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Panera Launched an Unlimited Self-Serve Drinks Subscription in 2022 Alongside a Lemonade With Up to 390 Milligrams of Caffeine. The Only Limit at the Fountain Was One Cup Every Two Hours.

The Complaints Department

The Complaints Department

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Panera Launched an Unlimited Self-Serve Drinks Subscription in 2022 Alongside a Lemonade With Up to 390 Milligrams of Caffeine. The Only Limit at the Fountain Was One Cup Every Two Hours.
Photo by Pedro Forester Da Silva / Unsplash

On 19 April 2022, Panera Bread launched Unlimited Sip Club, which it billed as the first nationwide unlimited subscription for self-serve beverages. For $10.99 a month, members could take one self-serve drink every two hours during café hours, refills included. The menu covered coffee, tea, fountain soda, lemonade, and a new line called Charged Lemonade, launched the same day in three fruit flavours and described as containing "clean plant-based caffeine from guarana and green coffee extract."

The press release offered a single point of reference for the caffeine: a 20-ounce Charged Lemonade without ice had about as much as a 20-ounce Panera dark roast. The drink went on the fountain, next to the ordinary lemonades, and from there it was dispensed by whoever happened to be holding the cup.

What Was in the Cup

The large, 30-ounce size contained 390 milligrams of caffeine when served without ice. The Food and Drug Administration's guideline for healthy adults is 400 milligrams in a day. The large also contained guarana extract and, by NBC News's count, the sugar equivalent of nearly 30 teaspoons. The dark roast comparison was accurate for the size it named. The large held more caffeine than any size of Panera's dark roast.

None of this was concealed, exactly. It was simply not where anyone standing at the fountain would look. The subscription had one control, the two-hour clock, and it measured how often a cup was filled. What went into the cup was left to the customer, who was assumed to know.

Sarah Katz

In September 2022, Sarah Katz, a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student, bought a large Charged Lemonade at a Panera in West Philadelphia. She had long QT syndrome type 1, a heart rhythm condition, and according to her family's lawsuit she avoided energy drinks on medical advice. She went into cardiac arrest hours later and died.

Her parents sued in October 2023, alleging that the drink was offered "side-by-side with all of Panera's non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks" without adequate warning. Panera said it was saddened by her death and, "out of an abundance of caution," enhanced its disclosure. Signs went up in every store stating that the drink should be consumed in moderation and was not recommended for children, people sensitive to caffeine, or pregnant or nursing women. The drink was moved behind the counter.

Dennis Brown

On 9 October 2023, Dennis Brown, 46, suffered a fatal cardiac arrest while walking home from a Panera in Fleming Island, Florida. His family's lawsuit, filed in Delaware that December, said he had drunk three Charged Lemonades on that visit. He had high blood pressure and a chromosomal disorder, and, according to ABC News, he was a Sip Club member.

Panera said its investigation indicated his death was not caused by its products, described the suit as "equally without merit," and said it "stands firmly by the safety of our products." Its menu around this time listed the large at 237 milligrams, on the basis that the earlier figure had not accounted for ice, a variable the fountain also left to the customer. Two further suits followed, from Lauren Skerritt, 28, of Rhode Island, who alleged permanent cardiac injury, and on behalf of Luke Adams, a Pennsylvania teenager who went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated.

The Menu Transformation

On 7 May 2024, Panera said it was phasing Charged Lemonade out nationwide. It did not connect the decision to the litigation. "We listened to more than 30,000 guests about what they wanted from Panera," the company said, and would focus on beverages "ranging from exciting, on-trend flavors, to low sugar and low-caffeine options."

The Katz case settled in October 2024, shortly before trial. The remaining three were dismissed with prejudice in July 2025. Terms were not disclosed, and Panera had denied wrongdoing in court documents. In March 2026 the company returned to the category with two Energy Refreshers containing between 28 and 44 milligrams of caffeine, roughly a tenth of the old large.

Thirty Cups

The subscription outlived the lemonade. Its monthly price had risen to $14.99 by the time Panera announced, in July 2026, that the programme would become MyPanera+ Sip Club in August. The word "unlimited" was dropped, and members were capped at 30 cups a month of select coffees, teas and fountain drinks. Panera presented the change as part of a broader overhaul of its loyalty scheme.

For four years the only thing the fountain counted was time. It now counts cups as well, a meter installed on the coffee, the tea and the soda, well after the one drink on the fountain that anyone had reason to measure was taken off it.

Filed from public reporting:

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