UNFI names new chief customer officer

Grocery wholesaler and retailer United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) on Friday announced the promotion of Steve Dietz to the newly created role of chief customer officer (CCO), effective Oct. 1, 2021. In this new role, Dietz will be responsible for overseeing UNFI’s sales efforts throughout the United States and Canada.

Dietz (left) currently serves as UNFI’s president, Pacific Region, a position he’s held since 2018. As CCO, Dietz will support the region teams, driving business growth and helping ensure UNFI delivers on its long-term vision to transform the future of food. The sales regions include UNFI’s National, Atlantic, South, Central, Pacific and Canadian divisions. Working with the region presidents, Dietz will help implement a local go-to market strategy, while leveraging data, learnings and outcomes to drive best practices and programs that can benefit all UNFI customers.

“Steve is a terrific selection for this role and I’m confident his leadership will help us further unlock the customer experience, delivering greater value and innovation to grocery retailers of all sizes and formats,” said UNFI president Chris Testa. “We have a tremendous responsibility to our customers and communities and Steve’s experience, sales acumen and strong understanding of the ever-changing grocery landscape will help us continue to deliver on our customer promise.”

Dietz joined UNFI in 2014 through the acquisition of Tony’s Fine Foods where he had previously spent 15 years in leadership roles overseeing sales, customer service, procurement, marketing and pricing. He has served in his current leadership role since the completion of the SUPERVALU acquisition in 2018, helping bring together multiple sales teams under one cohesive Pacific Region organization.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. In addition to his work at UNFI, Dietz also currently serves as a member of the executive board for the California Grocers Association.

A new Pacific Region president will be named later this fall, UNFI said.

The nation’s largest public grocery wholesaler, Providence, Rhode Island-based UNFI operates 58 distribution centers and warehouses offering more than 275,000 national, regional and private-brand products to natural product superstores, independent retailers, traditional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice operators. 

The company also operates 71 Cub Foods and Shoppers Food Warehouse stores, which are located in Minnesota and the mid-Atlantic region.