The use of meal vouchers in supermarkets will continue after 2027

The Minister of Commerce and SMEs, Véronique Louwagie, announced on Tuesday, June 17, to Ouest-France the extension of the use of meal vouchers in supermarkets for products that are not directly consumable as of January 1, 2027, while the executive continues to work on a reform of the system. "Two points have been decided: the extension of the system for products that are not directly consumable and the dematerialization" of meal vouchers, the minister told the regional daily, specifying that she wanted to "come to a text on this payment system as quickly as possible." Last January, the system aimed at allowing the use of meal vouchers for food shopping in supermarkets was extended for two years, pending a reform.

The other decision made to Ouest-France by Véronique Louwagie, the dematerialization of meal vouchers, is justified by the minister by the "very cumbersome management" imposed by the paper format on restaurateurs. As a result, meal voucher issuers "must anticipate so as to no longer have paper stocks by January 1, 2027," the minister warned in the columns of the same newspaper.

The scope of the meal voucher scheme has been the subject of criticism for several months from many restaurant professionals, who consider that the use of meal vouchers in supermarkets is a "misuse" of the principle of meal vouchers. When the scheme was last extended in January, the Umih, the main professional organization in the hotel and restaurant industry, denounced it as a "bad blow to restaurateurs."

Among the avenues suggested by restaurant professionals: the introduction of a double ceiling, higher for restaurants than for large-scale distribution. This is an avenue taken "very seriously," the minister told Ouest-France, while emphasizing the need to "verify its legal feasibility." At the end of 2023, the Competition Authority issued its recommendations on the sector at the government's request, recommending in particular mandatory dematerialization.