Ahold Delhaize said Stop & Shop and other brands were working back online on October 19, 2026 after a cybersecurity incident forced parts of its websites, apps and services offline. The company said stores stayed open while restoration continued across Europe and the United States.
Frans Muller said the shutdown was a precautionary step to protect systems. He also said, "Taking systems offline to help protect them was a precautionary measure that affected most of our brands across Europe and the United States."
Albert Heijn and USA services
By October 19, Albert Heijn's website and app were back online, and the websites for Etos and Gall & Gall were available for customers. In Belgium, e-commerce was fully operational, while the majority of websites and apps in Central and Southeastern Europe were available.
Ahold Delhaize said e-commerce services at its USA brands were expected to come back in the coming days. For customers in the United States, that leaves the online channels still moving in stages rather than all at once.
Dutch National Cyber Security Centre
The company said it notified the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre within 24 hours of discovering the malicious activity. It also filed a formal police report with the Dutch police on October 19, 2026, after engaging cybersecurity experts to investigate the suspicious activity in its IT infrastructure.
Ahold Delhaize said the investigation found the activity resulted from the malicious actions of others. The company added that it had no evidence at that moment that sensitive customer, associate or partner data had been taken, even as the investigation continued.
Frans Muller apology
Muller said, "Although this incident was caused by the malicious actions of others, we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused - especially to our customers." He also said the decision to take systems offline was the right one.
Albert Heijn home deliveries were expected to resume from Friday, October 23, 2026, leaving the next visible change in the restoration plan tied to home delivery rather than store operations. For customers, the practical test is simple: stores stayed open, some digital services are back, and the rest are still coming back in stages.
