"it would have to administer the scheme (for instance by checking and counting the vouchers returned from the restaurants prior to settling their account). In 1954, a businessman, John Hack, realised that a single standardised voucher acceptable across the UK would be more logical and efficient. He subsequently started the Luncheon Vouchers Company in 1955 to implement the nationwide Luncheon Voucher scheme. In 1956, nine large catering companies purchased the company, with Hack staying on as managing director. The company was bought by Accor in 1982. Restaurants that accept the vouchers display an ""LV"" logo in their windows. The vouchers"
"employees without having to run their own canteens. The scheme dates to 1946, when food rationing was still in force following the end of the war. The British government granted an extra-statutory tax concession, believing that this would help citizens afford healthy meals. Under the concession, luncheon vouchers are free of income tax and national insurance contributions up to the value of 3 shillings (15 pence) a day. The initial level of 2s. 3d. (11.25p) was increased in 1948 to its current level of 3/- (15p), but has not been adjusted for inflation since. The UK government announced in March"
"business in 1998 as Accor Services, which became Edenred in 2010. Meal voucher A meal voucher or luncheon voucher is a voucher for a meal given to employees as an employee benefit, allowing them to eat at outside restaurants, typically for lunch. In many countries, meal vouchers have had favorable tax treatment. Vouchers are typically in the form of paper tickets but they're gradually being replaced by electronic vouchers in the form of a special payment card. A luncheon voucher (LV) is a paper ticket (voucher) used by some employees in the United Kingdom to pay for meals in private"
"were used as a form of payment in Cynthia Payne's brothel in London during the 1970s. Meal vouchers were introduced in Belgium in 1965. Electronic meal vouchers were introduced in 2011 and the old paper meal voucher system was phased out on January 1, 2016. Meal vouchers were introduced to France in 1962 by , who was inspired by Luncheon Vouchers; he called them Ticket Restaurant. Starting in 1976, Ticket Restaurant expanded outside France, and became part of Accor in 1983. By 1983, Accor owned both the British Luncheon Vouchers and the French Ticket Restaurant. Accor spun off the voucher"
"Meal voucher A meal voucher or luncheon voucher is a voucher for a meal given to employees as an employee benefit, allowing them to eat at outside restaurants, typically for lunch. In many countries, meal vouchers have had favorable tax treatment. Vouchers are typically in the form of paper tickets but they're gradually being replaced by electronic vouchers in the form of a special payment card. A luncheon voucher (LV) is a paper ticket (voucher) used by some employees in the United Kingdom to pay for meals in private restaurants. It allows companies to subsidise midday meals (luncheons) for their"
"2011 its intention to abolish this relief with effect from April 2013, although this was subject to independent advice from the Office of Tax Simplification following wider consultation. The abolition of the concession, effective from 6 April 2013, was confirmed in December 2011, with the government maintaining its view that the relief was redundant given that it is worth only 15p per day. In the early days, a company that wanted to subsidise their staff lunches, but not run a canteen, had to have vouchers printed and make arrangements with one or more local restaurants to accept them. In addition,"
"Women of the Year Lunch The Women of the Year Lunch, later known as the Women of the Year Lunch and Awards (WOYLA), is an annual charity lunch for women achievers. The inaugural lunch was held on 29 September 1955 at the Savoy Hotel, and raised money for the Greater London Fund for the Blind. All of the 500 invitees were regarded as women of the year, with none singled out for individual acclaim. Since 2001, prizes have been awarded at the event. In 2014, the Women of the Year Lunch marked its 60th anniversary. The Women of the Year"
"the meal voucher as an employee benefit. The concept was launched outside France starting in 1976. Employee benefits continued to grow worldwide, first in Europe and then in Latin America, thanks to two programs: Ticket Restaurant and Ticket Alimentación. The Ticket Restaurant® entity, which had been a subsidiary of the Accor group since 1983, set itself a new course in 1998, when it became Accor Services. From the 2000s, the pace of growth increased, giving rise to ""incentive and rewards"" solutions, in Europe and Asia, in addition to Expense management, solutions, with the developmentof Ticket Car in Latin America. Following"
