Brazil Enforced Meal Voucher Interoperability Rules Despite Industry Delays

Restaurants in Brazil entered a new regulatory phase on Saturday, November 7, as the federal government’s deadline for interoperability in the Worker Food Program, known as PAT, took effect even though part of the meal and food voucher industry has not completed the required changes. The shift affects restaurants directly because it is meant to allow workers to use meal and food benefit cards from one operator at establishments affiliated with another operator’s network, expanding acceptance and, in theory, increasing competition over fees.

InfoMoney reported on Friday, November 6, that at least part of the sector was still not prepared to operate under the new model by the end of the 360-day compliance period set by a decree published in November 2025. According to the report, companies in the benefits industry said they had not received sufficiently detailed operational rules from the government, while restaurants, supermarkets and benefits fintechs argued that the market had had enough time to adapt.

The new requirement targets a market that has long operated through closed systems. Traditional companies such as Alelo, Pluxee, Ticket Serviços and VR Benefícios usually manage the full chain, from issuing the cards to signing up restaurants and supermarkets and reimbursing them for transactions. Under interoperability, those operators would still run their own systems but would have to share access to their merchant networks, allowing a worker with one company’s card to use it at a restaurant tied to a rival operator.

For restaurants, the practical issue is payment acceptance. If interoperability works as intended, a business that already accepts one PAT-linked voucher brand should be able to receive customers carrying competing cards without negotiating a separate commercial relationship with every operator in the market. That could widen the pool of paying customers. It also matters because the government says the reform is designed to open a concentrated market to more competition and lower operating costs for participating businesses.

The Labor Ministry told InfoMoney that its role is regulatory and supervisory, not operational. The ministry said interoperability is, by definition, an obligation for the operators and other participants in the payment arrangements. It added that it has tried to regulate only what is strictly necessary to provide legal and operational certainty, leaving companies responsible for the technical and commercial adjustments.

Industry representatives, however, said key details were still unresolved. According to InfoMoney, the Brazilian Association of Worker Benefit Companies, known as ABBT, said issues such as connection standards between networks, settlement of transactions and the responsibilities of each participant in the chain, including facilitators, acquirers, payment arrangements and merchants, remain important for the system to function properly.

One executive from a major company, speaking anonymously to InfoMoney, said his firm had made little progress on the technology needed to meet the deadline. He described the situation as a major problem and said that if a worker complained that a card did not work at a certain establishment, the likely immediate solution would be to sign that establishment into the operator’s own network, without solving the broader interoperability issue. Fines for noncompliance can reach R$50,000, according to the report.

The November 7 deadline is the final stage of a broader overhaul of PAT. Another deadline expired in May, when operators serving more than 500,000 workers were supposed to move to an open arrangement. In that model, the company issuing the card is separate from the company that signs up the merchant, and transactions run on established card networks. Benefits fintechs including Flash, iFood Benefícios, Caju and Swile already operate in that format, using cards on the Elo, Visa or Mastercard networks that can be accepted on any compatible payment terminal.

Arthur Freitas, chief executive of iFood Benefícios, told InfoMoney that the open arrangement is interoperable by nature. He argued that a large part of the interoperability problem should already have been addressed if the traditional operators had complied with the earlier transition to the open model. He also said the remaining interoperability issue mainly affects smaller regional operators with fewer than 500,000 workers, which were not required to adopt the open arrangement and therefore would depend on network sharing.

The regulatory changes also matter because of the fees restaurants pay to accept these benefits. InfoMoney said companies operating under the closed model negotiate discount rates directly with restaurants and supermarkets, and those charges can reach 7%. A separate rule with a February 2026 deadline capped discount rates charged by meal and food voucher administrators at 3.6% and gave them 15 days to settle transactions financially.

Restaurant and supermarket groups say that cap has not been respected. InfoMoney cited a survey commissioned by the National Restaurant Association, or ANR, showing that the average fee charged by meal voucher operators in Brazil was 6.18% between June and July, up from 5.19% in 2025, despite the deadline set by the decree. Erik Momo, chairman of the ANR board, told the outlet that companies appear to have found alternative products outside the PAT structure, with different fees. Market participants have discussed whether some operators are bundling products as other types of worker assistance to avoid the PAT limits.

That dispute has sharpened the pressure on the government’s enforcement process. On Tuesday, November 3, the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets, known as Abras, filed a civil public action against meal and food voucher operators demanding compliance with the new rules, according to InfoMoney. The Labor Ministry said through its Labor Inspection Secretariat that it is responsible for overseeing compliance. The ministry also said complaints related to refusal to accept cards after the decree’s deadline can be submitted through the labor complaint website and the PAT service center email.

For the hospitality industry, the immediate picture is mixed. The legal framework now requires wider acceptance of PAT cards where the system has been enabled, and officials present that as a step toward broader consumer choice and lower merchant costs. But the companies that process those benefits and many of the businesses that depend on them are entering the new phase with open disputes over technology, network access and fees, leaving uncertainty over how quickly the rule will work in day-to-day restaurant transactions.