Instacart announced an expansion of its EBT SNAP payment integration to include three new retailers – Publix, The Save Mart Companies, and Price Chopper/Market 32 – for online grocery delivery and pickup. This expansion will increase EBT SNAP availability by more than 1,500 stores across 15 states.
This expansion comes as the USDA announced it would offer P-EBT benefits to all low-income children of all ages, helping provide adequate nutrition to more than 30 million children over the summer.
Once this expansion is complete, Instacart will offer EBT SNAP in more than 4,000 stores across 38 states and Washington D.C., the company said.
“Providing people access to the food they love is at the core of Instacart’s mission. We recognize the opportunity we have to help make fresh food and pantry staples more accessible to communities by breaking down barriers to same-day grocery delivery and pickup,” said Nilam Ganenthiran, President of Instacart.
EBT SNAP is now available at all Publix locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
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The Save Mart Companies – including Save Mart, Lucky California, Lucky and FoodMaxx banners – has enabled EBT SNAP across California and Nevada, making them the first Northern California retailer to offer EBT SNAP online.
Price Chopper/Market 32 has launched the EBT SNAP payment integration across its New York stores. It will soon expand to its Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Vermont locations in the coming weeks.
“We’ve advocated for this convenience since our partnership with Instacart began and are truly gratified that the success of its pilot program now allows us to extend the convenience to our customers throughout New York State,” said Blaine Bringhurst, Executive Vice President of Merchandising, Marketing and Store Operations at Price Chopper/Market 32.
The expansion follows Instacart’s initial rollout of EBT SNAP payments late last year in partnership with more than 2,000 ALDI locations nationwide. Instacart also announced its EBT SNAP partnership with Food Lion, launching across more than 600 Food Lion stores earlier this year.
The company’s ongoing expansion highlights Instacart’s commitment to working with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to make fresh food and pantry staples easily accessible to even more people across the country.
To help subsidize costs for EBT SNAP participants, Instacart will waive delivery or pickup fees through June 16, 2021, on up to the first three EBT SNAP orders for each customer with a valid EBT card associated with their Instacart account.
“This is good news for New Yorkers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),” said New York State Senator Roxanne J. Persaud, Chair of the NYS Senate Social Services Committee. “With food insecurity remaining at crisis levels, we must continue to expand our reach to all New Yorkers in need.”
Where available, EBT SNAP participants will now be able to shop from Publix, The Save Mart Companies stores (Save Mart, Lucky California, Lucky, and FoodMaxx), Price Chopper/Market 32, ALDI, and Food Lion via the Instacart website and mobile app.
Once an Instacart customer profile is created, customers can enter their EBT food card information as a form of payment in their profile. Customers can then enter their zip code to determine if they are near a participating retailer and begin shopping and selecting items from retailers’ EBT-eligible products.