Former President and Chief Executive Officer of Nature's Best to Oversee
Operations and Customer Support for the Company's Western Region
DAYVILLE, Conn., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United Natural Foods,
Inc. (Nasdaq: UNFI) (the "Company") has appointed Randle E. "Randy" Lindberg,
the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Nature's Best, to the
position of President of the Western Region. Mr. Lindberg, age 54, led
Nature's Best for 26 years, serving as its President and CEO from 1979 until
June 2005. His professional experience spans various aspects of operations,
sales and marketing, analysis and implementation of acquisitions and strategic
planning. During his tenure, Nature's Best expanded its geographic presence
from Southern California to 11 western states, Hawaii, Alaska and certain
international markets.
"As United Natural Foods continues to extend its business, we are focused
on building a solid organization committed to our customers' success over the
long term. Consistent with this focus, we are pleased to announce the
addition of an extremely well-respected executive to our management team.
Randy brings to our organization a wealth of operating experience, an
extensive knowledge of our industry and strong relationships with natural food
retailers and suppliers in the Western part of the United States," commented
Richard Antonelli, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of
United Natural Foods.
Mr. Antonelli concluded, "Additionally, as we implement initiatives to
drive efficiencies throughout our Company and continue to invest in our
people, facilities, equipment and technology, Randy's experience at overseeing
two relocations to larger distribution facilities and the implementation of
productivity and quality improvement initiatives will be invaluable to United
Natural Foods."
Mr. Lindberg assumes the position effective January 30, 2006 and will
report to Mr. Antonelli. The position has been vacant since December 2005 when
the Company promoted Mr. Antonelli to the position of Executive Vice
President, Chief Operating Officer and President of Distribution.
Prior to being appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Nature's
Best in 1979, Mr. Lindberg served in various positions within that company
beginning in 1972. He was a founding member of the Santa Monica Bay Chapter
of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and is a current member of Chief
Executives Organization (CEO), World Presidents Organization (WPO), and
Distribution Research and Education Foundation (DREF), a Board member and
current Secretary of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
(NAW), and a former Board member of the National Nutritional Foods Association
and Golden West Nutritional Foods Association.
About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc. carries and distributes more than 40,000
products to more than 20,000 customers nationwide. The Company serves a wide
variety of retail formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural
product superstores, independent retail operators and the food service
channel.
For more information on United Natural Foods, Inc., visit the Company's
website at http://www.unfi.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding the Company's business
that 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 December 7, 2005, 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. The Company is not undertaking to
update any information in the foregoing reports until the effective date of
its future reports required by applicable laws. Any projections of future
results of operations should not be construed in any manner as a guarantee
that such results will in fact occur. These projections are subject to change
and could differ materially from final reported results. The Company may from
time to time update these publicly announced projections, but it is not
obligated to do so.
SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc.
CONTACT: Mark Shamber, Acting Chief Financial Officer of United Natural
Foods, 1-860-779-2800; or Joseph Calabrese of Financial Relations Board,
1-212-827-3772, for United Natural Foods
Web site: http://www.unfi.com
(UNFI)