To help employees cope with the rising cost of living, at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and then in the face of persistent inflation in 2023, the government had extended the use of meal vouchers for all types of food products. A waiver which could not be renewed by the Senate due to government censorship.
You will have to wait a little before being able to take advantage of your meal vouchers to reduce the bill during your shopping. In 2025, the use of meal vouchers will be reserved for purchases of directly consumable goods, such as sandwiches, salads or even prepared meals sold on supermarket shelves. A use which corresponds to the basic use of these advantages which certain employees benefit from but which does not fail to undermine the purchasing power of many consumers.
They quickly got used to being able to use meal vouchers to purchase food during their shopping. A use case made possible following a government decision to combat rising prices, first after the covid-19 pandemic and then continuing in 2023 in the face of persistent inflation. This privilege that consumers could enjoy was supposed to run until 2026 but government censorship decided otherwise.
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Restaurant Vouchers can no longer be used for shopping
Since Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the 5.4 million employees holding meal vouchers can no longer use them to buy pasta, rice or butter in their supermarket. From now on, and as stipulated in the original use case of the famous “restaurant tickets”, only directly consumable food items can be purchased using this means of payment.
However, in November 2024, the National Assembly approved the extension of the exemption authorizing the use of meal vouchers for the purchase of all types of food products. A decision that the upper house of the Senate could not validate due to government censorship. As a result, restaurant vouchers cannot be used since January 2025 only to pay at restaurants or to purchase directly consumable goods such as sandwiches in supermarkets.
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Restaurant vouchers: temporary restrictions?
If going back in time makes many employees holding meal vouchers cringe, it may be a passing period. Will we be able to use restaurant vouchers again to do our shopping? The scenario cannot be ruled out as the Senate included on its agenda for January 15 a bill aimed at extending the use of meal vouchers for food shopping at the supermarket, as reported by our colleagues from BFMTV .
“It is urgent that households can continue to purchase basic food products with their meal vouchers until the end of 2025, pending a major reform,” reacted the Les Républicains rapporteur of this text, Marie-Do Aeschlimann. The entry into force of this exemption could take a little longer, as the two chambers of Parliament do not agree on the timetable for the measure.
A journalist passionate about social issues and current affairs, Hugo puts his pen at the service of information. Interested in all themes, from the impact of artificial intelligence on…
