- Panera just launched an unlimited-coffee subscription that costs $9 per month, or about $108 annually.
- I usually drink the free coffee at my office, but my editor asked me to try out Panera for a week to test the subscription.
- I really wanted to love this service, but the coffee just wasn't good, and the service was chaotic.
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When my editor asked how I'd feel about getting free coffee for a month, I said I'd love it. I spent the next week testing Panera's coffee subscription.
The subscription provides "unlimited" hot coffee, iced coffee, or hot tea at all Panera restaurants for a monthly fee of $9, or about $108 annually. Note that this means free refills in-store, or a coffee every two hours. Panera is rolling it out nationwide over the next week to members of its MyPanera loyalty program. A regular Panera coffee costs $2.49 in New York City, so the savings come around the fourth cup of coffee.
Panera tested this subscription model in three states before its nationwide debut.
"We are the first brand to do it, and we're super excited about that," Panera CEO Niren Chaudhary previously told Business Insider. "We feel that this is a terrific way to get consumers more interested in not only in our coffee platform but also for them to get exposed to the strength of the food that we have in our cafes, particularly around breakfast."