"Edenred Edenred is a French company specialised in prepaid corporate services. The Group is independent since June 2010 following the split with Accor. Formerly known as Accor Services, Edenred is the inventor of Ticket Restaurant, created in 1962, and a leading distributor of meal vouchers. Today, Edenred offers solutions for employee benefits, fleet and mobility and corporate payment. 44 million employees use Edenred services worldwide. Inspired by the original Luncheon Voucher, a concept launched in the United Kingdom in 1954, Jacques Borel created Ticket Restaurant on the French market in 1962. A French government decree, passed in 1967, officially recognized"
"popular with ladies who had come to London's West End to shop. The restaurant was a setting for many events and celebrations such as at the Royal College of Science's First Annual Dinner. The Chairman that night was H. G. Wells, the pioneer of science fiction. H. G. Wells was a regular diner at the restaurant. The Criterion was frequently used for luncheon clubs in the early 1920s. Members met for lunch every Thursday at 1pm and the price of lunch was 4s-6d. The first recorded lunch meeting was held on 6 December 1923. The speaker was a member, Miss"
"1995 and 2002 where customers used 'Reward Cards' or 'Storecards' to earn and spend points in a similar way, but limited to Sainsbury's businesses. On 1 February 2018 Sainsbury's announced that it had acquired all assets, colleagues, systems and licences required for the full and independent operation of the Nectar loyalty programme in the UK through the acquisition of the shares of Aimia Inc's UK business for £60m. Until 2017, Sainsbury's ran an annual voucher scheme for local organisations to redeem against equipment for sports and other activities. Customers earned vouchers from their shopping which they donated to an organisation"
"gaining support from Jamie Oliver. Since September 2014, all infant pupils in England's schools have been entitled to a free hot meal at lunchtime every day. This was an initiative of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who launched the plan at the Liberal Democrats conference in 2013. At the initiative's inception, the government was paying £2.30 for each meal taken by newly eligible pupils. The British government uses entitlement to free school meals as a measure of deprivation. For the financial year 2014-2015, the government paid schools a premium of £1,300 for primary-aged pupils, or £935 for secondary-aged pupils, for"
"was established in 1932, by publisher Harry Raymond. The original format of the tokens was as ""lick-and-stick"" stamp-like vouchers, which were glued into gift cards and had to be removed by the bookseller redeeming the token. In the 1990s, this design was changed to a ""currency-style"" voucher, available in a number of different denominations. After a redesign in 2003 the Book Tokens scheme was relaunched as National Book Tokens, with new vouchers designed by LMC Design. In 2010, the paper vouchers were phased out. They were replaced by National Book Token gift cards which were identified by a bar code."
"of Merchant Venturers by Charles I in 1639. The custom originated from the Colston's School, which was established for poor children in the early 18th century. Originally, the child would receive a large ""dinner plate"" bun with eight wedge marks so that individual portions could be broken off and shared with their family, plus a ""staver"" which could be eaten immediately to ""stave off"" hunger, and a gift of 2 shillings (now 10p) from the wives of the Merchant Venturers. The gifts of buns and money are still distributed to some school children in Bristol on Colston Day by the"
"of their choice, who then redeemed the vouchers with Sainsbury's, crediting their account with points to spend on items from a catalogue. In 2011 Sainsbury's introduced brand match. It matched prices of competitors. In March 2014 it stopped matching prices in Tesco. In August 2015 it rolled out the match pricing online. In April 2016 it stopped the brand match completely allowing customers to use the vouchers for two weeks after the offer closed. Tesco took Sainsbury's brand match vouchers for two months after the offer finished. 2000–2011: Jamie Oliver was the public face of Sainsbury's, appearing on television and"
"regionally and best in UK. The results were duly published in the 1991 Guide and to launch it Chapman decided to hold an Awards Ceremony for the winners. Unlike today, it was a time when there were few such ceremonies. Chapman modelled it on the Academy Award, by commencing with a formal presention of a certificate to each winner in turn before a group of their peers and media, and following with a luncheon to emphasise the event’s social side. On that first ceremony, there were eight winners, including Chutney Mary Indian restaurant London, SW10 as Best in UK, where"
"Book token A book token is a type of gift voucher redeemable in hundreds of participating bookshops as an alternative to cash. The term ""book token"" was first coined in the 1920s by Harold Raymond, an English publisher who noticed that for Christmas his friends had received a collective total of only three books out of 119 total gifts. He felt that some sort of coupon could be used to take the risk out of book gift giving. Book tokens were officially distributed in 1932. They were sold that November, just in time for the holidays. In the 1990s, ""lick"
