Restaurant voucher: what will change with the new law expected for September ?

Des changements arrivent pour vos titres-restaurants. MAXPPP – Mourad ALLILI

Olivia Grégoire, Minister Delegate in charge of Business, Tourism and Consumer Affairs, wants a law to be put in place to perpetuate their use in supermarkets.

Since 2022, it has been possible to use restaurant vouchers to purchase non-directly consumable products on the shelves (flour, pasta, rice, meat, etc.), so that they are normally reserved for only directly consumable products in addition to restaurants. The measure, which was initially scheduled to end on December 31, 2023, was finally extended until the end of 2024.

96% of French people in favor

Olivia Grégoire, Minister Delegate in charge of Business, Tourism and Consumer Affairs, hopes that this measure will become permanent through legislation, from the start of the school year in September. This is what she announced this Friday, April 12, 2024, on BFMTV.

"Il faut tenir compte des usages": Olivia Grégoire (@oliviagregoire) se prononce sur l'utilisation des tickets-restaurant pic.twitter.com/X394dpsXYm

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) April 12, 2024

"There are four players who benefit from meal vouchers: employees, employers, restaurants and issuers. It is not the minister alone in her office, nor the parliamentarians who must decide" she adds, insisting on the fact that she "concerts for several months".

According to a ViaVoice study carried out for the national commission for meal vouchers, 96% of French people are in favor of extending the system. "It’s hard to say no" she says when faced with the number.

But Olivia Grégoire will have to deal with the concerns of restaurateurs, some of whom are observing a decline in the use of meal vouchers in their establishments. "Proposals are on the table, do you need 25 euros in restaurants and 25 euros in large and medium-sized stores ? There are ideas for double ceilings which are currently being discussed , assures the minister at the microphone of BFMTV.

Dematerialize restaurant tickets

While 30% of restaurant vouchers are still in paper format, according to the minister, they cause a loss of nearly 40 million euros per year in power of payment. ;rsquo;consumer purchase. "Often we forget it in our bag, we leave it in a coat or we put it in the washing machine", illustrates Olivia Gregory. An observation which therefore pushes her to dematerialize the system.