The end of printed titles, which the government wants to complete before 2026, should simplify their use, but could complicate certain forms of donations.
Paper meal vouchers should soon disappear from your wallets. The Minister Delegate in charge of Trade, Olivia Grégoire, announced on franceinfo, Monday October 2, the generalization of “the dematerialization of Restaurant vouchers (…) before 2026″. We explain to you how this change will affect the lives of many employees, but also companies, restaurateurs and businesses who accept this means of payment, or even associations which sometimes benefit from the donation of these meal vouchers.
For businesses and their employees
In 2026, if the government’s project comes to fruition, the five million French employees who use meal vouchers will no longer have a paper notebook, but a card or an application. A system already implemented in many companies, and which has many advantages. “With a card, the payment becomes divisible, you can pay to the nearest cent, you have no expiry date and in the event of loss, you can cancel”explained Patrick Bouderbala, president of the National Commission for Meal Vouchers, to the magazine Capital in August.
But in a certain number of SMEs and VSEs, dematerialization is still long overdue. “You still have companies, the smallest, which have not yet made the digital shift”recognizes Minister Olivia Grégoire, also responsible for Small and Medium Enterprises, who promises to “to accompany” to ensure the desired generalization before 2026.
Dematerialization could give companies more flexibility on the amount granted to employees. Benoît Serre, vice-president of the National Association of HR Directors, therefore expects that “the subject of meal vouchers become one of the subjects of obligatory annual negotiations, either to increase its value, or to switch to digitalization and allow management as close as possible to this subject.
For restaurateurs and partner businesses
With the general dematerialization of meal vouchers, the government wants to win back the hearts of restaurateurs. And for good reason: more and more of them no longer accept these checks when paying. Today, “a quarter of businesses and restaurateurs refuse meal vouchers”, says Olivia Grégoire. Why such disenchantment? “Because it’s too complicated. You have overlapping paper and cards. The commissions are too high and the procedures are much too cumbersome for restaurateurs”observes the minister.
The closure of the Securities Settlement Center in February further complicated the procedure. With its 8,000 collection points, it made it possible to sort checks and pay restaurateurs relatively quickly and easily. “Now it’s more complicated, it costs more, because you have to pay for secure shipments” to operators, explains to Sud Radio Frank Delvau, president of Umih Ile-de-France, a union in the catering and hotel industry. Payment times sometimes reach long weeks. “It costs me too much and it’s too much paperwork,” confirmed Marie Pham Cong, manager of the Cà Phê Broc’Ouest restaurant in Paris. The latter also refuses payment by bank card to complete a meal voucher, in order to avoid “double fees” of commission.
Dematerialization would make it possible to eliminate the cost of sending paper tickets, reduce payment times, and could reduce the commissions received by operators, which currently represent between 3 and 5% of the amount. Olivia Grégoire says she has entrusted the Competition Authority with a mission “to see if the functioning of the Restaurant Tickets market was fair”. In 2019, the latter imposed fines on four companies in the sector whose cumulative amount exceeded 400 million euros. “If there was a proven market dysfunction, I would not take the time to cap commissions.” on meal vouchers, Olivia Grégoire threatened on Monday.
For donations to associations
The dematerialization of meal vouchers also has consequences in terms of donations. Many employees distribute paper checks to their loved ones, to associations, or even, hand to hand, to poor people. If they are only accessible through an app or payment card, this practice will become much more complicated.
“We have a subject for donations to associations. It is essential that with dematerialization, we can continue to give part of it”, recognized Minister Olivia Grégoire, without putting forward an immediate solution. Some associations have already taken the lead by establishing partnerships with meal voucher operators, such as Restos du coeur with Sodexo and the Red Cross with Edenred, to create online voucher donation systems.
“It will be necessary to facilitate the possibility of making a donation to an association on the dematerialized interface”, warns Secours populaire, which already accepts donations of certain virtual checks. The association, interviewed by franceinfo, estimates the amount of donations received in 2022 in the form of meal vouchers, whether virtual or paper, at 330,000 euros. She is also concerned about the consequences of dematerialization on “proximity solidarity, both for homeless people, but also within the family circle”which would become “much more complex and less spontaneous”.