"in the UK is one of the most significant in the world, with most major chains operating some form of reward system. Passcard has been claimed to be the first reward scheme or discount card, created around by Gary Wilson in 1981 and later known as Passkey. One of the first loyalty cards backed by a major chain is believed to be the Sainsbury's Homebase Spend and Save Card in 1982. Of the ""big four"" supermarkets, Sainsburys and Tesco and Morrisons operate loyalty cards for general supermarket shopping.Tesco's Clubcard scheme have been criticised for not offering value for money. When"
"for each resulting sale. Soon he found he was earning more money in commissions than he was selling his own roses. My Voucher Codes was launched in November 2006, when Pearson was 26, as the UK's first such discount offers website. He paid £300 for the first version of the site. He ran the site from his bedroom until 2009, when he opened an office in Croydon. He moved the business to a central London location in 2011, where the business now employs more than 100 people. Pearson grew up on a council estate in Liverpool with his mother and"
"groceries and other products for more than 40 years. The founder, Woon Wing Yip, was a Hakka born in Dongguan County, Guangdong, China in 1937. He arrived in the United Kingdom from Hong Kong in 1959 with £10. With an annual turnover of 80 million pounds, he became the first Chinese tycoon in the UK. Wing Yip was honoured by Her Majesty The Queen on 10 March 2010 at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace and awarded an OBE for his services to the Oriental food industry. Wing Yip said ""I was so surprised and feel very honoured, especially after"
"in keeping with advances with technology and are stored in electronic accounts and usable through cards similar to current day debit cards. Labour vouchers were first proposed in the 1820s by Josiah Warren and Robert Owen. Two early attempts at implementing labour vouchers (called labour notes at the time by their proponents) were made by both following their experiences attempting to establish a utopian community at New Harmony, Indiana in which currency was prohibited. In 1827, Warren established the Cincinnati Time Store where goods could be purchased with labor vouchers representing an agreement to perform labor. However, he folded the"
"1971, in Munich in 1975, and in London in 1982. Braille menus were first introduced in 1979, and picture menus in 1988. In March 1992, combination Braille and picture menus were reintroduced to accommodate those with vision, speech, or hearing impairments. Clamshell grills, which cooked both sides of a hamburger simultaneously, were tested. New locations such as hospitals and military bases were tapped as sites for new restaurants. In response to the increase in microwave oven usage, McDonald's, whose name is the single most advertised brand name in the world, stepped up advertising and promotional expenditures stressing that its taste"
"were banned in 1963. The first advert to be shown in the UK was an advert for S.R. Toothpaste on September 22, 1955, on the ITV network (its first day) in England, In Scotland the first adverts were aired on August 31, 1957, Northern Ireland adverts were first aired on October 31, 1959 and Wales adverts were first aired on May 10, 1968. Many of the popular adverts over the years were for Bisto Gravy, Boots, Smith's Crisps & Flora. On July 1, 2000, TV broadcasters began requiring commercials to be delivered to them in widescreen, an event referred to"
"with the exception of airports and some train stations. The cards do expire every two years but can be replaced for free. Gift givers can choose from different designs and receive promotions such as free books by Penguin when spending more than a certain amount. National book voucher schemes are also run in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. Book token A book token is a type of gift voucher redeemable in hundreds of participating bookshops as an alternative to cash. The term ""book token"" was first coined in the 1920s by Harold Raymond, an"
"by the wealthy.” Tinplate boxes and recycled biscuit tins commonly were used in the early 1800s, and fitted metal pails and boxes began to appear around the 1850s. Patents started to appear for lunchbox inventions in the 1860s. The Thermos, a vacuum flask adapted for lunch box use, was introduced in 1904. The Thermos, which enabled hot or cold beverages to remain at optimal temperature until lunchtime, became a common component of the lunch box. Lunch boxes have been manufactured using various materials. Typically, children's school lunch boxes are made of plastic or vinyl, while adult workers' lunch boxes are"
