Ahold Delhaize, a leading global food retail operator, disclosed today that it had taken certain systems offline following what it described as a "cybersecurity incident." The company operates more than 9,400 locations spanning Europe, the United States, and Indonesia, with a workforce of approximately 400,000 and weekly customer reach of roughly 60 million through both physical stores and digital channels.
The retailer generated annual net sales exceeding $104 billion during 2024 and maintains ownership of numerous retail banners. Its European portfolio includes Delhaize, Maxi, Mega Image, Albert, bol, Alfa Beta, Etos, Gall & Gall, and Profi, while its North American brands comprise Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Giant Food, and Hannaford.
In a brief statement released today, Ahold Delhaize indicated that it was undertaking measures to address the breach and that retail locations remained accessible to shoppers. The company stated: "Ahold Delhaize is experiencing a security issue within its network. Our teams are taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue. This includes taking some systems offline to help protect them. At this time, our stores are open and serving customers."
The retailer added: "Protecting our infrastructure in the best interest of our customers, associates and partners is a top priority. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused customers and partners."
Despite stores remaining operational, service disruptions have been documented across multiple divisions. Staff members at Stop & Shop locations in the United States reported difficulty retrieving work schedules and compensation information. Separately, customers encountered problems accessing digital platforms and support services at Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall & Gall in the Netherlands, as well as Delhaize operations in Belgium.
An internal communication circulated among Food Lion employees in the United States characterized the situation as an IT outage, cautioning that affected locations might face restrictions on order processing and fulfillment capabilities.
When contacted for additional details, an Ahold Delhaize representative was unavailable to clarify whether the breach compromised both enterprise and store-level infrastructure, the geographic scope of service interruptions, or whether encryption was deployed against systems during the attack.
This incident represents the second significant cybersecurity event to strike Ahold Delhaize in a short timeframe. In November 2024, the ransomware group INC Ransom conducted an attack that exposed personal, financial, and health records belonging to more than 2.2 million individuals, targeting the company's U.S. infrastructure.