In a significant development, Kroger announced on Tuesday that families relying on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can now use their benefits to pay for grocery orders online through Kroger’s app or website. This change allows SNAP users in the Greater Cincinnati region and beyond to conveniently make online orders for pick-up or delivery and use their federal benefits for payment.

Jenifer Moore, the corporate affairs manager for Kroger‘s Cincinnati/Dayton division, expressed enthusiasm about expanding the digital grocery shopping experience to more people, providing them with fresh and affordable food. While shoppers at physical Kroger locations have been able to use Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) to pay for groceries for years, this payment method was not available for SNAP users who wanted to take advantage of online ordering until now.

To place an order through Kroger’s website or app, families can upload their EBT account number as a new card in the “My Account” section. During the checkout process for pick-up or delivery, they simply select the EBT card as the payment method, enter their pin, and the order will be processed.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many grocery stores to expand their pickup and delivery services. However, SNAP users faced limitations since EBT was not always accepted for online payment, due to the 2014 Farm Bill, which required a pilot program to test the feasibility and implications of allowing retail food stores to accept SNAP benefits online. The pilot program was launched in 2017, initially involving eight approved grocery stores in different states, but Kroger was not among them, and Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana did not participate. Over time, the pilot program expanded to other states, and now several grocery stores in the Tri-State region have started accepting EBT as a payment option for online grocery orders.