Increasing Food Access: Helping Grocers Accept EBT SNAP Online in 49 States and Washington D.C., Powered by Instacart Platform

At Instacart, we’re committed to increasing access to fresh and nutritious foods. In 2020, we started accepting EBT SNAP online in partnership with our retailers using Carrot Payments – part of the Instacart Platform – to power these transactions at scale. Since launch, we’ve continued to grow this program to ensure families have access to the food they need, and today, we’re excited to share that we’ve expanded our EBT SNAP payments integration to 10 additional states – Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. 

This expansion serves as a significant milestone for both EBT SNAP beneficiaries and the grocery industry. Using the Instacart Platform, grocers of all sizes can enable EBT SNAP acceptance online in 49 states and Washington D.C., to reach nearly 30 million people experiencing food insecurity across the country. Previously, only the largest retailers and e-commerce companies were able to build the capability to accept EBT SNAP online. Through Instacart Platform, Instacart is making this technology available to all grocers so that more families can use their benefits to shop online from their favorite local stores. 

Grocers like Albertsons Companies and Sprouts have partnered with Instacart to accept EBT SNAP in these ten new states. Meijer, Price Chopper/Market 32 and Tops Friendly Markets have also recently expanded EBT SNAP acceptance across the Instacart Platform. With these expansions, Instacart now powers EBT SNAP payments for more than 60 retail banners spanning over 8,000 stores across the country. 

EBT SNAP acceptance is powered by the Instacart Platform, a suite of enterprise-grade technologies that helps retailers scale e-commerce and fulfillment. Using Instacart’s Carrot Payments solution, grocers can enable EBT SNAP payments both on the Instacart App and their own digital e-commerce properties built with Carrot Storefront and Carrot Storefront Pro. In addition to EBT SNAP, Carrot Payments allows grocers to seamlessly integrate new payment types on their e-commerce sites, such as Apple Pay, PayPal and others. 

We’re dedicated to breaking down barriers so more people and families across the country can access affordable, nutritious foods. Grocery e-commerce and delivery should not be a luxury, and by leveraging Instacart Platform technology, we’ll continue to support grocers in their efforts to better serve their communities. We’re proud to help expand this essential service in deep partnership with retailers. 

To learn more about today’s announcement, you can read the full press release here. For more information about EBT SNAP on Instacart, visit www.instacart.com/ebt-snap. For more information about the Instacart Platform, visit www.instacart.com/company/platform. 

Sarah Mastrorocco

Author

Sarah Mastrorocco is Vice President and General Manager of Health for Instacart. A longtime Instacart veteran and leader, Sarah today oversees Instacart Health, designed to support businesses, nonprofits and consumers across three key areas: Nutrition Security, Making Healthier Choices Easier, and Food as Medicine. Sarah has played an integral role at Instacart since joining as the first member of the company’s business development team in 2014. During her tenure at Instacart, she’s taken on various leadership positions across Business Development, Account Management, and Catalog. Prior to this current role, Sarah oversaw and scaled Instacart’s Pickup business.