18 | Activities Activities | 19

Flagship solutions Meal & Food

Food

Ticket Alimentación® increases benefi ciaries' purcha- sing power, while guaranteeing access to healthy food, not only for the employees, but for their families too. These vouchers can be used to purchase foodstuffs and essential goods in affi liated supermarkets and from local merchants. First launched by Edenred in 1983 in Mexico, this solution has since spread to other Latin American countries, including Brazil, and was more recently intro- duced in a number of central European countries, such as Bulgaria.

Meal

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Ticket Restaurant®, the very fi rst meal coupon created in France by the Group in 1962, which employees can use to buy lunch outside their workplace in an affi liated restaurant or other food- service outlet of their choice. This solution is an alternative to corporate catering structures, particularly for small and medium-sized companies, and helps to foster employee loyalty by offering them a real lunch break and access to healthy food. The employer's fi nancial contribution to the meal, which covers all or part of the face value of the vou- cher, is most often partially exempt of social charges or tax, while for employees, this benefi t is usually exempt of income tax.

New solutions

At the end of 2011, Edenred launched the Ticket Restaurante® card in Mexico, where the company was already established as the market leader, thanks to Ticket Alimentación®. The new Law on Food Aid for Workers enables companies to offer food-related benefi ts to their employees. They can now benefi t from meal vouchers during the working week, in addi- tion to the vouchers used to buy foodstuff.

SUPPORTING NUTRITION POLICIES

The food programs proposed by Edenred meet the needs of companies and support public authorities which are keen to implement public health policies intended to promote a more balanced diet and attenuate the excess bodyweight-related issues observed in a growing portion of the population.