UNFI and KeHE together move most of the natural and specialty grocery volume in North America. If you sell into Whole Foods, Sprouts, or the natural set at a conventional grocer, you are almost certainly shipping through at least one of them, and probably both.
Your remittances may include deductions. Some are legitimate costs of doing business. Others are recoverable if you know where to look. The two distributors take that money in different ways, on different clocks, with backup in different places. Treating them the same is how brands miss deadlines on one and over-dispute the other.
This guide is written from the operational side: what actually lands on the remittance, what the reference numbers mean, and what you have to do on Monday. For the mechanics of a single deduction type, see the deep dives on UNFI MCBs and KeHE UDRs.
UNFI vs KeHE at a glance
| UNFI | KeHE | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get paid | East and West regions pay separately. Each ACH remittance advice lists its own deductions. | One ledger per supplier account (ESN) in K-Solve. Deductions post before the check that carries them is cut. |
| Dispute portal | Supplier portal at myunfi.com | K-Solve, inside KeHE Connect |
| Hard cutoff | Check the current policy and claim record | 180 days in the November 2025 policy; verify current terms. |
| Fastest clock | Review new MCB backup promptly and confirm the claim-specific filing deadline. | A written response is required under the applicable UDR notice and policy. |
| Where the backup lives | Emailed weekly and monthly by MCBReports as a ZIP named for your remit code. You have to sign up. | Transaction detail in K-Solve; UDRs and Invoice Adjustments as PDFs from the DC. |
| Cost of entry | Use the applicable retailer agreement, supplier policy and fee schedule. | Separate recurring fees, new-item charges and promotional allowances using your agreement. |
| Outcome tracking | Track outcomes by charge type, claim age and evidence coverage. | Evaluate each UDR against its specific receiving evidence. |
The rest of this guide walks each column, then ends with a single calendar you can run both distributors on.
How UNFI deductions work
UNFI is two businesses from a receivables point of view. East and West each cut their own ACH remittance, each with its own list of deductions, and a brand selling nationally reconciles both. A deduction that shows up on the West advice will never appear on the East one, even for the same promotion, so your tracking has to be per region or you will double-count some chargebacks and miss others.
The advice itself carries almost nothing you can dispute from. Each line is a reference number and an amount. The reference encodes the chargeback family and a date, and the detail lives in a separate backup file that UNFI mails. Reading the reference is how you know which backup to open.
UNFI chargeback families you will see on the advice
| Family | Cadence | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly promo chargebacks (MCB) | Weekly, week ending Saturday | The discount UNFI gave a retailer on your product, billed back to you. The reference carries the week-ending date. |
| Third-party and retailer billing | Per program | Retailer programs billed through UNFI: Whole Foods billing, Kroger scans, retailer ads, scanbacks. The largest UNFI family by dollars for many brands, and the easiest to miss because the retailer's name is on it, not UNFI's. |
| Early-pay discount | Every invoice | The terms discount taken off each payment. The advice shows gross, discount, net, and the check date. It does not show when you invoiced or when you shipped, which is the whole question. The most frequent line on the advice. |
| SSA and service allowances | Per period | Supplier service agreement percentages. Contractual, but check the rate and the base against the agreement. |
| Spoils and fairshare returns | Per period | Your share of unsaleable product at the DC and at retail. Usually valid, but check it against any flat unsaleables allowance you already pay. |
| Reclaim and quality chargebacks (CMQ) | Monthly | Store-level credit memos for shelf-worn and out-of-date product, rolled up by DC. Hundreds of small lines, each naming a store, UPC, quantity, and reason. Mostly accepted, not disputed. The file is named for the period but the deduction is dated by the run date inside it. |
| Show order chargebacks | Weekly | Deals sold at UNFI shows. A separate chargeback from weekly promo, even when both land on the same check. Do not net them. |
| Overpull (OVP) | Monthly | Promotional volume pulled beyond what your deal covered. One monthly file can produce two deductions, one per region. |
| Shortages and product loss claims | Per shipment | Cases the DC says it did not receive, or inventory written off. The most frequently invalid family in the natural channel, and the one your BOL and POD were built for. |
| Fill-rate penalty | Per period | Validate the fill-rate measure and fee calculation against the current supplier agreement. |
| Post-audit debit memos | Years later | Third-party auditors (PRGX and others) re-examine old deals and invoices and bill what they think was missed. Often for periods you have already closed. |
| Warehouse programs | Per period | Free fills, ClearVue, slotting, placement. Contractual, and usually not disputable, but easy to misclassify as a promo chargeback. |
Where the UNFI backup lives
You are not sent backup by default. Email supplierdeductiondisputemgmt@unfi.com and ask to be added to the weekly MCB document distribution. Once you are, the backup arrives by email from an MCBReports address as a ZIP file named for your remit code. Weekly promo, weekly show order, and monthly quality chargebacks each arrive as their own mailing with their own subject line, so route all three to whoever works deductions, not just the first one you notice.
