Food Lion restores website and app after cybersecurity outage
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The gist
Food Lion's website and app came back online over seven days after a cybersecurity incident took them down.
The North Carolina chain is now offering discounts to win back online shoppers.
Background
Food Lion is a North Carolina-based grocery chain and a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize, a parent company that also owns Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Giant Food and The Giant Company. The outage hit all five U.S. banners at once, and Ahold Delhaize took some systems offline while it began a controlled relaunch. The company leans heavily on digital ordering, with roughly a third of its U.S. customers digitally engaged, and it disclosed a separate U.S. network cybersecurity incident in November 2024.
How it unfolded
- Oct 11, 2026Ahold Delhaize detected a cybersecurity incident, according to Supermarket News.
- Oct 12, 2026Ahold Delhaize said its online services had a security issue within its network and took some systems offline; websites for all five U.S. banners went down.
- Oct 13, 2026Food Lion's website and mobile app went offline following the cybersecurity issue.
- Oct 14, 2026Food Lion's site said the website and app were currently unavailable and that unfulfilled orders would be refunded; other banners' sites and apps also stayed down.
- Oct 15, 2026A Food Lion spokesperson told WRAL the company was experiencing a network issue and crews were working to restore service, with online ordering offline a third straight day.
- Oct 20, 2026Food Lion announced the website and app were fully restored, over seven days after they went down; customers could again order through Food Lion To Go.
- Oct 21, 2026Food Lion began $10 off a $50 purchase for all MVP customers, running through the end of the month.
- Oct 22, 2026Free pickup or delivery via Food Lion To Go with a $75 minimum order began, running through the end of the month.
- Oct 23, 2026Deadline for the Instacart offer ($15 off an order of $75 or more) and the DoorDash offer ($30 off an order of $75 or more, promo code 30FOODLION).
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Food Lion president Greg Finchum said the company was unable to provide the digital experience customers expect and deserve, apologized, and thanked customers for their patience.
- Official
- Ahold Delhaize USA said the actions caused disruption for customers, associates and partners but that protecting its infrastructure was a top priority.
- Caution
- Food Lion said there is no evidence suggesting sensitive customer, associate or partner data was taken, while the investigation is ongoing.
Still unverified
Ahold Delhaize has said there is no indication that client data has been stolen, per the Boston Globe, but it has not said what caused the incident or when service will fully return; Food Lion officials did not immediately say what caused the cybersecurity issue.