Giant Food

Summary

Ahold Delhaize experienced a network security issue that led it to take some systems offline to help protect them, causing the apps and websites for Stop & Shop and Hannaford to go down. Giant Food was also affected, advising customers to use third‑party delivery services such as Instacart, DoorDash and Uber Eats while stores, pharmacies and fuel stations remained open and any unfulfilled orders placed through the unavailable channels would be refunded. The company said it is working to restore service but has not provided a timeline for when the apps and websites will be back online. Based in the Netherlands, it operates 17 local brands in nine countries, including five U.S. chains: Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Giant Food, The GIANT Company and Food Lion.

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Description

On Monday, Ahold Delhaize experienced a network security issue that prompted the company to take certain systems offline to help protect them. As a result, the apps and websites for Stop & Shop and Hannaford went offline and displayed maintenance messages to customers indicating that service was being restored as quickly as possible. Giant Food was also affected by the outage and informed customers that they could place delivery orders through third‑party platforms such as Instacart, DoorDash and Uber Eats. During the disruption, stores, pharmacies and fuel stations continued to operate during normal business hours. Ahold Delhaize stated that any unfulfilled orders placed through the websites or apps while the services were down would be refunded. The company noted that it was unclear when the apps and websites would be back online. A spokesperson for the Dutch parent company confirmed to the Boston Globe that other store operations, including refrigeration and sale systems, remained unaffected by the incident.

In response to the cyber incident, Ahold Delhaize issued a statement explaining that the decision to take systems offline was made to help protect them while teams worked to assess and mitigate the issue. The company’s teams were actively engaged in evaluating the scope of the security problem and implementing containment measures. The spokesperson emphasized that the core functions of the grocery chains, such as in‑store sales and refrigeration, were not impacted. Both Stop & Shop and Hannaford communicated with customers via the maintenance messages displayed on their apps and websites, apologizing for the inconvenience and thanking patrons for their patience. Giant Food similarly advised its customers to use alternative delivery channels and assured them that any orders that could not be fulfilled through the disrupted channels would be refunded. The company reiterated that it was working diligently to restore normal service as soon as possible.

Ahold Delhaize is headquartered in the Netherlands and operates 17 local brands across nine countries, with five of those brands present in the United States: Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Giant Food, The GIANT Company and Food Lion. The security incident affected the digital storefronts of Stop & Shop, Hannaford and Giant Food, while the remaining brands under the parent company were not mentioned as being impacted in the provided information. The outage was limited to the customer‑facing apps and websites, with no reported disruption to physical store operations, pharmacy services or fuel stations. The company’s communication focused on maintaining transparency with customers about the status of the services and the steps being taken to resolve the issue. No further details about the nature of the security issue, potential attackers or timeline for full restoration were disclosed in the source material.

Sources

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