Have you gotten into the habit, for two years, of paying for your flour, your butter or your bag of potatoes using meal vouchers co-financed by your employer? Theoretically, this has no longer been possible since January 1, 2025. Using restaurant vouchers to pay for everyday expenses in stores was, in fact, part of an exemption, put in place in 2022, to help consumers cope with the inflationary spiral.
In November 2024, the Assembly adopted the plan to extend the measure to 2025 but the censorship of the Barnier government reset the counters to zero. At least, until a new budget has been voted on.
From now on, you can only use your meal vouchers for a maximum of 19 euros, instead of 25 euros previously. And these 19 euros can only be used, in stores, to purchase ready-to-eat foods. To summarize: yes to sandwiches, mixed salads, slices of ham, quiches and pizzas to reheat, or bottles of fruit juice sold individually. But no to oil, eggs, raw pasta, or mozzarella sausage to cook. Objective: to reallocate the money from meal vouchers to their initial purpose, the financing of meals and snacks for employees who do not have a company self-catering facility.
As luck would have it
Yes, but there you go. From one store to another, the rule is more or less well applied. Or not at all. Le Télégramme experienced this. On Friday, we passed our butter, our flour, and even our ice cream without any problem on the carpet of a large supermarket in Finistère. To our surprise, 25 euros were deducted from our Swile card. “We don’t understand anything about it ourselves,” the cashier whispered to us.
On Saturday, we tried our luck again in Côtes-d'Armor, with a competing brand. But, this time, we were only able to use our meal vouchers up to the ceiling lowered to 19 euros, despite 26.59 euros of eligible items, according to the summary of our expenses. “Our cash register software has not been re-configured but management has asked us to be vigilant,” the hostess told us. And there, I know that among the groceries that I scanned, you had enough immediately consumable foodstuffs. »
Cash registers not re-configured
Why these differences in treatment? “Because the bill aimed at extending the exemption must be re-studied on January 15 in the Senate and, if it is voted on, the 2024 rules will come back into force, immediately,” explains Olivier Urrutia, general delegate of the Federation cooperative and associated commerce.
Updating the cash register software for, perhaps, just a few days? Technically heavy. “Above all, mass retail brands are reluctant to have to explain to families who come to buy a pack of milk or a kilo of rice that they cannot pay for them in meal vouchers, even if it is temporary. Expose yourself to the incomprehension and anger of customers, if it means going back the following week…”
The French in favor of a new extension
This is undoubtedly the reason why Bercy has, for the moment, ruled out all-out controls. Especially since at the beginning of January, even meal voucher managers (this is the case with Swile) have not updated their interface and still display a usable daily ceiling of 25 euros. “96% of recipients of restaurant vouchers want to be able to use them to do all their food shopping,” underlines Olivier Urrutia, whose federation brings together both large retail brands and hotel and restaurant chains.
Out of 14 billion euros of restaurant tickets in 2023, 8.6 billion benefited traditional or fast food, according to a C-Ways study, 2.9 billion went to mass distribution and 2.5 billion to local shops.