"by the introduction of the 'hotel coupon' in 1868. Detachable coupons in a counterfoil book were issued to the traveller. These were valid for either a restaurant meal or an overnight hotel stay, provided they were on Cook's list. In 1866, the agency organised the first escorted tours of the United States for British travellers, picking up passengers from several departure points. John Mason Cook led the excursion which included tours of several Civil War battlefields. In 1871 a brief but bitter partnership called ""Cook, Son and Jenkins"" was formed in the United States with an American businessman. The first"
"abilities (including wine, coffee, cheese knowledge), followed by a skills interview. As for the national final, succeeded chefs and waiters are put into pairs to prepare and serve lunch for the invited guests. In 2011, the RA broadened the award categories, and besides 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for each waiters and chefs, it gives prizes for Best Barista, Best Cheese Knowledge & Best Wine Knowledge for waiters and Best Dessert, Best Original Dish & Best Kitchen Craft for chefs. Annual Luncheon is an event that the organisation has been holding every year since its incorporation in 1910. During such"
"standardized branding introduced by British Holidays in 1997, including ""FunWorks"" (main entertainment complex), ""ShowBar"" (family entertainment centre), ""Boardwalk"" (food court), Big Money (gambling arcade), ""FoodWorks"" (fast food outlets; many now replaced by Burger King, Papa John's and other external brands), ""RopeWorks"" (high rope activity centre), ""SplashZone"" (swimming pools), ""SportsZone"" (sports activities), ""Oasis"" (restaurant and bar) and ""FunZone"" (outdoor family activity / playground areas). In addition, all parks have a general store (branded as Everydays, Essentials, not at all or more recently SPAR or Londis), main reception and a special reception focusing on caravan sales, often branded as ""Owners Exclusive"" within"
"held. Recipients receive a cash prize, as do runners-up and third-place winners. Upon founding the awards, Peter noted: The first annual Ian Charleson Award was presented in January 1991. The awards defined a classic play as one written prior to 1900; this cut-off was eventually extended to 1918. The awards are presented at a friendly, low-key private luncheon at one of the restaurants at the National Theatre. There is no filming and no outside press, and there are no acceptance speeches; the awards are attended however by Britain's theatre royalty, who take great interest in preserving the foundations of their"
"In November 2011 the toast sandwich was recreated by the Royal Society of Chemistry in a tasting almost 150 years after the release of Beeton's ""Book of Household Management"". The society sought to revive the forgotten dish in wake of the Great Recession after calculating the cost as low as 7.5p per sandwich. They named it ""the country's most economical lunch"", offering £200 to whoever could create a cheaper meal. Due to an overabundance of submissions the offer was closed 7 days later, and the £200 given to a randomly selected entrant. In Heston Blumenthal's restaurant The Fat Duck, 12"
"Rumford. A first, major program was started in some Boston high schools in 1894 to provide nutritional meals at low prices to children who would not normally have them. Due in large part to Ellen Richards and Edward Atkinson, the New England Kitchen ran the program as a 'private enterprise' that paid for itself many times over. The lunches never became effective instruments for teaching the New Nutrition the founders had envisaged. But, because the program provided nutritious meals children would otherwise not have, it became the main justification for similar lunch programs in other cities."" In 1946, President Harry"
"cakes—as was eventually decided—or (fully taxed) chocolate-covered biscuits. Until 2001, VAT was charged at the full rate on unused sanitary towels. It was introduced in 1973, in consequence of Britain's entry to the European Economic Community, at a standard rate of 10 percent. In July 1974, the standard rate became 8 percent and from October that year petrol was taxed at a new higher rate of 25 percent. In the budget of April 1975 the higher rate was extended to a wide range of ""luxury"" goods. In the budget of April 1976 the 25 percent higher rate was reduced to"
"million to help young people of all abilities and backgrounds participate in sporting activities. In 2015 the Lord’s Taverners provided 9.4 million 'sporting chances' for disadvantaged and disabled young people across all of its charitable programmes. The Lord's Taverners kit recycling programme equips UK clubs and developing nations with kit donated by manufacturers, clubs and members of the public. The Lady Taverners owe their formation to Baroness Thatcher. Normally each Prime Minister had been made a member of the Lord's Taverners. As a result, the Honorary Lady Taverners were formed and in early 1980 David Evans MP invited Baroness Thatcher"