Foundation and Accor integration (1962–2009) Jacques Borel created
a meal voucher in France called
Ticket Restaurant in 1962. He was 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. 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. 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 name 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. Ticket Restaurant was introduced to
Türkiye in 1992, marking Accor Services' entry into the Turkish employee benefits market. The operation initially launched under the "Ticket Restaurant" brand and later continued as Accor Services Türkiye following the group's global restructuring in 1998.
Formation of Edenred (2010–present) Following the split of Accor's hotel and prepaid services businesses, Accor Services became Edenred in June 2010. 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), and Fides Cloud Loyalty Software in
India, managed by its subsidiary Accentiv India Pvt. Ltd. In 2014, Edenred acquired C3, a leader in the employee payroll cards market in the
United Arab Emirates. The Group also acquired 34% of UTA, Europe’s second largest fuel card issuer, before increasing its stake to 51% in January 2017 to 66% in 2018 and 100% in 2020. Bertrand Dumazy became chairman and chief executive officer of Edenred on October 26, 2015. 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. In 2016, the Group began a far-reaching transformation as part of its Fast Forward strategic plan (2016-2019). In that year, Edenred also launched its Corporate Payment Services business and acquired Embratec's operations in
Brazil. In November 2018, Edenred announced the acquisition of Corporate Spending Innovations, an electronic B2B payments company, for $600 million. In May 2023, Edenred acquired Reward Gateway, a UK-based employee engagement platform, to extend its Employee Benefits solutions for an enterprise value of GBP 1.15 billion. == Products ==