Food stamps: To ‘support’ their use in supermarkets, Olivia Gregoire wants legislation passed at the start of the school year

She wants “the text of the law by the start of the school year in September.” The Minister Delegate responsible for Business, Tourism and Consumer Affairs, Olivia Grégoire, spoke on BFMTV on Friday about the system of using food vouchers in supermarkets, which expires on December 31, 2024, a measure that she wants to “perpetuate” through legal text .

“There are four players who benefit from food vouchers: employees, employers, restaurants and issuers. It is not just the minister in his cabinet or parliamentarians who have to make decisions,” she adds, insisting that she has been “consulting with them for months.”

According to a ViaVoice study conducted for the National Food Voucher Commission, 96% of French people are in favor of expanding the system. “It’s hard to say no,” she says when confronted by the figure.

Dematerialize food stamp

The minister states that “30% of restaurant vouchers are paper” and then adds that they represent a source of €40 million in purchasing power that disappears every year due to the loss of the daily voucher. “We often forget it in our bag, leave it in our coat or put it in the washing machine,” she illustrates.

An observation that pushes her to dematerialize the system, “everyone agrees,” she says.

Fears among restaurateurs

However, the minister acknowledges “concerns” among restaurateurs who have seen the number of food stamps allocated to their establishments drop since the system was implemented.

“There are proposals on the table, do we need 25 euros in restaurants and 25 euros in large and medium-sized stores? There are ideas about double ceilings that are currently being discussed,” she said on BFMTV.

The minister also calls for creativity and courage among restaurateurs: “We can well imagine solutions where the consumer will have access to promotions or dessert if they use a restaurant voucher,” she emphasizes.