Does Panera Offer Free Refills On Coffee?

It used to be that the coffee shop was an inviting place where you could sit all day reading, working, or chatting with friends. After all, coffee shop espresso always tastes better than homemade. Some cafes are actively trying to be that "third place" again these days, and are doing what they can to encourage customers to stay awhile. Panera is one of the chains that wants customers to linger, and is hoping drink refills might help keep them there. But the chain's rules for those refills appear to be changing. 

In the past, Panera has let customers refill drink orders from the self-serve station as long as they stayed in the cafe without leaving. These stations include fountain beverages, lemonade, and hot and iced teas and coffees. But Panera has never had an official policy about allowing this, and now the cafe is taking advantage of customer desire for refills with a subscription service called the Sip Club. We reached out to Panera's customer service to find out what the current rules are regarding refills, and they told us that you now must be a Sip Club member to get any sort of free refill at all. Whether that means employees are actually watching to make sure customers are members is another story, but it's safest to assume they are. 

This membership might save you money at Panera Bread because it gives customers unlimited access to select coffees and teas, fountain drinks, and other beverages with a monthly fee of $14.99 or $119 per year, plus taxes. However, whether it's a good deal for you in particular depends on several factors.

Panera's Sip Club setup is different than what you might have been doing already, which is just getting up and pouring yourself another soda or coffee. The subscription lets you redeem any size drip hot coffee or hot tea, iced coffee and select iced teas, lemonade, fountain soda beverages, or select bubbler beverages once every two hours during normal cafe hours. It also includes free refills on beverages that are eligible. With Sip Club membership, there's no rule that you must stay in the cafe in order to get your refill.

Keep in mind this membership does not include every drink on the menu. There's a long list of what's not part of the subscription: Energy Refreshers, Frescas, packaged beverages, smoothies, frozen blended drinks, hot chocolate, cold brew iced coffee, espresso and cappuccino beverages, and some bubbler beverages. The subscription price also does not include any sort of customization, such as added espresso shots and syrups; these would be an additional charge. So is Panera's Sip Club worth the cost? It depends on how often you frequent Panera and if you typically order a wide variety of drinks there. Panera states that a monthly membership pays for itself after four drinks per month. There are also additional perks of membership, including birthday treats and special Saturday deals. Our opinion is that it's likely not worth it if you're an infrequent visitor who just gets a self-serve soda or drip coffee every now and then.