How is the European meal voucher market structured?

Acceptance is arranged in one of three ways. A private three party network with a direct contract between issuer and merchant and settlement outside the card schemes, used in Italy and Greece. An open four party network where the card runs on an ordinary payment scheme and acceptance is restricted by merchant category, used in Germany, Poland and Spain. Or a mixed model where the card runs on a scheme but works only at merchants that also hold a contract with the issuer, used in France.

Can a new company enter the European meal voucher market?

Yes, by two different routes. Markets with no register, including Germany, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Greece, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Croatia and Finland, can be entered commercially with no authorisation. Markets with a register require an application, and Belgium recognised its first new issuer in over a decade in March 2026.

What does a company entering the meal voucher category have to solve?

Authorisation where a register applies, acceptance which is the product itself in a private network market, the card platform covering issuing, balances, rules and processing, and the employer relationship, since meal vouchers are sold to employers rather than to the people who use them.

Meal vouchers in Europe The European meal voucher market and how to enter it

The European meal voucher market and how to enter it

The meal voucher is one of the oldest employee benefits in Europe and one of the least understood from outside. This page describes how the market is arranged, who issues in the countries that keep a register, and what a company entering the category actually has to solve. It describes structure rather than ranking anybody.

Last reviewed: 3 September 2026.

Three ways acceptance is arranged

Every meal voucher in Europe is one of these three, and which one a market uses matters more than any other single fact about it.

Model	How it works	Where
Private network, three party	Direct contract between issuer and merchant, settlement outside the card schemes, a fee as a percentage of voucher value	Italy, Greece, parts of Portugal
Open network, four party	The card runs on an ordinary payment scheme, acceptance restricted by merchant category	Germany, Poland, Spain
Mixed	The card runs on a scheme but works only at merchants that also hold a contract with the issuer	France, parts of Portugal

The first model is the one that surprises people. In Italy the instrument does not run on a card scheme at all, which is why an ordinary payment card cannot simply be relabelled as a buono pasto. Open loop or closed loop works through the consequences.

Who issues where a register exists

Four countries publish a list. Reprinting them is the most concrete answer available to the question of who is in this market, and each list is on its own page with the legal basis and the date it was read.

Italy, 15 companies on the Ministry of Enterprises register
France, 14 issuers accredited by the CNTR
Belgium, 5 recognised by the FOD Economie
Romania, authorised by the Ministry of Finance

Everywhere else there is no register, so there is no list to publish and no formal barrier to starting. The registers overview sets out which markets gate issuing and which do not.

What a new entrant has to solve

Authorisation, where it applies. In four markets this is a precondition and an application with conditions, not a formality. Belgium recognised its first new issuer in over a decade in March 2026, which is a fair measure of both the difficulty and the fact that it remains possible.

Acceptance. In a private network market this is the product: without merchants, the voucher is worthless whatever the technology behind it. In an open network market it is a configuration question.

The card and the platform. Issuing, balances, the rules that decide what may be bought, processing and reporting. This is the part that can be bought rather than built, and choosing a platform covers what separates the suppliers.

The employer relationship. Meal vouchers are sold to employers, not to the people who use them, so the commercial motion is enterprise sales with a payroll integration attached.

The direction the category is moving. Paper is ending on dated timetables rather than fading. Belgium finished in 2016, Slovakia made electronic the rule in 2023, Bulgaria completed its changeover in 2024, Luxembourg stopped issuing paper at the end of that year, and France reaches the same point in February 2027. No market has moved the other way. The calendar holds the dates.

Where the openings are

Two kinds, and they are different businesses.

Markets with no register can be entered commercially. Germany, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Greece, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Croatia and Finland all allow anyone to start, which does not mean anyone succeeds, only that nothing legal stands in the way.

Existing issuers changing supplier is the other. A registered issuer with employers already signed does not need authorisation, it needs a platform, and that is a shorter sale than building a benefit company from nothing.

What we are in this picture

Not an issuer. Verestro builds the card infrastructure underneath one: issuing with licensed partners, the rules that decide what a card may buy, processing and the transaction record. If you are on one of the registers above, or intend to be, we are a supplier rather than a competitor. Why Verestro includes the cases where we are the wrong choice.