Shipping to KeHE: where fresh, natural, and grocery freight actually goes

KeHE runs 19 distribution centers across North America, each tagged by what it handles: e-commerce, grocery, natural, or fresh. Only two facilities carry the Fresh designation, Ontario, California and Tualatin, Oregon, both on the West Coast. Your purchase order names the receiving DC, and that designation decides whether your product belongs there.

Before your first KeHE delivery

• Confirm the receiving DC on the purchase order, not the nearest building. Designations decide routing, and the closest facility may not carry your category.
• Confirm whether the product is fresh. Fresh in the western US routes to Ontario or Tualatin, not Chino or Stockton, and those are separate appointment desks.
• Book the delivery appointment before the freight is ready, not after. If the receiver cannot offer a slot inside your must-arrive-by window, the delivery is already late regardless of when the truck leaves.
• Never arrive without an appointment, including a single pallet in a van or box truck. Appointment-only receiving means appointment-only, and unscheduled arrivals are a chargeable event at grocery distribution centers generally.
• Confirm the receiving hours for that specific facility. They are not standard across the network, and the two Fresh DCs run as their own operations.
• Forward the routing documents to whoever is actually driving, including yourself if you are delivering it. The requirements apply to the delivery, not to the carrier's size.
• Write the appointment in 24-hour time with the receiver's time zone. Misread appointment times are an ordinary cause of a late truck.

For what a missed window costs and how the clock is measured, see the real cost of a failed delivery appointment.

Why KeHE is the other receiver that matters

For most natural and organic brands, KeHE is the second distributor after UNFI, and for many specialty and emerging brands it is the first. KeHE publishes more about its supplier programs than UNFI does, including tracks built for small brands, which makes it a common early stop. It also runs its network differently, and the difference is the thing to understand before the first purchase order.

KeHE is also the CPG distributor behind Sprouts Farmers Market, which means a brand landing Sprouts is often shipping into the KeHE network whether or not it thought of KeHE as its distributor.

Facilities are tagged by what they handle

KeHE does not have one kind of warehouse. Every DC in its public locator carries a designation, and Fresh is the rarest one.

KeHE's locator labels each facility with one or more service types: e-commerce, grocery, natural, and fresh. Most DCs carry grocery and natural. Some add e-commerce. Only two carry Fresh, and they are dedicated to it: DC 45 in Ontario, California and DC 46 in Tualatin, Oregon. They are also the only two facilities listed with their own direct phone numbers rather than the shared national line, which tells you they run as their own operations.

What that means for cold product in the West

If your product is fresh, refrigerated, short-dated, and headed into KeHE anywhere in the western United States, the public network map says it goes to Ontario or Tualatin. Not Chino, which is a few miles from Ontario and handles e-commerce, grocery, and natural. Not Stockton. A brand with a fresh line and a shelf-stable line can have both routing into the same Inland Empire corridor and still ship to two different buildings.

Ontario sits in the same corridor as UNFI's Moreno Valley and Riverside facilities, which is why Southern California reefer LTL into the Inland Empire is a lane we run constantly. The refrigerated LTL carriers page covers how that capacity is sourced. For the UNFI side of the same corridor, see shipping to UNFI.

The California trio

• DC 41 Chino: e-commerce, grocery, and natural. The general-purpose Southern California facility.
• DC 45 Ontario: fresh only. A few miles from Chino, and a different building for a different product.
• DC 33 Stockton: grocery and natural, serving Northern California and the Central Valley.

From the LA Basin, Chino and Ontario are same-day. Stockton is a scheduled lane, and our scheduled lane page covers how we run it.

The designation gap most natural brands miss

Two facilities in the public locator do not carry the Natural designation at all. DC 18 Romeoville, outside Chicago, is listed as e-commerce and grocery. DC 31 Miami is grocery only. A natural brand planning a Midwest or South Florida launch around the nearest KeHE building may find the nearest building is not the one its category routes to. The receiving DC on your purchase order settles it, and it is worth confirming before you quote freight rather than after. A DC you have not shipped to before is also a new lane with its own cost per case; see what a new distribution center does to your freight cost.

Programs built for smaller brands

KeHE publishes several supplier programs that matter to early-stage natural brands: ELEVATE for emerging brands, AAP, described at retrieval as a flat-rate program for suppliers under a first-year sales threshold, and the CARE Trade and DIVERSE Trade programs. Onboarding and supplier resources run through the KeHE CONNECT portal. The programs affect margin and terms rather than freight directly, but they shape which brands are shipping into KeHE for the first time, and first deliveries are where receiving discipline gets tested.