Inside each ZIP there are two files with the same figures: a CSV and a TXT. The CSV is the data. The TXT is a printed mainframe report of the same chargebacks, useful for reading, not for importing. Brands that load both into a tracker end up with every chargeback twice and spend a week wondering why the total is double the advice.
The CSV is worth learning. Each row carries the UPC, the retailer the deal was passed to, the DC, and a reason category. That is enough to check three things per line: was this promotion authorized, are the dates inside the agreed window, and does the per-case amount match the deal sheet. Lines that fail any of the three are your dispute.
The UNFI clock
Confirm the filing deadline for the specific deduction in the current UNFI instructions. The UNFI Dispute Center guidance describes a portal for Natural suppliers that replaces traditional email submissions.
For the full mechanics of the MCB family, including how to read the weekly report line by line, see What is a UNFI MCB?. For how the East and West advices post to your books, see the UNFI cash application guide.
How KeHE deductions work
KeHE runs the opposite model. There is one supplier account, identified by an ESN, and one ledger for it in K-Solve inside KeHE Connect. Every deduction posts there first, often weeks before the check that carries it is cut. That matters for matching: a KeHE deduction has no check number when it appears, and it does not get one until the payment run catches up. If your process waits for a check to start work, you lose weeks on every KeHE deduction.
KeHE deduction families you will see in K-Solve
| Family | Clock | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| UDR (Unloading Discrepancy Report) | 48 hours | Issued at the dock when receiving finds short, damaged, or expired cases. Lists cases and UPCs, not dollars. Finalizes into an Invoice Adjustment if you do not respond. |
| Invoice Adjustment | Verify current repayment terms | The finalized dollar version of a UDR. Can carry the same number as the UDR it came from, so never dedupe KeHE by number alone. |
| Customer spoils, returns, reclamation | Verify current repayment terms | Unsaleable product credited to the retailer and passed to you. The most frequent KeHE line we see across brands. Small each, large in total. |
| Merchandising chargebacks (MCB) and scan allowances | Verify current repayment terms | Promotional and scan-based deals passed through to retailers. The largest KeHE family by dollars, and the one to check against your promo calendar. |
| Everyday pricing and pass-through allowances | Verify current repayment terms | Contractual percentages taken off every invoice. Check the rate, not the existence. |
| Out-of-date and in-store credits | Verify current repayment terms | Product that expired in the KeHE warehouse or was credited at the store, charged back by DC. Usually valid; occasionally the dates do not match your lot codes. |
| Placement, new-item, and advertising fees | Verify current repayment terms | The cost of getting on the shelf and into the catalog. Contractual, but duplicates and fees on unlisted items happen. |
| Compliance: ready-date, fill rate, fairshare | Verify current repayment terms | Fines for late ready dates, short fills, and your share of retailer programs. Disputable when issued without the supporting report. |
| Repayments | n/a | Money coming back: a won dispute or a reversed charge. Match it to the original deduction or your recovery rate will read too low. |
The 48-hour rule
The initial UDR response and a later repayment request are separate requirements. Record the due date from the notice and current policy, assign an owner and retain the written response.
Reading a KeHE UDR
A UDR is a receiving document, not an invoice. It lists, per item, the issue (short, overage, damaged, expired), the case count, the UPC, the item number, and the case pack. It does not print a dollar amount. To know what you are disputing, value each chargeable line yourself: cases multiplied by your KeHE case price for that UPC. If you cannot price a line, leave the whole UDR as amount pending rather than reporting a number you know is low.
Overage lines are the exception, and a common mistake. An overage is not a deduction. KeHE's own disclaimer says it keeps over-shipped or wrong items in inventory under the applicable agreed discount and invites you to invoice for them. That is money owed to you. Brands that treat overages as chargebacks write off product they should be billing for.
Some UDRs arrive as a multi-page receiving packet instead of a clean table: a PO header, a packing list, and a receiving report with handwritten received quantities. Those cannot be valued from the document. Respond inside the 48 hours anyway, with your BOL and POD attached, and pick up the dollar figure when the Invoice Adjustment posts.
The full walkthrough, including what a winning 48-hour response contains, is in What is a KeHE UDR?.
