Does Little Caesars Take EBT Snap Payment? Little Caesars is the second-largest fast food pizza chain after Pizza Hut and is well known for serving hot and ready-to-eat pizzas to its customers. The fast food chain has nearly 4000+ store locations throughout the country, being dominated primarily by California, Michigan, and Texas. Little Caesars services are available 24 hours a day, so it is one of the best places to enjoy hot and ready food for lunch or dinner.
A lot of SNAP recipients are eager to know whether they can use their EBT card to buy pizzas at Little Caesars. Those who have enrolled in the program and are fond of pizzas from Little Caesars will be pleased to note that the fast food restaurant accepts EBT cards in select locations under RMP conditions. This guide will provide an overview of the most common question: ‘Does Little Caesars take EBT’ and how you can use your EBT at the Little Caesars store location.
Highlights of this Post
Key Takeaways:
Struggling to find Little Caesars locations accepting EBT? Look no further! This guide details limited EBT acceptance in California and explores alternative options.
- Only a few Little Caesars locations in San Diego County, California, accept EBT for in-store purchases.
- This is due to most states not participating in the Restaurant Meals Program (RMP) allowing EBT for hot meals.
- Consider alternative pizza places like Domino’s (CA & AZ), Papa Murphy’s (nationwide), or frozen pizzas from participating stores.
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What Is Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT)?
The benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are transferred to the beneficiary’s account via a card known as an Electronic Benefits Transfer Card. EBT works similar to a debit card and helps people purchase groceries or eligible products from participating retail outlets. In order to purchase available items using your EBT card, you need your PIN along with your EBT card number at your disposal.
The electronic system enables SNAP participants to make food-associated payments using SNAP benefits that come from the government. Whenever a participant buys any food from an authorized retail store, his/ her EBT account will reimburse the particular store for the purchased groceries and food items.
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What Is the Restaurant Meals Program?
The Restaurant Meals Program was established as a Nutrition Assistance program in 1978 and enables SNAP recipients to use their EBT card to purchase hot, prepared meals in participating restaurants.
Generally, the SNAP program prohibits the use of government funds on restaurant food or for the purchase of hot prepared food, but this creates a major issue for the disabled, elderly, and homeless individuals as they cannot cook their meals at home or are unable to prepare food at home. This is the reason why the Restaurant Meals Program was created as a SNAP extension to help the elderly, disabled, and homeless purchase hot, prepared food or eat at restaurants.
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Eligibility Criteria For The Restaurant Meals Program
The RMP covers senior citizens who are 60 years of age or older, disabled individuals, or homeless people without a permanent nighttime residence so that they can enjoy their meals at participating restaurants using their EBT card. The USDA leaves it to individual states to decide whether to extend snap benefits to RMP or not.
You can use your EBT card to order pizza at Little Caesars or any other restaurant that participates in the restaurant meals program. So far, only six states have an elaborate RMP program, which includes the following:
- Arizona
- California
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Rhode Island
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Does Little Caesars Accept EBT?
Only a few Little Caesars store locations accept EBT payments in California. To be specific, Little Caesar accepts EBT cards from SNAP beneficiaries at the Otay Lakes Road and Palm Avenue stores situated in San Diego County. Given approximately 600 Little Caesar restaurant locations in the state of California, with more than 4100 stores situated across the country, only a limited number of Little Caesars locations accept EBT.
If you are lucky enough to locate a few restaurant locations of Little Caesars that accept EBT cards from SNAP beneficiaries by participating in the USDA’s Restaurant Meals Program, then you can use your food stamp benefits to get your preferred dish from Little Caesars menu. California has the most elaborate RMP, so you can find a few little locations that accept EBT payments in San Diego County.
Even in California, you will find a lot of little locations that are not accepting EBT cards. This is because these locations have to apply for and get approval from the state SNAP agency before processing EBT funds and serving hot, prepared food to SNAP recipients. Unfortunately, not a lot of restaurants have been RMP-approved. You can find other fast food restaurants in the state that accept EBT, such as the following:
- Wendy’s
- Taco Bell
- Burger King
- Jack-in-the-box
- KFC
- McDonald’s.
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What Fast Food Can You Purchase From Little Caesars Using Your EBT Card?
A lot of disadvantaged families in the United States of America, especially the disabled, senior citizens or homeless individuals, have their meals at restaurants since they are unable to cook their meals at home or have no access to a proper kitchen or stable housing facilities. The most common way for them to do so is to purchase meals through their EBT card at participating restaurants that are enrolled in the USDA Restaurant Meals Program.
Little Caesars is not an exception, and the company acknowledges the importance of EBT cards for a lot of recipients who depend on the government funds to get their meals. This is the reason why they enable their customers to shop in selective locations with their EBT card. Besides pizza, you can also get soda, water bottles, bakery goods like brownies, and crazy bread from Little Caesars at a few locations in San Diego County.
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Does Little Caesars Take EBT In California?
