natural food stores in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Previously, from 1979 through 1986, she was part of the
management team at Wedge Community Co-op, a member-owned natural food
cooperative based in Minneapolis.
Additionally, Ms. Graham was a founding member and is a current director of Twin
Cities Natural Foods Co-ops, an eight member non-profit organization of natural
foods co-ops in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. She also is a founding
member, and currently serving as chair of the board, of the Co-Op Grocer's
Information Network, a membership organization founded to support the growth and
development of food co-op's. Previously, from 1984 through 1998, Ms. Graham was
on the board of directors of Minneapolis-based Distributing Alliance of North
Country Cooperatives and served as its treasurer and vice- president.
About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc. carries and distributes over 30,000 products to more
than 7,000 customers in 50 states. The Company serves a wide variety of retail
formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural product superstores
and independent retail operators.
For more information on United Natural Foods, Inc., visit the Company's web-site
at www.unfi.com .
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: Statements in this press release regarding United Natural's business which
are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and
uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could
cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking
statements, including but not limited to general business conditions, the impact
of competition and our dependence on principal customers, see "Risk Factors" in
the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Commission on June
13, 2002, and its other filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date
made. United Natural is not undertaking to update any information in the
foregoing reports until the effective date of its future reports required by
applicable laws.
SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc.
CONTACT: Todd Weintraub, Chief Financial Officer of United Natural
Foods, Inc., +1-860-779-2800; or General Information, Joseph Calabrese,
+1-212-445-8434, or Analyst Information, Vanessa Schwartz, +1-212-445-8433,
both of FRB Weber Shandwick
URL: http://www.unfi.com