Panera Bread is making some changes soon to its Unlimited Sip Club subscription program.
The drinks will no longer be unlimited, the chain announced Monday.
Starting in August, the subscription beverage program will change to MyPanera + Sip Club, and the word “unlimited” will be dropped.
At that point, members will be limited to 30 self-service drinks per month. The monthly cost of the subscription plan, which is $14.99 plus tax, will not change (though there are often discounted rates available). Annually, the subscription is $119.99, plus tax.
It’s still a good deal, Panera officials say. And other rules remain the same. Guests can get one beverage every two hours, for example, and there’s $0 delivery fees on eligible orders, and an extra birthday week treat.
Sip Club members that select four drinks per month would essentially pay for the subscription fee. Choosing 30 in a month would save them about $100 monthly.
Panera’s Sip Club limits are in line with a growing trend of subscription programs tightening account management to prevent the sharing of accounts and potential abuse.
The move, however, is part of a bigger revamp coming for the loyalty program, which is another move under the Panera RISE transformation plan announced last year. Changes to terms and conditions must be announced at least 30 days in advance, so that’s why the company is letting members know about the Sip Club tweaks.
Details about the new loyalty program will come later. But CEO Paul Carbone said earlier this year the chain is testing a switch from a “surprise and delight” format, to one based on points. Panera’s current MyPanera loyalty program has about 70 million members, though the company does not disclose how many Sip Club subscribers it has.
Panera was a pioneer of the notion of subscription programs to generate traffic.
The Unlimited Sip Club first launched in 2022 at a monthly price of $10.99, and it included the full portfolio of self-serve beverages, including hot and iced coffees, teas, fountain drinks, and lemonades. The original lineup also included the caffeinated Charged Lemonades that were later pulled from the menu after being blamed for several deaths and hospitalizations. (Litigation was settled and the company denied wrongdoing.)
Over the past two years, Panera has been working on its menu in an effort to reverse sinking sales. In 2024, the menu was streamlined and a number of beverages were removed. This year, however, the chain is leaning into its beverage program again with the reintroduction of a coffee line that includes blended frozen options, as well as refreshers and other drinks.
Most of those beverages are made to order, however, and not part of the Sip Club, which focuses on self-service options.
UPDATE: This article has been updated to correct the estimated savings per month.