Only a couple of Little Caesars restaurant locations situated in San Diego County, California, that are participating in the Restaurant Meals Program accept EBT or food stamp benefits cards from SNAP beneficiaries. Following is the list of stores in California that have been approved by the Calfresh RMP.
- Otay Lakes Road in San Diego
- Palm Avenue store in San Diego
You can find Little Caesars pizza locations that accept EBT in different California locations by visiting the California EBT SNAP Card Holder Portal. Here, you just need to add the name of your county and enter ‘Little Caesars’ in the bank or retailer field.
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How to Use An EBT Card At Little Caesars?
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Check Your EBT Balance
Before proceeding to Little Caesars, you need to check your EBT account and make sure you have sufficient funds. You can also call at the number placed on the back of your card to check your balance and follow the prompts on the call.
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Swipe Your EBT Card And Enter The PIN.
Once you make an order, slide your EBT card through the credit card terminal at Little Caesars. When you slide the card, you will have the option to select the type of card and the feature, and you have to select EBT instead of debit or credit card to pay for your ordered meals.
You need to enter your 4-digit PIN. Alternatively, you can also hand the EBT card to the cashier. The credit card terminal at Little Caesars will process the information and take the total of your order made out of the remaining SNAP EBT balance.
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Does Little Caesars Deliver? – Little Caesars Delivery Option
Little Caesars provides meal delivery options to its customers. If you do not feel like going on a trip to your favorite Little Caesars store location, you can get a hot, ready pizza delivered to your place.
Little Caesars store locations have partnered with food delivery companies such as DoorDash to deliver pizza to their customers. You can place an order through the official Little Caesars website, on the DoorDash platform, or on the Little Caesars mobile app. Customer orders will go to the DoorDash driver fleet via a service called DoorDash Drive.
You can also find the menu of Little Caesars listed on various food delivery companies like Grubhub, UberEats, Postmates, etc. Nearly 90% of Little Caesars restaurant locations provide pickup and online delivery services, so you can enter your address and find out whether online delivery is available in your area or not.
Unfortunately, food delivery companies do not accept SNAP Benefits or EBT for online delivery or pickup orders. This is because neither Little Caesars nor the delivery service companies participate in the USDA’s Online Pilot Program that enables recipients to order food online via EBT cards. Little Caesars is not among the fast food locations that accept EBT for online delivery or pickup orders.
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Does Little Caesars Take Apple Pay?
Yes, Little Caesars, accept Apple Pay for delivery or service fees. As you know, most of the Little Caesars store locations in the United States are not participating in the Restaurant Meals Program or USDA Pilot Program, so be prepared with an alternative payment method such as cash, Reliacard funds, a debit card or credit card with a chip, E-Wallets like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay, including prepaid cards such as activated American Express gift cards.
Customers can save a few dollars by looking for Little Caesars coupons online from various online coupon sites or by purchasing Little Caesars discount gift cards on raise.com.
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Why Does Little Caesar Accept EBT Only in Few Locations?
The reason why only a couple of Little Caesar restaurants accept EBT from SNAP recipients are mentioned in the below points.
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SNAP Restriction
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is referred to as an anti-hunger program in America that aims to mitigate hunger by providing healthy and affordable food to low-income families.
SNAP recipients can use their EBT card to purchase staple food items from approved retailers so that they can prepare food at home. This includes groceries, soft beverages, and cold snack food. Little Caesars does not accept EBT as they serve hot prepared food, which is not eligible according to SNAP guidelines.
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RMP State Variation
Even though hot prepared food is not an eligible item as per SNAP guidelines, most of the states that enroll in the Restaurant Meals Program enable eligible elderly, homeless, and disabled individuals to eat out at restaurants.
Unfortunately, a lot of states do not participate in this program, and only six states mentioned above are enrolled in RMP, among which California has an elaborate RMP. Only a few Little Caesars store locations in San Diego County have been RMP-approved. Being a voluntary program, not all Little Caesars franchises or owners are ready to join RMP.
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Administrative Burden
Participating in the RMP requires Little Caesars along with other fast food chains to comply with the administrative rules, including complying with SNAP eligibility criteria and processing and reporting each SNAP transaction, which makes it difficult for the restaurants. The decision to participate in the program is influenced by the cost and fees associated with the EBT processing.
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List of General Food Items That You Cannot Purchase With Your EBT
The general food items that you can use along with your EBT card are as follows:.
- Fruits and vegetables (fresh, canned, or frozen)
- Meat and poultry, like beef, pork, chicken, and other meats
- Milk and dairy products
- Grains and breads, including pasta, cereals, and tortillas
- Snack items that can fulfill the nutritional standards
- Seeds and plants to produce food
- Canned and packaged goods like soups, meals, and veggies
- Non-alcoholic beverages like soft drinks, bottled water, and fruit juices.
Following is the list of food items that you cannot purchase with EBT.
- Cigarettes or tobacco products
- Alcoholic beverages like beer, liquor, wine, etc.
