Forage Simplifies Online SNAP Integration
Justin Intal, CEO of Forage, on helping online grocery platforms process EBT
The gap exists because online SNAP is not just turning on another payment method, it is rebuilding grocery checkout around government rules. Most approved sellers did not write their own stack from scratch. Many first reached SNAP users through Instacart, while only a handful of very large retailers like Amazon and Walmart had the money and staff to build direct integrations, compliance workflows, and USDA approval processes on their own.
-
Getting approved meant more than adding an EBT button. Merchants had to submit a letter of intent, produce a long business requirements document, prove SKU level eligibility, support split tender for fees and non food items, and add PIN based authentication to reduce fraud.
-
The early online market was concentrated in platforms and national chains. More than half of the stores that came online initially did so through Instacart, and many chains still lacked SNAP acceptance on their own sites even when they were available inside Instacart.
-
That left a clear opening for Forage. Instead of asking each grocer to devote months of engineering and compliance work, it packaged the USDA approval process and payment processing into an API and workflow software, shortening work that took Instacart months and big retailers up to 18 months.
The next phase is moving from pilot era scarcity to broad infrastructure rollout. USDA data now shows hundreds of retailers authorized online, up from single digits in 2020, which means the bottleneck is shifting from basic permission to better merchant tooling, reliability, and coverage across more grocery formats and delivery models.