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Restaurant titles in the public service: what are the rules?

Verified 01 October 2022 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Additional cases ?

For an employee

The restaurant ticket (Pass restaurant, Resto Flash, Ticket restaurant, etc.) is a payment document that allows you to pay for your meal, if you do not have a canteen. The handing over of restaurant vouchers is not an obligation for the employer's administration.

Your employer authority is not required to give you restaurant titles.

They can choose to have a canteen or a dining room.

If your administration has chosen to grant restaurant titles, you are entitled to one title per meal included in your daily work schedule.

Restaurant titles are granted whether you work full-time or part-time and whether you are a public servant (incumbent or intern) or a contract employee.

You don't have to accept restaurant vouchers.

If you do not wish to use restaurant vouchers, it is recommended that you inform your employer in writing.

The restaurant is partly funded by your employer administration, which pays for it between 50% and 60% of its value.

Restaurant vouchers can be given to you in several formats:

  • Checkbook paper tickets
  • Prepaid and rechargeable smart card (usable in the same terminals as bank cards)
  • Access an app on your mobile phone (smartphone)

When you get a card or app on your smartphone, you can access the balance of your personal restaurant vouchers account free of charge (by SMS for example).

The restaurant titles are personal.

You're the only person who can use them.

Restaurant vouchers are not available on Sundays and public holidays unless your administration decides otherwise if you work on those days.

You can pay for all or part of your meal with your restaurant vouchers at the following establishments:

  • Restaurants
  • Certain similar traders (delicatessens, caterers, bakeries, food distribution businesses, etc.).
  • Fruit and Vegetable Retailers

Titles are in principle valid for food that is immediately consumable or that will be used to prepare your meal:

  • Prepared dishes or salads
  • Sandwiches
  • Fruit and vegetables, dairy products, etc.

FYI  

Exceptionally, restaurant titles can be used, until 31 december 2023, to pay in whole or in part for any food product, whether or not it is directly consumable.

Restaurants and shopkeepers are not obliged to accept restaurant titles.

Each store chain establishes its own list of products payable by restaurant title.

So there may be differences from one brand to another.

You can use your restaurant vouchers up to €25 per day.

When you use a card or app on your smartphone, you are charged the exact amount to pay.

If you use paper titles, the merchant does not have the right to give you change.

Restaurant titles can only be used in the department where you work and in neighboring departments.

Your administration may grant you valid titles outside these territorial limits if you are traveling on business.

Restaurant titles are available during thecalendar year of their issue and in January and February of the following year.

If you leave the public service with unused restaurant titles, you can ask your employer for a refund.