Which document settles it
The question is never dispute or accept. Every family is checked against one specific document, and the verdict falls out of the document. This is the triage we run before anyone opens a portal: what to pull, and what in it turns a check into a dispute.
| Family | Verify against | Dispute when | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNFI | Shortage claims | Your BOL and the signed POD for that PO | The POD case count is higher than what UNFI says it received. |
| UNFI | Weekly promo chargebacks (MCB) | The weekly MCB CSV against your deal sheet | The promotion was not authorized, the dates fall outside the deal window, or the per-case amount is wrong. |
| UNFI | Third-party and retailer billing | The retailer program agreement (ad calendar, scan program, Whole Foods billing) the charge cites | There is no signed program for that retailer and period, or the amount exceeds the agreed rate. |
| UNFI | Early-pay discount | Three dates, from your systems not theirs: the invoice sent date on your EDI, the ship date on the POD, and your agreed terms | The check date falls outside the discount window measured from your EDI invoice date, or the rate taken is above your terms. |
| UNFI | SSA and service allowances | Your supplier service agreement and the period being billed | The percentage or the base differs from the agreement, or the same period is billed twice. |
| UNFI | Spoils and fairshare returns | Your unsaleables allowance in the supplier agreement and your lot codes | A fixed allowance already covers unsaleables, or the product was inside shelf life at the credit date. |
| UNFI | Reclaim and quality chargebacks (CMQ) | The monthly CMQ total against your unsaleables allowance and the prior few months, not line by line | Rarely. This is retail reclaim you accept. Escalate only if the monthly total jumps without a volume change, a retailer or DC you do not ship appears, or the same credit memo number lands twice. |
| UNFI | Fill-rate penalty | Your shipping documents (BOL, ship confirmation) for the orders in the period | The shortfall is on lines UNFI cancelled or cut, or the shipped quantity on the BOL is higher than what UNFI counted. |
| UNFI | Overpull (OVP) | The monthly OVP file against the promo's volume cap | Pulled volume is inside what the deal covered, or the file was billed to both regions. |
| UNFI | Post-audit debit memos (PRGX) | The original deal, invoice, or payment the auditor cites, which may be years old | The auditor's claim was already settled, the deal was never yours, or the item was paid on a later remittance. |
| KeHE | UDR: short, damaged, expired | Your BOL and POD, valued at cases times your KeHE case price | The POD count contradicts the UDR, or the damage was signed as received in good condition. |
| KeHE | UDR: overage | The UDR itself | Never. It is not a deduction. Invoice KeHE for the overage under the agreed terms. |
| KeHE | Customer spoils, returns, reclamation | The spoils detail against your unsaleables allowance and lot codes | A flat allowance already covers it, quantities exceed what the store received, or the product was in date. |
| KeHE | Out-of-date credits | The credit memo against your lot codes and best-by dates | The product was inside shelf life at the credit date. |
| KeHE | Merchandising chargebacks (MCB) and scan allowances | The K-Solve detail against your promo calendar and scan agreements | The allowance was applied outside the promo dates, at the wrong rate, or for a retailer not in the program. |
| KeHE | Everyday pricing and pass-through allowances | Your KeHE vendor agreement | The rate taken is higher than the agreement, or the allowance is applied to items not in the program. |
| KeHE | Placement, new-item, and advertising fees | Your vendor agreement, the new-item form, and the ad calendar | The fee is charged twice for one SKU, on an item KeHE never listed, or for an ad you did not sign. |
| KeHE | Compliance: ready-date, fill rate, fairshare | Your shipping documents and the PO ready date | The BOL shows you shipped on time and in full, or the fine is issued without the supporting report. |
One family deserves the opposite of a warning. Reclaim chargebacks (CMQ at UNFI, customer spoils at KeHE) are where brands waste the most dispute effort for the least return. A monthly CMQ file runs to hundreds of lines, nearly all carrying the same reason code for shelf-worn product at retail, and a typical line is worth about as much as one case. There is nothing in there worth a dispute packet. Watch the monthly total against your allowance and your volume; work the families above instead.
The one to actually check: early-pay discount
Early-pay discount is the most frequent line on a UNFI remittance and the one almost nobody audits, because it looks like terms rather than a chargeback. The advice gives you four things: gross amount, discount, net amount, and the check date. It does not tell you when you invoiced or when you shipped, which is the entire question. A discount is earned only if the payment landed inside the window measured from your invoice date. That date lives in your EDI, not in their file.
So the check is three documents, two of which are yours:
1. Invoice sent date, from your EDI
The 810 you transmitted, not the invoice date printed on their advice. The discount clock starts here.
2. Ship date, from the POD
Confirms the invoice was raised against a real delivery and dates the shipment independently of both the EDI and the advice.
