Inspired by the original Luncheon Voucher, a concept launched in the United Kingdom in 1954, and the Luncheon Vouchers Company founded by John Hack in 1955,[2]Jacques Borel created a meal voucher on the French market in 1962. A French government decree, passed in 1967, officially recognized the meal voucher as an employee benefit. The concept was launched outside France starting in 1976. Ticket Restaurant and its local variant Ticket Alimentación began spreading to other countries in Europe and Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico.[3]
The Ticket Restaurant entity, which had been a subsidiary of Accor since 1983, became Accor Services in 1998. Accor had also acquired Luncheon Vouchers one year prior. Thus the two entities were merged under the new roof of Accor Services.
In September 2007 Accor Services acquired a 98.3% stake UK pioneer and market leader in prepaid cards, PrePay Technologies Ltd, for €55M.[4]
Formation of Edenred (2010 - today)
Following the split of Accor's hotel and prepaid services businesses, Accor Services became Edenred in June 2010.[5] The group was listed on NYSE Euronext Paris on July 2, 2010. Jacques Stern was appointed chairman and chief executive officer.
Edenred also launched the Ticket Plus Card in Germany (staple goods: food, fuel, meals), Ticket Cultura in Brazil (cultural goods and services),[6] and Fides Cloud Loyalty Software in India, managed by its subsidiary Accentiv India Pvt. Ltd.[7]
In 2014, Edenred acquired C3, a leader in the employee payroll cards market in the United Arab Emirates.[8] The Group also acquired 34% of UTA, Europe’s second largest fuel card issuer, before increasing its stake to 51% in January 2017,[9] to 66% in 2018 and 100% in 2020.[10]
Bertrand Dumazy became chairman and chief executive officer of Edenred on October 26, 2015.[11]
The group shifted focus to digital products and launched the Ticket Restaurant card in France in April 2014. As of 2021, 90% of the group's business volume around the world was generated from digital products.[12][13]
In 2016, the Group began a far-reaching transformation as part of its Fast Forward strategic plan (2016-2019). Also in the year, Edenred launched its Corporate Payment Services business and acquired Embratec's operations in Brazil.[14] In November 2018, Edenred announced the acquisition of Corporate Spending Innovations, an electronic B2B payments company, for $600 million.[15]
Edenred operates in 46 countries and has over 10,000 employees. The group has moved into new countries since 2010: Finland in 2011, Japan in 2012, Russia, the United Arab Emirates in 2014 and Moldova in 2018.[17]
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