UNFI and KeHE pay on terms counted from the later of your invoice and your delivery. Factoring pays you most of the invoice within a day instead. How each distributor's clock, first orders and offsets work.
Last edited 5 min read
30 days, counted from the later of your invoice and your delivery, is the standard payment term in UNFI's published supplier policies, and KeHE starts its clock the same way.1, 3 Invoice factoring pays you most of a UNFI or KeHE invoice within a day of billing instead, at 12% to 36% a year with Spring, once the distributor has acknowledged a Notice of Assignment. The distributor keeps its terms; you stop waiting on them.
UNFI and KeHE are good payers to factor against: each one pays for hundreds of stores, so the invoice depends on the distributor, not on how long you have been in business. What makes their invoices different from a retailer's is the clock, the first-order rules and the offsets, so this post covers those first. We sell invoice factoring, so check our work. It is not legal or financial advice.
When do UNFI and KeHE pay their suppliers?
Each distributor sets the days in your own supplier agreement, but both publish how the clock runs.
UNFI. The supplier policies UNFI published in 2014 set terms of 2% 10, net 30: UNFI takes a 2% discount if it pays within 10 days, and otherwise pays in 30. The days count from whichever is latest of three dates: UNFI receives the invoice, the invoice is postmarked, or UNFI receives the goods.1 A UNFI supplier agreement filed with the SEC in 2024 keeps the same later-of-three clock and redacts the numbers, so read yours.2 First orders run on their own schedule: the 2014 policies paid initial invoices 60 days after UNFI received the initial orders, and the 2024 agreement pays them a set number of days after a UNFI supplier manager approves them.
KeHE. KeHE's days are in each supplier's Terms Form, not its public policies. The policies say the clock starts at the later of KeHE receiving your invoice and KeHE receiving the goods, counting them and making them available for sale, and that a payment is on time if it goes out on KeHE's first payment cycle after the due date.3 Initial orders into a new KeHE distribution center are held until they have sold through, whatever your terms say.
Can I factor UNFI and KeHE invoices?
Yes. Once the goods are delivered and invoiced, a UNFI or KeHE invoice is a receivable like a Walmart or Target one, and a factor can advance most of it.
With Spring, the advance usually lands within 24 hours of the invoice once that distributor is set up, and the distributor pays its normal terms into an account Spring holds for you and that distributor alone. When the payment arrives, Spring keeps the advance and its fee and sends you the rest. The fee is fixed when you sign, charged on the advance rather than the whole invoice. UNFI and KeHE both connect to Spring directly, so invoices, payments and deductions sync without uploads. The full mechanics, step by step, are in how invoice factoring works and on invoice factoring.
How does a Notice of Assignment work with UNFI and KeHE?
It is one letter per distributor, and your first funding waits on the distributor acknowledging it.
Spring requires a Notice of Assignment for every product except Bridge Funding. The notice asks the distributor's accounts payable team to change one line in its vendor file, the remit-to, so your payments go to the account set up for you. UNFI handles it with an ACH form; KeHE has its own form. Both process them routinely. It takes days, occasionally a couple of weeks, and after that later invoices to the same distributor can usually be funded the same day. What the notice says, line by line, is in What Is a Notice of Assignment?.
| Question | Waiting on UNFI or KeHE |  Invoice factoring |
|---|---|---|
| When you have the cash | After the terms run1, 3From the later of invoice and delivery, then the next payment cycle | Usually within 24 hoursOf the invoice, once the distributor has acknowledged the notice |
| Who the distributor pays | YouInto your own bank account | SpringInto an account set up for you and that distributor |
| Deductions and offsets | Netted from your payment2, 3You find them when the payment lands | Netted from the part held backAnything bigger comes out of a later payment to you |
| What it costs | No feeThe cash is tied up for the whole term | 12% to 36% a yearOn the advance, fixed when you sign |
| What the distributor sees | Nothing new | One remit-to changeProcessed once, with its own form |
What do deductions and offsets do to a factored invoice?
