Luxembourg’s meal voucher system was reformed at the beginning of the year, meaning the paper vouchers have been substituted for digital passes. “That meal vouchers can now be used like a card is really positive”, says Alex De Toffol, a restaurateur owning multiple businesses.
Employees in the hospitality sector are generally pleased that the administrative steps required to process vouchers have been simplified.
However, according to Steve Martellini, secretary general of the HORESCA federation, the 4-5% costs for using the voucher system have now increased by another 1–2%.
“Why do employers have to pay this commission? Why not the companies that issue the vouchers?”, wonders restaurateur Lou Reiter, who further argues that the costs could very well be divided between both actors.
Martellini also expresses frustration over the lack of transparency: “You can’t really tell where costs are coming from”.
In conversation with RTL, Sodexo CEO Sven Marinus explained that the creation and implementation of the new system was only made possible by significant investments, with many different actors contributing. After this transitional phase, he believes that the system will become more profitable for everyone.
Another consequence of the digitalisation process is that meal vouchers can now only be used to buy food, and not, as was the case in the past, for other things like electronics, for instance.
