Mission-driven payments processor Forage has announced a strategic partnership with global financial technology platform Adyen. The collaboration is designed to power the acceptance of SNAP EBT (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit Transfer) payments for Adyen’s merchant network across the United States.
The integration targets the 42 million Americans who rely on government benefits for grocery purchasing, offering a streamlined path for retailers in the grocery, convenience, and restaurant sectors to accept these funds digitally.
Technical Integration: Unified Commerce
The partnership leverages Forage’s status as a USDA-approved third-party payment processor (TPP) to embed EBT functionality directly into Adyen’s unified commerce platform.
Crucially, the implementation is optimised to handle the specific complexities associated with government benefits without disrupting standard operations. Key technical features include:
Mixed-Basket Flows: The ability to process transactions containing both SNAP-eligible and ineligible items in a single checkout.
Security: Integrated secure PIN entry protocols.
Refund Handling: Specialised logic for EBT-specific refund compliance.
Strategic Rationale and Timeline
The move supports Adyen’s rapid growth in the food and beverage sector by removing a significant barrier to entry for merchants wishing to serve the SNAP demographic. By integrating with Forage, Adyen allows its clients to add EBT acceptance to existing setups with "minimal lift," preserving a consistent reporting experience across all payment methods.
Pearse O'Flynn, Global Head of Platforms, F&B and Hospitality at Adyen, commented on the operational benefits:
"At Adyen, our mission is to remove complexity from payments. Partnering with Forage to bring seamless, end-to-end SNAP EBT processing onto our platform was a natural extension of that mission. This integration enables merchants to expand access to SNAP customers while preserving a single, consistent operational and reporting experience across all payment methods."
Ofek Lavian, co-founder and CEO of Forage, highlighted the social impact of the deal: "Adyen is one of the best payments companies in the world, trusted by brands people use every day. Forage is proud to support Adyen in enabling this important payment method for their retailers, while helping millions of SNAP recipients shop with more flexibility and dignity."
Commercial Availability
Merchants utilising the Adyen platform can now coordinate eligibility and onboarding through their account managers. The first wave of merchants is primed to go live with the new capability in early 2026.
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