- Hot food
- Vitamins, supplements, and medicines
- Cleaning supplies
- Pet foods
- Hygiene items
- Diapers
- Paper products
- Live animals (except fish and shellfish)
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Alternate Pizza Places That Accept EBT
Besides Little Caesars, there are numerous fast food pizza chains or restaurants that accept EBT in RMP-approved states. Some of the pizza places are as follows:
Domino’s
With 6100 stores located throughout the United States of America, Domino’s is one of the top pizza brands that accepts EBT cards from SNAP beneficiaries in the states of California and Arizona.
Arizonans who live in Phoenix and Flagstaff counties, while Californians who live in Los Angeles, Alameda, Orange, San Diego, Sacramento, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and Ventura counties, can use their EBT cards at participating Domino’s restaurants.
Pizza Hut
One of the famous American international pizza brands that has received global recognition is Pizza Hut. You can find various types of dishes, like pasta, breadsticks, chicken wings, soda, and pizza, at these outlets.
However, only the outlets that come under the California province accept EBT payments from SNAP recipients. In other words, any other purchase from Pizza Hut outside of California is not covered by EBT payments.
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Papa Murphy’s
With nearly 1300 outlets in more than 37 states, Papa Murphy’s is a popular restaurant chain that accepts EBT payments for pizza orders. Most of Papa Murphy’s branches are situated in California and Washington.
EBT cards are acceptable in every franchise of Papa Murphy’s food chains since it is a take-and-bake pizza chain. Take-and-bake pizzas are not hot food items, so they are SNAP-eligible and can be covered by EBT cards.
Papa John’s
With 3100 franchises located in 50 states Papa John’s is famous for its BBQ wings, Pepsi products, garlic knots, popper rolls, jalapeno, pizzas, and desserts. Papa John’s accepts EBT funds in a few places, like Arizona (Casa Grande) and California, (Riverside, and Los Angeles counties).
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Hungry Howie’s
Hungry Howie’s is present in 22 states and runs 5,000 pizza stores throughout the country. The brand participates in the Restaurant Meals Program and accepts EBT funds in Arizona (Avondale, Gilbert, Glendale, Chandler, Peoria, Phoenix, Mesa, San Tan Valley, Scottsdale, Surprise, and Tucson counties).
There are a few more places that you can consider if you’re living in a state that is RMP-approved. These are as follows:
- Irving pizza
- Figaro’s pizza
- Baby Bros. pizza
- Ameci pizza and pasta
- Captain Tony’s pizza and pasta
- Chico’s pizza
- Goody’s pizza
- Giant Pizza King, etc.
Another alternative is to purchase frozen pizzas from participating stores that accept EBT payments. Frozen pizza is a SNAP-eligible item as they are not served hot at the time of sale, and you can take them to enjoy pizza in the comfort of your home.
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Conclusion
With nearly 4100 store locations situated throughout the 50 states in America, Little Caesars is an amazing place to enjoy dine-in pizza for dinner or hot and ready carry-out. Unfortunately, only a limited number of Little Caesars locations in San Diego County, California, take EBT from SNAP recipients for in-store purchases only. This is because most of the states are not participating in the Restaurant Meals Program. Even in a few states that are participating in RMP, Little Caesars is not approved for this program, so you will not be able to use your EBT card at most of the Little Caesars store locations to get hot pizza. Little Caesars and its delivery partners do not accept EBT for delivery and online pickup orders, so you need to use an alternative payment option. SNAP recipients can consider alternative pizza stores or use SNAP funds to purchase take-and-bake or frozen pizzas at places like Papa Murphy’s.
We hope this article has been informative enough to give you all the details you need regarding EBT and Little Caesars. You can learn more about the government grants and financial assistance program at the Get Government Grants’ blog section today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Little Caesars Take EBT In Colorado?
Colorado does not allow SNAP recipients to purchase hot, prepared food for immediate consumption along with their SNAP benefits or EBT card. So you cannot use your EBT card at any Little Caesar store location in Colorado.
Does Little Caesars Take EBT In Texas?
Fast food restaurants like Little Caesars currently do not accept Electronic Benefits Transfer cards as a method of payment in Texas. In order to purchase hot, prepared food using EBT cards from restaurants, Texas first needs to participate in the USDA RMP. There are only six states that have enrolled in this program, and Texas is not one of them.
Does Little Caesars Take EBT In Arizona?
No Little Caesar does not accept EBT payments from SNAP recipients in Arizona. Even though Arizona participates in the USDA Restaurant Meals Program, the Little Caesars locations in this state did not seek approval from RMP, so they cannot accept EBT payments from customers.
Does Little Caesars Take EBT In Washington State?
The state of Washington does not participate in the Restaurant Meals Program, so you cannot use your EBT card to pay for your hot, prepared meals at Little Caesars. Only a couple of Little Caesar locations in San Diego County accept EBT from SNAP RMP recipients.
Does Little Caesars Take EBT In Oregon?
No states other than San Diego, CA, have been listed as accepting EBT payments at Little Caesars. You can only purchase SNAP-eligible groceries or other food items using your EBT card from participating stores and retail outlets in Oregon. Oregon is not an RMP-approved state, so you cannot get hot, prepared food using your food stamp benefits.