They shrink the payment, not your advance. That is why a factor never advances 100%.
Both distributors net what you owe them against what they owe you. UNFI's agreement lets it take chargebacks out of its payments and offset any amount you owe it.2 KeHE does the same, and if what you owe KeHE is more than its open invoices to you, it pays nothing on those invoices until your balance is positive again; you have 180 days from a KeHE deduction to dispute it.3 So one invoice's payment can arrive short because of another invoice's chargeback, or a promotion, or a slotting fee.
The part of each invoice a factor holds back is what absorbs that. With Spring, a deduction comes out of the holdback first; if a deduction is ever bigger, the difference comes out of the next payment we would send you. Dispute the ones you think are wrong inside the distributor's window either way.
When is factoring the wrong tool for distributor invoices?
When there is no payment date to factor against, or when you need the money before you ship.
- A first order into a new KeHE warehouse. It is held until it sells through, so its payment date is not set. Ask any factor, us included, how it treats an opening order before you count on an advance against one.
- You need to pay for production. Factoring starts at the invoice. Before the goods ship, purchase order financing pays your supplier against the order; the big retailer order post shows the two together.
- You would rather the distributor saw no change. Bridge Funding is sized on the money your business already makes and needs no Notice of Assignment.
- The distributor already pays you inside 10 days. If it takes the 2% discount and pays early, you are paying for speed already, and factoring adds little.
How to carry the wait without factoring at all is its own post: how to cover cash flow while a distributor pays you.
Frequently asked questions
Can I factor invoices to UNFI and KeHE?
Yes. Once the goods are delivered and invoiced, a UNFI or KeHE invoice can be factored like a retailer invoice. With Spring, the advance usually lands within 24 hours once the distributor has acknowledged a Notice of Assignment, and the distributor keeps paying on its normal terms. See invoice factoring.
What are UNFI's payment terms for suppliers?
Your own supplier agreement sets the days. UNFI's published 2014 supplier policies set 2% 10, net 30, counted from the latest of the date UNFI receives the invoice, the invoice postmark and the date UNFI receives the goods, and paid initial invoices 60 days after it received the initial orders.
What are KeHE's payment terms for suppliers?
The days are in each supplier's Terms Form. KeHE's Supplier Policies & Procedures start the clock at the later of KeHE receiving the invoice and the goods being received, counted and available for sale, and hold initial orders into a new distribution center until they sell through.
Does UNFI or KeHE accept a Notice of Assignment?
Yes. Both process them routinely: UNFI with an ACH form, KeHE with its own form. It changes the remit-to line in the distributor's vendor file, once per distributor, and your first funding waits on the acknowledgment. What a NOA does.
Will the stores UNFI and KeHE sell to know I factor?
The notice goes to the distributor's accounts payable team, because the distributor is the one paying your invoice. The stores buy from the distributor and see no change.
Can I factor my first order to KeHE or UNFI?
A first order is paid on its own schedule: KeHE holds initial orders into a new distribution center until they sell through, and UNFI pays a new supplier's initial invoices on a separate clock after a supplier manager approves them. Ask how a factor treats them before you count on an advance. To pay for making the order, use purchase order financing.
How much does it cost to factor a UNFI or KeHE invoice with Spring?
12% to 36% a year, charged on the advance rather than the whole invoice, and fixed in the disclosure you sign before funding.
If you have UNFI or KeHE invoices you are waiting on, get started or read more about invoice factoring at Spring.
1 UNFI, Supplier Policies and Guidelines (August 1, 2014), "Terms of Payment", filed with the SEC in Whole Foods Market's Exhibit 10.1, 2016, read October 2026.
2 A UNFI supplier agreement, filed with the SEC as Exhibit 10.15, 2024, section 5 (pricing and payments), read October 2026.
3 KeHE Distributors, Supplier Policies & Procedures, effective November 1, 2025, sections 3.2 and 4.1 to 4.4, read October 2026.
