This is changing now

New fee for city meal vouchers

A change has now been made to the meal vouchers for municipal workers. But not everyone is happy about it.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com, FPÖ Wien)

Digital vouchers instead of paper vouchers for around 30,000 municipal employees of the City of Vienna. There is excitement among restaurants and stores. Because the voucher partners will have to pay fees from May 2025

Employees of the City of Vienna have many advantages. In addition to a secure, crisis-proof job, there is also a free annual pass for the Wiener Linien public transport system. Municipal employees also receive meal vouchers as part of the "reduced-price lunch" campaign. There has now been a major change here.

Instead of paper meal vouchers, since March 1 only digital meal vouchers have been available - as a card or as an app. Each employee receives a meal allowance of 2 euros per working day. In response to an inquiry from Krone, the municipal administration confirmed the changeover and spoke of an end to the "paper chase" and a significant reduction in administrative work. The meal subsidy has not been valorized since 1989 and was therefore raised from 1.46 euros to 2 euros in 2024 by municipal council resolution.

The contractual partners of the City of Vienna were informed in a letter that the paper meal vouchers are only valid until May 31, 2025 and that a 5.8 percent fee must also be paid.(Bild: FPÖ Wien)

The French company Pluxee was commissioned as an external provider via a framework agreement with Bundesbeschaffung GmbH (BBG). As the cheapest provider. The FPÖ has criticized the changeover. Until now, no fee has been deducted from landlords or stores, but from May 2025 they will have to pay 5.8 percent. The City of Vienna states that it does not know Pluxee's specific business model, but confirms that landlords pay a single-digit percentage to Pluxee for the consumption or purchase of food tokens. For example: a restaurant/company would have to pay 78 cents for every 13 euros consumed. 

Why does the City of Vienna now have to throw money down the throat of a French company again?

FPÖ Wien übt Kritik an der Umstellung

Around 30,000 municipal employees affected
The City of Vienna estimates that around 30,000 employees will take advantage of the new offer. The city will incur annual costs of around 1.70 euros per eligible person. "In future, employees will have access to a greater number and variety of redemption points (around 10,000 across Austria) and employees will be able to spend their meal allowance more easily and flexibly according to their own preferences. In particular, the inclusion of food retailers is in line with a modern working environment and represents a significant improvement in choice for employees," it is emphasized. The group of participants has been significantly expanded, as shift workers with night shifts and various other employment relationships etc. are now among the beneficiaries. are now beneficiaries of the new offer. The specific number of employees who want to take advantage of the new digitalized allowance system will not be known until after the changeover in March, the company adds.

The French company Pluxee (formerly Sodexo) earned around 21 million euros with the organization of the first climate bonus vouchers.