Meal vouchers in Europe Launching a card programme, start to first card
Launching a card programme, start to first card
One week from decision to the first card, and two in unusual cases. The pace is not set by the integration, because the platform is already live and certified. It is set by three decisions, and all three can be made on the first call. This page says what we deliver, what stays with you, and what changes if you are replacing paper rather than starting from nothing.
Who does what
We deliver
- Card issuing with a licensed partner, virtual and physical
- The rules engine that applies your acceptance conditions
- Processing, balances and the transaction record
- Scheme certification and the technical launch
You keep
- The brand on the card and in the app
- The relationship with your customer or your staff
- The acceptance rules, if you want them on your side
- Pricing and the commercial terms with employers
This is card infrastructure underneath your programme, not a programme with our name on it. Nobody your employees see has to be us.
The three decisions that set the pace
Whether a category code is enough. This one shapes the architecture, so it comes first. In some markets acceptance can be restricted by merchant category alone. In others the law wants a contract with every accepting merchant, and the acceptance decision has to consult your own list. Acceptance rules covers both.
Which issuing partner. It affects the licence footprint, the currency and the commercial terms. Card issuing is delivered with licensed partners across the EU and EEA.
How fast your compliance can review. The one we cannot speed up and the one most often underestimated. It can start in week one, and usually does not.
Everything else follows. Scheme certification, which is the long pole when a company builds its own platform, is already done here at platform level, so it does not sit on your timetable at all.
Fifteen minutes is enough to settle the first of those three.
Book 15 minutesIf you are replacing paper
Four European markets have already closed the paper route and more have dates. Belgium ended paper in 2016, Slovakia made electronic vouchers 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.
If you are in one of those markets the question is not whether to move but which card. If you are not, the useful thing to know is that no country has gone the other way. The calendar holds every dated change.
Practically, a paper replacement is easier than it sounds. There is no balance to migrate and no existing cardholder data to reconcile, because paper carries neither. What it does need is an employee onboarding that works first time, since everyone is arriving at once.
What it costs
500 EUR to set the programme up, once, and 1.50 EUR per card per month. No transaction fees. No payment licence to obtain, no scheme membership to fund, no BIN sponsorship to arrange yourself and no card production or processing to procure separately.
Because nothing is charged per transaction, the cost follows headcount rather than usage. A programme where everybody uses the benefit every day costs the same as one where half the cards sit unused, which is the opposite of how a per transaction model behaves. Pricing has the whole list.
Before you start
How to launch a meal voucher programme is the long version of this page, written as a sequence with the decisions in order. The country rules tell you what applies in your market. If your current provider is the reason you are here, migration is a different conversation and a shorter one.