We tried to get it before opening, but they wanted us to show them data proving that more than half of our sales came from take and bake and other qualifying items. Since we had yet to open, that wasn’t possible. And since we didn’t accept ebt, obviously our take and bake sales are a very small percentage of our sales (even if we added drinks and salads to the total, it would be far below 50%).
The USDA does frequently change requirements and such, so I keep an eye on things. Personally, I think it’s dumb you can go buy $100 worth of candy at the grocery store yet you can’t buy a pizza, which would serve multiple people, dare I say even an entire family, which I believe is the purpose of the ebt card to being with. What else are they going to do with a cooked pizza? Trade it for drugs? Ok, so why put the 50% restriction on take and bake pizzas? Why make it so difficult? Anyway, I think the laws will eventually become more favorable but we will see…
That being said, this is an article of news I’ve been following.
Little Caesars used to take EBT in the Portland, OR area and I couldn’t figure out how for the longest time, until I read this article.
http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-2807 … ision.html
Long story short, they set up a separate company within their stores, used a separate register to only ring in take and bake pizzas, drinks, salads, etc… got approval and took ebt for a while until the loop hole was figured out and they were rejected.
Im not sure if these restrictions vary by state. It may be easier in other parts of the country. I think ebt would be a no brainer if you could get the approval.
