HONOLULU, Hawaii—7-Eleven Hawaii customers who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will soon be able to use their benefits to place SNAP-eligible online orders for delivery via Vroom Delivery or for pickup at one of the retailer’s 65 locations across Oahu, Big Island, Kauai and Maui.
“We are thrilled to accept online EBT payments for customers who utilize our delivery and pickup services,” said Danielle Takahashi, assistant category manager at 7-Eleven Hawaii. “As a result, the everyday favorites from 7-Eleven Hawaii are now more convenient and accessible than ever for our customers statewide.”
7-Eleven Hawaii and Vroom Delivery have been working on the program for more than a year in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to align to FNS regulations, the companies said. Any retailer on the Vroom platform can now also elect to offer this service to their customers, and several retailers are expected to launch within the coming months.
Chicago-based Vroom Delivery, founded in 2016, is a full-stack e-commerce solution for convenience stores, enabling retailers to operate and manage their own e-commerce and delivery services.
“This has been the most time intensive project that we have undertaken as a company in the past two years,” said Vroom Delivery CEO John Nelson.
“We decided to dedicate these resources because we believe that this is a necessary addition to our platform for both retailers and their customers who rely on these programs to purchase their food and groceries. Many food stamp recipients have no access to online, on-demand home delivery options that allow them to utilize their SNAP benefits, and therefore we are proud to be the first to in this industry to launch this service with our partner 7-Eleven Hawaii, as well as with our future participating retailers.”
The online SNAP program is independent of in-store SNAP programs. Retailers must apply separately in partnership with an e-commerce platform that has been certified by FNS.
Walmart and Amazon have been piloting online orders with SNAP payments. For more information on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, see the NACS Advocacy Page for SNAP.