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Food Lion enables online SNAP EBT payments across its stores

Expansion follows addition to Food Lion To-Go service in North Carolina

Russell Redman

May 20, 2021

3 Min Read
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SNAP participants in Food Lion's 10-state market area can now link their food card information as a direct form of payment when shopping online via the Food Lion To Go service.Food Lion

Food Lion has gone live chainwide with acceptance of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) payments for online orders from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) customers.

The Ahold Delhaize USA supermarket chain said this week SNAP participants across its 10-state Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic market area can now link their food card information as a direct form of payment when shopping online via the Food Lion To Go online grocery pickup service.

Overall, Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion operates more than 1,100 stores.

“We’re excited to now offer all our neighbors using SNAP EBT this new option to shop however they prefer, in-store or online,” Evan Harding, director of digital and e-commerce at Food Lion, said in a statement. “Food Lion To Go allows customers the ability to shop from wherever is most convenient, while still ensuring they have access to fresh, nutritious food to nourish their families. It’s one of the many ways Food Lion makes grocery shopping easy, fresh and affordable for our neighbors.”

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Food Lion To-Go personal shoppers pick and bag the orders and then load them into customers’ vehicles when they arrive at the store.

The chainwide rollout comes a few months after an initial deployment of SNAP EBT functionality at more than 350 Food Lion stores in North Carolina under a partnership with Instacart. At the time, SNAP EBT payments were available only via the Instacart marketplace, but the capability has been enabled on the Food Lion site and mobile app.

Related:Food Lion raises sustainability targets

Food Lion provides online grocery delivery and pickup under the Food Lion To-Go brand via its website and app, both powered by Instacart Enterprise.

To use the EBT service, SNAP customers go to shop.foodlion.com or open the Food Lion To-Go app, enter their ZIP code, select their local store and start shopping for eligible fresh food, grocery and daily essential products. When done adding items to the virtual cart, they then choose a pickup window — for the same day or up to seven days in advance — and check out. Food Lion To-Go personal shoppers pick and pack the orders and then load them into customers’ vehicles when they arrive at the store.  

Food Lion noted that SNAP customers get the same prices as in stores via the EBT service. They also can link their MVP savings loyalty card to their SNAP EBT account, use digital coupons and redeem Shop & Earn MVP rewards savings. Users see their accumulated Shop & Earn rewards on their checkout screen and can view which clipped digital coupons to apply to their order.

Under the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot, launched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in April 2019, 47 states and the District of Columbia now allow SNAP beneficiaries to shop and pay for groceries online.

Related:Food Lion launches SNAP EBT payment for Instacart orders

Read more about:

Ahold Delhaize USA

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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