United Natural Foods, Inc.

and FI fiscal 2022 first quarter earnings call. At this time, our participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star 1 on your telephone. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Steve Blomquist, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on UNFI's first quarter fiscal 2022 earnings conference call. By now, you should have received a copy of the earnings release issued this morning. The press release, webcast, and a supplemental slide deck are available under the investor section of the company's website at www.unfi.com under the events tab. Joining me for today's call are Sandy Douglas, our Chief Executive Officer, John Howard, our Chief Financial Officer, Chris Testa, President of UNFI, and Eric Dorn, our Chief Operating Officer. Sandy, Chris, and John will provide a business update after which we'll take your questions. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that comments made by management during today's call may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include plans, expectations, estimates, and projections that might involve significant risks and uncertainties. These risks are discussed in the company's earnings release and SEC filings. Actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in these forward-looking statements. And lastly, I'd like to point out that during today's call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions and reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our press release. I'll now turn the call over to Sandy.

Thanks, Steve. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our fiscal 2022 first quarter earnings call. As you saw in this morning's press release, we delivered first quarter results through a time of continued challenges across the industry, including ongoing supply chain difficulties, declining fill rates, and rising inflation. UNFI is performing through this unpredictable environment by steadfastly focusing on what we need to do to make our customers successful. which will continue to be our core operating objective. Tomorrow, as I cross the four-month mark at UNFI, I continue to invest a significant amount of my time meeting with our customers with the simple goal of learning as much as I can about their business, what differentiates their offering in the marketplace, what are their biggest opportunities and pain points, and what can we do to add value to their operations. Making customers stronger is a core tenet of UNFI's mission statement, and I have a genuine passion for helping food retailers succeed and am committed to doing everything possible to bring solutions that accomplish this. Our teams regularly meet with customers to introduce new items, to plan and coordinate promotions, and to look forward to the next major selling event. customers were encouraged to order early for this year's november december holiday season and build their inventories wherever possible we also make sure they know about the many services that unfi offers to lower their cost structure increase sales and simplify their operations we've received positive feedback from our customers on the work that we did together around thanksgiving And now we're laser focused on doing the best possible job to meet their needs as we move through the upcoming holidays. Further, I've initiated conversations with several of our larger suppliers, many of whom I've known for quite some time. Having been on the supplier side of the industry for 30 years, I know how important it is to partner across the supply chain to transparently share information and identify opportunities to increase distribution and maximize sales. UNFI's B2B2C business model puts us in a unique position to help suppliers understand and access our diverse and vibrant retail customers and their 30,000 retail locations. To more effectively bring together suppliers and customers, we're developing unique new programs that provide better and deeper insights into UNFI's diverse retailer base so that UNFI, our suppliers, and our customers can collectively work together in partnership to create more and more value together. I've also enjoyed meeting many of our frontline sales and supply chain associates in sales meetings and in our distribution centers. This has given me the opportunity to hear firsthand what's on their minds, what issues are most important to them, and how we can continue to increase engagement in meaningful ways. A common theme during these visits is how proud our associates are to be part of the important role that UNFI plays in keeping the food supply chain flowing. I also touched upon UNFI's culture on our last call, which I've now had more exposure to. We're proud of the work that we've done around ESG topics and our Better For All mission of making the world a better place, not just for one, but for all. And it's core to who we are as a company. From our top priority of associate safety to an ongoing commitment toward diversity and inclusion to ambitious climate and environmental goals, to name just a few, UNFI's core value remains doing the right thing every day. We look forward to sharing our 2021 ESG report with all of you in early calendar 2022. Overall, we're encouraged with the first quarter and the start to fiscal 2022. Despite a difficult backdrop, which isn't likely to change in the short term, the momentum that I spoke about on the last call is continuing, and we expect to carry forward the momentum for the balance of the fiscal year. Our Fuel the Future strategy is customer-focused, growth-oriented, and the blueprint for what will drive UNFI for the foreseeable future. Our energy is dedicated to every element of customer support to make sure we do the best job possible taking care of our customers in a complicated environment. Having said that, I also find it encouraging that our associates across the board are never satisfied. They're continually looking for how we can get better for our customers and our suppliers in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Let me now turn the call over to our President, Chris Testa, for his comments on our performance. Chris?