After having been extended several times since 2022, the exemption allowing people to pay for their food shopping with meal vouchers is paying the price for political instability. From this Wednesday, January 1, the 5.4 million French employees who hold this means of payment will only be able to use it in restaurants, as well as in shops and supermarkets offering takeaway offers – sandwiches and prepared meals. So no more buying flour, rice, pasta or even cheese.
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This is one of the consequences of the motion of censure, voted at the beginning of December in the National Assembly, and which led to the fall of Michel Barnier's government. In the previous executive's finance bill, this measure was to be renewed for the year 2025. While waiting for the new version of the text by mid-February, the historic rule applies, to the great delight of the restaurateurs. In recent months, the Union of Hotel Trades and Industries (UMIH), the sector lobby, has increased its outings. Its famous president, chef Thierry Marx, denounced a “scandal”. According to his calculations, the annual shortfall for catering professionals would amount to 576 million euros.
Employee habits have evolved
It's easy to forget that the meal voucher is above all a benefit for the employee. If the employer must cover between 50 and 60% of the face value of the ticket, the employee pays the rest of the amount. Why not give him complete freedom to spend this money as he wishes, as long as the goal remains to feed himself? Since the Covid-19 pandemic, employee habits have changed significantly. Certainly, the development of teleworking has limited lunches in restaurants. But the sector still takes the lion's share. According to a study by the National Commission for Meal Vouchers, out of 14 billion euros of spending on meal vouchers in 2023, 8.6 billion euros went to catering and 2.9 billion to supermarkets.
READ ALSO: Ultra-processed foods: it is becoming urgent to complete the Nutri-Score, and to impose it
Furthermore, the French are increasingly encouraged to opt for homemade products and to cook fresh products at home, recommended for their health. Limiting ourselves to meals prepared in supermarkets – most often ultra-processed foods – would be a contradiction in terms of public health. Renaming “meal vouchers” could help change mentalities. Thierry Marx also proposes the creation of a “food voucher”, but distinct from the current system. Or how to create confusion and complicate the task of employers… One more subject to be discussed on François Bayrou's table.
