3 ms·

> everything going for "normal food" was very, very expensive Almost anywhere in Paris you will find places where locals go for lunch, and they are not conside

> everything going for "normal food" was very, very expensive Almost anywhere in Paris you will find places where locals go for lunch, and they are not considered so expensive for middle-class workers. Locals are often paid Ticket Restaurant vouchers in addition to their salaries, and to retain these loyal customers these eateries keep the price of their daily set lunches fixed to the value of one voucher.

eldavido 8y ago
This is why healthcare is so expensive btw. (I can't help but notice the similarities) Insurance hands out "tickets" that get redeemed by doctors. And as you rightly point out, everything gets warped and twisted based on what the payer (not necessarily the customer) wants.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- magic_beans 8y ago
  What are you even rambling on about?
  - VK538FY 8y ago
    I understand the parent's idea. An employer gives his employees Tickets Resto. It's a 'social advantage' that may cost the employer less than simply paying the employees more because exempt from certain social charges. As a result, there are more of these scriptural Tickets Resto floating about than real money that people want to spend on restaurant meals. Which could lead to an inflation of restaurant prices in a fashion not so different to the inflation of the prices of medical prestations paid by private insurance.
    - eldavido 8y ago
      Inflation is only one symptom. The bigger problem is that the providers (health or restaurants) start catering to what the PAYERS -- insurance, or the company handing out restaurant tickets -- want, not what's good or helpful for the customers. The entire thing becomes a giant game of "what you can bill", which pretty much sums up healthcare today. There is no emphasis on outcome, quality, or cost, just whether something is "reimburseable". Will it be covered by the ticket?
      - VK538FY 8y ago
        Good explanation and I've read a number of articles about private health insurance under this angle. It's not an imaginary phenomenon. I'm curious to know if a study has been done about the similar effects of restaurant tickets. The idea seems quite plausible, would go a long way towards explaining the doubtful quality of many parisian restaurants and, anecdotally, I remember a lot of use of restaurant tickets and incentives based on them when I was in the city of lights.
        eldavido 8y ago
        I'm not sure specifically for restaurants. A lot of my ideas on health come from "Catastrophic Care", where they talk about "the surrogates" who stand in, for the role customers would pay in an ordinary cash transaction. P.S. Bisto food sucks. I went to Paris on my honeymoon last year, I live in SF and our food is better and way more innovate to boot.
        VK538FY 8y ago
        I'll check the book. I'm relatively interested in health insurance and the financing thereof because I haven't quite identified the system that works the best and even the most successful countries need to tighten their game given the imminent demographic challenges. As to bistros, well I've been to a hundred different restaurants in Paris, they don't all have 'bistro' written on the window but I'm sure that some were. For the money that I was willing to spend at the time, nothing stood out so much. The Bouillon Chartier was great since I'm a fan of the Lyon-style bouchon and I find them comparable. Generally, I wouldn't go to Paris for affordable and good food. I'm not particularly looking for innovation either, just some intelligence in the menu and ingredients.
ParisWorker1292 8y ago
Where did you find such a place ? One voucher is anywhere between 5€ to 10€, and even at 10, you will struggle to find french food. (You can find salad bar, burger, chinese/japanese ..)
plopilop 8y ago
> to retain these loyal customers these eateries keep the price of their daily set lunches fixed to the value of one voucher I'm a bit doubtful about this point. My experience (2 4-months internships inside Paris, lived in Paris another year but working in suburbs) is that restaurants are more expensive than the ~8€ Ticket Restaurant. Never ate for less than 12€ in a bistrot, and obviously for this price you only get main dish, no desert. In one company we had this hot food delivery inside our walls that would cost exactly one Ticket Restaurant, but nothing similar with bistrots. To be honest one of my internships was next to Bir-Hakeim (metro station closest to Eiffel Tower) so the prices may have been inflated, but still.

eldavido 8y ago

This is why healthcare is so expensive btw. (I can't help but notice the similarities) Insurance hands out "tickets" that get redeemed by doctors. And as you rightly point out, everything gets warped and twisted based on what the payer (not necessarily the customer) wants.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
magic_beans 8y ago
What are you even rambling on about?
- VK538FY 8y ago
  I understand the parent's idea. An employer gives his employees Tickets Resto. It's a 'social advantage' that may cost the employer less than simply paying the employees more because exempt from certain social charges. As a result, there are more of these scriptural Tickets Resto floating about than real money that people want to spend on restaurant meals. Which could lead to an inflation of restaurant prices in a fashion not so different to the inflation of the prices of medical prestations paid by private insurance.
  - eldavido 8y ago
    Inflation is only one symptom. The bigger problem is that the providers (health or restaurants) start catering to what the PAYERS -- insurance, or the company handing out restaurant tickets -- want, not what's good or helpful for the customers. The entire thing becomes a giant game of "what you can bill", which pretty much sums up healthcare today. There is no emphasis on outcome, quality, or cost, just whether something is "reimburseable". Will it be covered by the ticket?
    - VK538FY 8y ago
      Good explanation and I've read a number of articles about private health insurance under this angle. It's not an imaginary phenomenon. I'm curious to know if a study has been done about the similar effects of restaurant tickets. The idea seems quite plausible, would go a long way towards explaining the doubtful quality of many parisian restaurants and, anecdotally, I remember a lot of use of restaurant tickets and incentives based on them when I was in the city of lights.
      - eldavido 8y ago
        I'm not sure specifically for restaurants. A lot of my ideas on health come from "Catastrophic Care", where they talk about "the surrogates" who stand in, for the role customers would pay in an ordinary cash transaction. P.S. Bisto food sucks. I went to Paris on my honeymoon last year, I live in SF and our food is better and way more innovate to boot.
        VK538FY 8y ago
        I'll check the book. I'm relatively interested in health insurance and the financing thereof because I haven't quite identified the system that works the best and even the most successful countries need to tighten their game given the imminent demographic challenges. As to bistros, well I've been to a hundred different restaurants in Paris, they don't all have 'bistro' written on the window but I'm sure that some were. For the money that I was willing to spend at the time, nothing stood out so much. The Bouillon Chartier was great since I'm a fan of the Lyon-style bouchon and I find them comparable. Generally, I wouldn't go to Paris for affordable and good food. I'm not particularly looking for innovation either, just some intelligence in the menu and ingredients.

ParisWorker1292 8y ago

Where did you find such a place ? One voucher is anywhere between 5€ to 10€, and even at 10, you will struggle to find french food. (You can find salad bar, burger, chinese/japanese ..)

plopilop 8y ago

> to retain these loyal customers these eateries keep the price of their daily set lunches fixed to the value of one voucher I'm a bit doubtful about this point. My experience (2 4-months internships inside Paris, lived in Paris another year but working in suburbs) is that restaurants are more expensive than the ~8€ Ticket Restaurant. Never ate for less than 12€ in a bistrot, and obviously for this price you only get main dish, no desert. In one company we had this hot food delivery inside our walls that would cost exactly one Ticket Restaurant, but nothing similar with bistrots. To be honest one of my internships was next to Bir-Hakeim (metro station closest to Eiffel Tower) so the prices may have been inflated, but still.