Published Friday in the Official Journal, a decree thus modifies «the terms of use of restaurant vouchers to promote their use, with the increase of the daily ceiling from nineteen euros to twenty-five euros per day».
“With the inflation observed since the beginning of 2022, the government has decided on a permanent revaluation” of these payment vouchers, “in order to cover the increase in food prices from October 1”, the economy ministry said in a statement on Friday.
At the end of the first confinement in 2020, the ceiling for the use of these means of payment had been doubled, going from 19 to 38 euros and its conditions of use had been relaxed – they were accepted even on weekends and days. holidays- to support the activity of restaurants hard hit by restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On July 1, this daily usage cap was reduced to 19 euros and they were no longer usable on weekends and public holidays.
And since September 1, the maximum exemption ceiling for employer participation in the financing of meal vouchers has been increased by 4%, to reach 5.92 euros.
Distributed by companies to their employees, restaurant vouchers can, since last summer, be used by the latter to do their food shopping, expenses which have increased in recent months due to inflation.
And beyond directly edible products (sandwiches, fruit and vegetables, etc.), these vouchers also allow, until the end of December 2023, to purchase food products that are not directly edible (pasta, frozen spinach, etc.). ) recalls Bercy.
Some 700,000 lunch vouchers are used by 4.8 million employees in 240,000 approved restaurants or bakeries, which represents 6 billion euros per year.
Four major historical players, Edenred (Ticket Restaurant), Groupe Up (Chèque Déjeuner), Sodexo (Pass Restaurant, formerly Chèque Restaurant) and Natixis (Apetiz, formerly Chèque de Table) share this market.
But young companies have appeared in recent years such as Swile, which has experienced ultra-rapid growth with its dematerialized restaurant vouchers in a smart card or a smartphone application.