Where the deductions come from

The failure modes are the same as at any distributor: missed appointments, pallet and label errors, paperwork that does not match the load, routing violations. See what a UNFI or KeHE chargeback actually costs and how to avoid distributor deductions for the mechanics, and refrigerated LTL for UNFI and KeHE for the cold-chain handling side.

How KeHE handles disputes compared with UNFI

The two distributors behave differently once a deduction is on the books, and the practical difference is worth knowing before you build a process around it. A deduction-recovery operator working across several emerging and mid-market brands describes KeHE as slower but more consistent, with clean documentation typically paid back in 30 to 45 days, and UNFI as faster on small amounts but more resistant on anything above roughly a thousand dollars. That is one firm's experience rather than published policy, and your own results will depend on your documentation and your account. The part that holds either way: the dispute is won or lost on what you can produce, and the filing window is finite. Keep signed PODs with arrival times, appointment confirmations, and photographs where product condition is at issue.

When the delivery goes wrong anyway

A fresh load into Ontario has less margin for error than a dry load into Chino, because the product clock is shorter. If a carrier fails or storage fails, the receiver's scheduling desk hears from you before the appointment is missed, not after. The no-show recovery playbook and the cold storage failure playbook cover the first hour of each.

If you are shipping into KeHE for the first time, or moving fresh product into Ontario and want the appointment, the carrier, and the paperwork handled by one team, tell us which DC is on your PO, or call (909) 304-1068. Fr8topia is a licensed freight broker, and KeHE deliveries into the Inland Empire are core to what we do.

What are KeHE's DC numbers and locations?

Your purchase order names the receiving distribution center by number. KeHE's public locator lists 19 distribution centers: 15 in the United States, each with a DC number, and 4 in Canada. Each one carries a service designation that says what the building receives. Only two are designated Fresh, highlighted below.

The two Fresh facilities, DC 45 Ontario and DC 46 Tualatin, are the only US DCs listed with direct phone numbers; every other US facility shares one national line. If the DC number on your purchase order is not in this table, confirm the receiving facility with KeHE before you book freight. Addresses and designations are as listed on kehe.com on the verification date below.

KeHE distribution centers receive by appointment, and the purchase order names the receiving facility. What sets KeHE apart is that the facility name also tells you what the building handles. Each DC in the public locator carries a designation, e-commerce, grocery, natural, or fresh, and only two facilities in the entire network are designated Fresh.

In practice that means fresh product and shelf-stable product from the same brand can route to different buildings even in the same metro. In Southern California, fresh goes to DC 45 Ontario while grocery and natural go to DC 41 Chino, a few miles away. Treat them as two receivers with two appointment desks.

Direct delivery means your carrier runs to the DC on the PO with an appointment booked in advance. Consolidation pools your pallets with other brands headed to the same facility, which can lower cost at small volumes; our retail consolidation programs page covers when that fits. Fresh product into Ontario or Tualatin adds a temperature check at the dock and less tolerance for a missed window.

What KeHE publishes openly and what sits behind the supplier portal:

Public, on kehe.com: the full distribution center list with addresses and service designations, and the supplier program overview, including ELEVATE, AAP, CARE Trade, DIVERSE Trade, and the KeHE CONNECT portal as the path in.

Behind KeHE CONNECT, for onboarded suppliers: the routing guide, appointment procedures and lead times, carrier and equipment requirements, pallet configuration and labeling specifications, and the deduction schedule. KeHE's inbound routing guide is versioned and reissued; the edition current at retrieval is Version 16, dated July 1, 2026. Check the version in your portal against the one your carrier is working from, because an outdated copy is a compliance problem you will not see until a deduction appears.

Where the appointment is booked: delivery appointments are scheduled through KeHE CONNECT rather than by calling the distribution center switchboard. Confirm the current process in your portal before the first load, since scheduling systems change and the DC will not always be the right place to ask.

What your carrier needs from you: KeHE's routing documentation is issued to the supplier, and the supplier is responsible for forwarding it to whoever moves the freight. At retrieval that set is the Inbound Routing Guide, the Inbound Routing Guide Fee Schedule, the KeHE DC Contact List, and, for applicable products, the Supplier Histamine Products In-Transit Temperature Monitoring Requirements. A carrier who has not seen these is working blind at a receiver that charges for errors.

