Salt Lake City, UT—RidgeCrest Herbals announced that the company will no longer ship products to United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI). The reason: UNFI sales to unauthorized resellers, according to a press release from Ridgecrest.

“This will help us control gray market profiteers on the Internet, and give us more time to support valued local retailers,” said Will Christensen, President of RidgeCrest Herbals, in the press release. “Profiteering by unauthorized online resellers hurts both our valued online partners and our local retailers. This step will help us better support our retailers, and protect our consumers as well. I grew up in a health food store, and I believe local retailers are the backbone of this industry. We depend on them, and they should be able to depend on us.”

Christensen added that this shouldn’t make RidgeCrest products harder for customers to find: “Most retailers work with several distributors, and we have great relationships in this industry. We’re grateful for the support we get from great local retailers, and we look forward to forging ahead, supporting these local businesses, and continuing to make stellar formulas that work.”
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RidgeCrest products will still be sold through distributors including KeHE, Threshold Enterprises, Palko Services, Super Natural Distributors, and Health Food Distributors, as well as directly from RidgeCrest Herbals itself.