A simple idea: offering employees an alternative to corporate catering, allowing them to eat well, while taking a pleasant break and supporting the local economy. This is the reason our company was established in France: a cooperative with its own specific business model to offer meal vouchers (ie. Chèque Déjeuner, in French) to companies and communities.
27 May
On May 27, 1964, in France, Georges Rino establishes the “Chèque Coopératif pour la Restauration” (CCR or Cooperative Meal Voucher) consumer cooperative.
“Creating a cooperative was not a chance decision. I had no intention of participating in the foundation of a capitalist corporation... I mainly wanted to create a company where everyone would feel at home and would not be exploited just for my personal profit”
Georges Rino (President & CEO from 1964 to 1990)
27 Sep
The “De Gaulle – Pompidou” Executive Order of 1967 (n°67-830) resulted in the rapid development of the meal voucher concept in France, thanks to the guarantees offered to companies and to trade union support.
“Trade union support is what enabled us to debate and prepare future legislation on meal vouchers. We created the de facto situation before the de jure situation, which is also a trade union tradition”
Georges Rino (Président & CEO from 1964 to 1990)
The Consumer Cooperative becomes a Production Cooperative (SCOP), with 24 employees. This change of status coincides with a name change for the “Chèque Postal Restaurant” (Postal Meal Voucher), which becomes the “Chèque Déjeuner” (Luncheon Voucher).
At the initiative of the Chèque Déjeuner CCR, the various organizations that issue meal vouchers join forces to create, in France, the Centrale de Remboursement des Titres (CRT or Voucher Refund Group). This system considerably simplifies voucher management for restaurant owners, who now send them all to a single address.
Despite having a workforce below the legal threshold of obligation, Chèque Déjeuner creates its own Works Council and establishes itself as a precursor in social action.
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