Shortage on shelves in midst of Co-op cybersecurity incident

There’s a shortage on the shelves at Co-op in the midst of a cybersecurity incident reported last week.

According to a statement from Federated Co-operatives Limited, the primary supplier for Co-op food stores, the incident is affecting some internal customer-facing systems which could impact the company’s inventory of certain grocery items.

The owner of Solo Italia Fine Pasta Inc. said he hasn’t gotten any dough from the Co-op since the cyber attack.

Marco de Michele said his pasta and pizza factory in Ogema is owed a few thousand dollars by the retailer.

“If it gets fixed in one week it should be fine,” he said.

He said he would consider pulling his products from Co-op’s shelves if the payment delays persist.

de Michele sends his products to Co-op grocery stores around the province including many in Regina and Saskatoon.

After a cybersecurity event, Co-op is facing inventory issues impacting their fresh and frozen shelves. (Payton Zillich/650CKOM)

One of those locations is the Co-op food store in Warman. As of Tuesday afternoon, shelves were bare in aisles that held produce and frozen food products.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience as we work to get back to regular stock levels,” the store’s sign said in the produce section.

Shelves may be sparse in some areas of the province, but no evidence of consumer data being compromised, according to the Federated Co-operatives Limited. (Payton Zillich/650CKOM)

Warman’s Co-op Gas Bar was also unable to process any gift cards as of Tuesday afternoon.

On July 2, 2024 Warman’s Co-op Gas Bar had a sign saying “Due to technical difficulties, we are unable to process any gift cards at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience.” (Payton Zillich/650CKOM)

It’s not just local retail stores affected by the incident, last week the Sherwood and Kindersley Co-op card lock locations reported outages.

According to Federated Co-operatives Limited,  currently, there is no evidence that consumer data was compromised, and the company will take appropriate action.

The co-owner of a Regina business said he hasn’t been affected by Co-op’s recent cybersecurity issue.

Norm Yakel and Mike Sholter of Mike’s Salsa have been selling their product at Co-op for nearly 10 years. Yakel said his company has not been greatly impacted by the problem.

“We’re not facing any issues,” he said.

“We visited one store recently and they just informed us of the issue with ordering products locally. And we said ‘Fine, we’ll check in with you guys when you’re okay with the cyber stuff,’ so we’re not having a problem. We’ll wait. We’re fine.”

Their orders are currently on hold, but Yakel said he has no problem waiting it out.

“The Co-op stores have been supporters of our small business forever,” he said. “They are one of the first places that we worked with in Regina and Saskatchewan. We are strong supporters of our relationship with them.”

Yakel said he’s not worried about receiving payments either, but he hopes to see the problem resolved.

“We hope that Co-op can get this resolved because I know they’re certainly concerned about the whole issue,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that they have this problem at the moment. We hope all is well with them soon.”

–with files from 980 CJME’s Nicole Garn and Gillian Massie