This Peach State hospital is innovating snacktime

Behold, the future of snacking is at a hospital market in Georgia.

Staff, visitors, and the under-caffeinated at St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital in Savannah can now pop into the facility’s 500-square-foot market and take whatever they want—with just a swipe of their badge.

Candler is the first hospital in the nation to implement Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, which allows consumers to swipe their employee ID (or credit card) upon entry and have computer sensors monitor what they grab. Shoppers then get charged after leaving the store, forgoing the checkout process while they shop 24/7—a service that wasn’t offered before Candler’s implementation last December, when the market closed at 2:30pm to nonemployees.

“It solves the enormous problem of nobody being able to eat in a place with a couple of thousand people working in it overnight,” Taylor Miller, a regional director of operations at Morrison Healthcare, the food vendor behind the project, told Healthcare Brew.

Hospital workers get another perk: “badge pay,” a feature that automatically deducts money straight from the employee’s paycheck to cover purchases. Miller and a Morrison spokesperson declined to comment on the costs of installing and using Amazon’s tech or the revenue increase they expect to generate from operating the market 24/7.

Candler’s market, called SmartBytes, joins about 120 third-party operators—including theme parks, airports, and stadiums—that use Just Walk Out technology.

Miller hopes staff and visitors alike will feel the change.

“I’m sure you’ve sat in an [emergency department] with a family member or friend at two in the morning and been like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I would love a cup of coffee,’” Miller said.

If you’re at Candler Hospital, now you can.