You’ve got another subscription to add to your monthly roster: Panera coffee.
We (semi) recently wrote a blog post about how the subscription model’s popularity has blown up, as well as the good and bad sides for customers. But we never expected it to expand into food service.
Panera announced that they are launching MyPanera+ Coffee. For just $8.99/month, members can get unlimited coffee, and it includes any size or flavor, including light/dark roast, hazelnut, decaf, iced coffee, or hot tea. And it’s not just once a day, either. You can redeem it every two hours, and you get unlimited refills for the time that you are in-store.
The deal doesn’t include espresso, cold brew, or cappuccino, but not too bad for the cost of about 4 drinks a month.
It’s worth keeping an eye on it to see how feasible this initiative is to replicate this in other foodservice businesses. The disposable cups may prove to be the most costly component of this, but the low cost of coffee, along with some people paying but not taking full advantage of the subscription, could potentially offset this cost.
Either way, an extremely interesting development to the subscription model.
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Hannah Michelle Lambert is the Social Media + Events Coordinator at Worthix, as well as the host of the monthly CX News Recap segment. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