3. Your agreed terms
Both halves matter: the rate and the window. A 1% discount and a 15-day window are two separate things to check, and they fail separately.
Two failure modes come out of this, and both are recoverable. The window failure: the check cleared outside the discount period but the discount was taken anyway. The rate failure: the percentage taken is above your terms, usually because the discount was computed on a gross that included freight or other charges it should not have. Neither is visible from the remittance alone, which is why this family sits unaudited on most brands' books while a few tenths of a percent compound across every invoice of the year.
One calendar for both distributors
The mistake is running deductions as a monthly close task. UNFI's backup is weekly and KeHE's clock is measured in hours. This is the cadence that keeps both inside their windows without a dedicated hire.
The deduction calendar
Every business day
Check for KeHE UDR emails and respond to any open one with BOL and POD attached. This is the only daily task, and it is the one that pays for the rest.
Every week
Open the UNFI weekly promo and show order ZIPs, match each line to the advice and to your deal sheet, and file promo disputes in myunfi. Pull new K-Solve transactions and value any Invoice Adjustments that posted.
Every month
Work the UNFI quality and overpull files. Reconcile the East and West advices to the bank. Review anything in K-Solve older than 90 days and decide: dispute now or write off deliberately.
Every quarter
Compare deductions to gross sales by distributor and by family. A family that grew faster than sales is either a new program you did not price in or a dispute you stopped filing.
Documentation that wins disputes
Both distributors accept the same core evidence. The difference is speed: UNFI lets you assemble it over a week; KeHE wants it attached to a UDR response inside two days. Keep these where they can be pulled by PO number in minutes.
Bill of Lading (BOL)
Proof of shipment with quantities and dates. Use it with signed proof of delivery to compare shipped and received quantities.
Proof of Delivery (POD)
Signed confirmation of receipt at the DC, ideally with case counts.
Deal sheet or promo authorization
Dates, retailers, and per-case amounts. What every MCB line is checked against.
Original PO and invoice
Agreed quantities and pricing. Needed for pricing and fee disputes on both sides.
The shortage-specific list, including what to do when freight was distributor-managed, is in Shortage dispute documentation.
Beyond the distributors
If you also sell direct to Walmart, Target, Amazon, or the clubs, each layers its own compliance program on top, and the windows are shorter than either distributor's. Confirm each program's current policy, filing deadline and evidence requirements. A process for tracking those deadlines is in Managing deduction dispute deadlines.
Retailer-direct accounts work differently again. At Lowe's, for example, the biggest exposure is the monthly MST, co-marketing and infrastructure allowances, which have to be checked PO by PO against backup you request yourself. That process is in the Lowe's vendor deductions guide. If your team books deductions in NetSuite, see NetSuite deductions automation for getting checked, coded lines back into your books.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between UNFI and KeHE deductions?
UNFI and KeHE use different remittance, backup and dispute workflows. UNFI Natural suppliers use the Dispute Center. KeHE UDR responses and repayment requests are separate steps; check current account policies for each deadline.
How long do you have to dispute a UNFI deduction?
Confirm the filing deadline in the current UNFI policy and Dispute Center record. Review new backup promptly and keep submission confirmations.
How long do you have to dispute a KeHE deduction?
The November 2025 KeHE policy distinguishes a written UDR response from a later repayment request. Confirm the applicable notice and current policy for each clock.
Where do you get UNFI deduction backup?
Email supplierdeductiondisputemgmt@unfi.com to be added to the weekly MCB report distribution. Backup arrives by email from MCBReports as a ZIP named for your remit code, containing a CSV of the chargeback detail and a TXT print of the same figures.
Why does a KeHE UDR have no dollar amount?
A UDR lists the issue, cases, UPC, and case pack per item, not dollars. Value it yourself as cases times your KeHE case price. Overage lines are not deductions: KeHE keeps overages under the applicable agreed discount and invites you to invoice for them.
Which distributor deductions are worth disputing?
Every family is checked against one document first. Shortages against the BOL and POD; promo chargebacks against the deal sheet; early-pay discounts against the terms and the paid date; spoils and reclaims against your unsaleables allowance and lot codes; fees against the vendor agreement. The dispute is whatever the document does not support.
The bottom line
Brands that internalize each distributor's rhythm recover what others write off. Review new UNFI backup promptly and confirm the applicable filing deadline. KeHE requires a response to UDRs within 48 hours; its separate K-Solve window covers deductions that have already posted. Build the calendar above, keep the four documents pullable by PO, and decide family by family what you dispute. That is the whole playbook.
Use the correct distributor workflow
Explore UNFI deduction review and KeHE deduction review in Revya. Reconciled charges feed trade planning so the next promotion starts with the actual account cost.