What to expect regardless, because it is standard distributor practice: appointment-only receiving, pallet labels that scan to the purchase order, case counts that match the PO exactly, and a bill of lading that agrees with both. For fresh product, expect a temperature check at the dock and a tighter appointment window.

This page does not reproduce routing guide contents. If a claim here conflicts with your guide, the guide wins. Designations, addresses, and document names are as listed on the verification date below.

Fresh is a different building, even when it is the same town. KeHE's Chino and Ontario facilities are a few miles apart in the Inland Empire, and they are not interchangeable. Chino handles e-commerce, grocery, and natural. Ontario handles fresh, and it is one of only two Fresh-designated DCs in the entire network. A brand with a refrigerated line and a shelf-stable line ships into KeHE Southern California twice, to two docks with two appointment desks. A fresh pallet tendered to Chino because it is on the way is not a delivery, it is a rejection with the clock running.

And the nearest DC may not carry your category. The Chicago-area facility in Romeoville is listed without the Natural designation. Miami is grocery only. Plan from the receiving DC on your purchase order, not from the map.

Whether you use Fr8topia or anyone else, these are worth asking before the first KeHE load:

• Who books the delivery appointment, you or me? If the answer is vague, it is you.
• What happens if the carrier is running late? Ask specifically whether the receiver gets a call before the window closes or after it is missed.
• What documentation comes back after delivery? A signed POD with arrival time noted, and an appointment confirmation, are what you need if a deduction shows up on a later invoice.
• Do you handle fresh into Ontario or Tualatin? Temperature-controlled delivery into a Fresh-designated DC is not the same job as a dry drop into Chino.
• What is the plan if the carrier no-shows? For a short-dated load, the answer should exist before it is needed. See the no-show recovery playbook.

How do I look up a KeHE DC by its number?

Match the DC number on your purchase order to KeHE's public locator. For example, DC 15 is Lehigh Valley in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, DC 55 is Douglasville, Georgia, DC 12 is Aurora, Colorado, and DC 45 is the fresh-only facility in Ontario, California. The table on this page lists every US DC number with its address and what it receives.

Where are KeHE's distribution centers in California?

KeHE's public locator lists three: DC 41 Chino (e-commerce, grocery, natural), DC 45 Ontario (fresh only), and DC 33 Stockton (grocery, natural). Chino and Ontario are a few miles apart in the Inland Empire but serve different product types, so the receiving DC on your purchase order determines which one you ship to.

Which KeHE facilities handle fresh product?

Per KeHE's public locator, only two: DC 45 Ontario, California and DC 46 Tualatin, Oregon. Both carry the Fresh designation exclusively, and both are listed with their own direct phone numbers rather than the shared national line. Fresh product headed into KeHE in the western United States routes through one of these two facilities.

Does KeHE have a natural-designated distribution center near Chicago?

Not according to the public locator. DC 18 Romeoville is listed as e-commerce and grocery, without the Natural designation. The nearest facilities listed with Natural are Ellettsville, Indiana and Aurora, Colorado. Confirm the receiving DC on your purchase order rather than assuming the closest building.

What programs does KeHE offer emerging natural brands?

KeHE publicly lists ELEVATE for emerging brands, AAP as a flat-rate program for suppliers under a first-year sales threshold, and the CARE Trade and DIVERSE Trade programs. Supplier onboarding and resources run through the KeHE CONNECT portal. Program terms are set by KeHE and should be confirmed in current supplier materials.

How do I book a delivery appointment with KeHE for my first order?

Through KeHE CONNECT rather than by calling the distribution center. Confirm the current process in your portal before the first load. Appointment-only receiving applies regardless of shipment size, including a single pallet delivered in a van, and arriving without a booked appointment is a chargeable event at grocery distribution centers generally.

Distribution center list, DC numbers, addresses, and service designations: KeHE, "Distribution Center Locations" (kehe.com/locations), retrieved September 3, 2026 and rechecked October 16, 2026. Supplier programs and portal: KeHE, "Suppliers" (kehe.com/suppliers), retrieved August 29, 2026. Receiving practices described at the level of standard distributor operations; routing guide contents are not reproduced and remain governed by the current guide in KeHE CONNECT. Fr8topia service claims limited to what is published at fr8topia.com as of the same date.