A security issue found inside its network prompted Ahold Delhaize to begin disconnecting systems on Monday, a step the company described as protective. By morning, all five of its US banner websites were unreachable: Hannaford, Stop and Shop, Giant Food, Food Lion and The Giant Company.
Offline as of Monday in the group’s home market were three more chains. All operating in the Netherlands, Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall and Gall went down alongside their US counterparts. About a dozen international chains fall under parent company Ahold Delhaize.
Calling the outage a precautionary measure, the company said stores remain open and serving customers, and warned that some functions may be unavailable while the assessment continues. No timeline for restoration was provided, and whether in-store operations were touched went unanswered. Trade press inquiries drew the same statement.
Two years after a late-2024 intrusion exposed sensitive records belonging to more than 2 million people, knocked banner sites offline and briefly suspended Hannaford’s e-commerce service, this marks the grocer’s second significant incident. European reporting also described disruption at Dutch and Belgian chains in the same wave that hit French refrigeration systems, though no link between the two events has been established.
Retail security teams know the pattern: when containment means pulling public-facing services, business impact lands within hours, well before investigators understand the entry point.
