Giant and Food Lion grocery stores back online after cybersecurity incident

Marylanders who frequent Food Lion or Giant for groceries can use the stores’ apps and websites again after a more than weeklong outage due to a cybersecurity incident that targeted their parent company.

Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch multinational grocery retailer that owns both chains, said the outage was caused by malicious actors and that it filed a police report in the Netherlands. The company said in a statement Monday that it had no evidence of data being stolen, calling the apps going offline a “precautionary measure.”

“While our investigation is still ongoing, we have no evidence at this moment that suggests that any sensitive customer, associate or partner data was taken,” said Frans Muller, the company’s president.

After a cyberattack in 2024, the company said over 2 million people had their information stolen.

Giant and Food Lion stores remained open on their normal hours throughout the outage, but it disrupted shopping routines for those who rely on the apps for deals and tracking rewards points. There are more than 50 Food Lion stores in Maryland and nearly 100 Giant stores.

Bill McCloskey, 81, has been shopping at his local Bethesda Giant since he moved to the area in 1968. While the sites were down, he couldn’t track weekly coupons or the status of his rewards points.

“They have monthly bonus points, if you buy $35 worth of Entenmann’s doughnuts or something, you get 100 points,” McCloskey said. “There’s no way to know what your progress is.”

Resuming his normal shopping routine was more important to McCloskey than a potential data breach. “I don’t care if they know I buy canned string beans; what are they possibly going to gain from that,” he said.

Giant and Food Lion stores are trying to make amends for customers whose routines and savings were affected during the outage.

Both stores are running promotions to give customers money off online orders, extend expiration dates on reward points and cancel some delivery fees.

“We understand how important it is for families to shop for groceries when and how they choose, and we appreciate the patience and support our customers showed during this disruption,” Food Lion President Greg Finchum said in a statement Tuesday.