The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
Hannaford’s online outage has surpassed the one-week mark.
The Ahold Delhaize banner’s website has been offline since at least Nov. 7 and its app is also currently out of order. Meanwhile, sister banner Stop & Shop is grappling with limited inventory for certain products related to the technology issues.
Ahold Delhaize has shared minimal information about the cybersecurity issue impacting its U.S. network, which is seemingly connected to Hannaford’s outage. But it’s clear that the outage is impacting customers. One frequent Hannaford shopper, Jane Im, said she’s turned to ordering groceries from Walmart because the Hannaford app is down.
Even technology and e-commerce partner Instacart mentioned the Ahold Delhaize outage during its Tuesday earnings call, saying the incident has already had a “small impact” on its business.
It’s unclear how bad the e-commerce and in-store sales impact will turn out to be — or if any data such as customer information has been compromised. But a multi-day online outage for Hannaford and several days of out-of-stocks at Stop & Shop open the opportunity for competitors to steal market share in a very competitive Northeast grocery region.
The Ahold Delhaize outage is a stark reminder to grocers to keep their cybersecurity defenses strong and on guard for the latest evolving threats.
In case you missed it
Grocery inflation increased slightly last month
In October, food-at-home inflation rose 1.1% over the past 12 months and is up by just 0.2% compared to the prior month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier this week. The index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs rose nearly 2% year-over-year, while produce increased just shy of 1% and dairy saw an uptick of 1.3%.
Wegmans’ cheese caves turn 10
This weekend, all Wegmans locations are throwing a 10th birthday party for its cheese cave. The grocer invites customers to celebrate their iconic department and learn more about the cheeses ripened there, according to a recent press release.
Each store will set up four to five stations, including ones that will educate customers on the cheese ripening process, spotlight soft-ripened cheese, highlight Brie and teach shoppers how to pair prosciutto and wine with their cheeses.
DoorDash to pay $11.3M in Illinois tip settlement
The Midwestern state and the e-commerce provider have reached a settlement that would, pending court approval, resolve a suit alleging DoorDash failed to pay full tips to as many as 79,000 workers in Illinois between 2017 and 2019, sister publication Restaurant Dive reported.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul accused the company of misleading consumers who believed the entirety of their tips would go directly to workers. DoorDash said it’s pleased to move past the “years-old matter,” noting that it discontinued the tipping practice in question in 2019.
Impulse find
Dancing with the Trader Joe’s employees
A young TikToker and Trader Joe’s crew member deserves a round of applause for her routines performed right in her local store.
Natty Steez, the dancer’s screen name on TikTok, has been tearing up the aisles, most recently showing off some ballroom dancing skills to the “Dancing with the Stars” theme music and asking the popular celebrity competition show to have her on as the “next Trader Pro.” The video garnered more than 14,000 likes.
A video from the end of last month also went viral, with Steez performing Broadway-caliber turns and jumps in the store to Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” captioning the video “clean up on aisle ATE.”
When scrolling through Steez’s TikTok profile, you can find the employee tap dancing to pay, borrowing moves from the Rockettes to celebrate Trader Joe’s seasonal items or dancing like a Newsie when the grocer’s Fearless Flyer newsletter lands.
@natnat.sterling clean up on isle ATE #fyp #nyc #dance #traderjoes ♬ It's All Coming Back To Me Now - Céline Dion
