diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7ca47bd..a9489ab 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@ dist
 .DS_Store
 
 # Secrets
-env.yml
\ No newline at end of file
+env.yml
+pois.json
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d63d463..617701d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 This folder contains an AWS lambda script which pretends to be a Pelias endpoint. It will forward any request it receives to both Geocode.earth (using the API key in `env.yml`) and a custom Pelias instance (defined in `env.yml`). It will merge the responses together seamlessly. The client will think it's communicating only with a regular Pelias server.
 
+If you enable the offline geocoder, POIs are loaded in through `pois.json` in the root directory. The format is a raw array `[]`.
+
 ## Running Locally
 
 Local running is done via the offline serverless plugin. The plugin will automatically build the TypeScript and start a server. Create an `env.yml` file based on the example file provided.
diff --git a/handler.ts b/handler.ts
index 21ae889..100d1b3 100644
--- a/handler.ts
+++ b/handler.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ import {
 
 // This plugin must be imported via cjs to ensure its existence (typescript recommendation)
 const BugsnagPluginAwsLambda = require('@bugsnag/plugin-aws-lambda')
-const { BACKUP_GEOCODERS, BUGSNAG_NOTIFIER_KEY, GEOCODERS, POIS } = process.env
+
+const { BACKUP_GEOCODERS, BUGSNAG_NOTIFIER_KEY, GEOCODERS } = process.env
+const POIS = require('./pois.json')
 
 if (!GEOCODERS) {
   throw new Error(
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ const backupGeocoders = BACKUP_GEOCODERS && JSON.parse(BACKUP_GEOCODERS)
 // Serverless is not great about null
 const pois =
   POIS && POIS !== 'null'
-    ? (JSON.parse(POIS) as OfflineResponse).map((poi) => {
+    ? (POIS as OfflineResponse).map((poi) => {
         if (typeof poi.lat === 'string') {
           poi.lat = parseFloat(poi.lat)
         }
diff --git a/serverless.yml b/serverless.yml
index 4e1c80c..d34b179 100644
--- a/serverless.yml
+++ b/serverless.yml
@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ provider:
   environment:
     GEOCODERS: ${self:custom.secrets.GEOCODERS}
     BACKUP_GEOCODERS: ${self:custom.secrets.BACKUP_GEOCODERS}
-    POIS: ${self:custom.secrets.POIS, null}
     BUGSNAG_NOTIFIER_KEY: ${self:custom.secrets.BUGSNAG_NOTIFIER_KEY}
+package:
+  patterns:
+    - pois.json
 custom:
   secrets: ${file(env.yml)}
 functions: