Limitless Tea

This subscription offer from Panera Bread appears to a prefect value for the customer. I am regular at Panera but not a big spender. For customers like me this could make sense and yes, sometimes we may buy some food too. What is more, we may likely look to stop at a Panera for our coffee on a road-trip and that would be at the cost of Dunkin or McDonald's which are our current options. Once a customer signs-up, which is likely the biggest hurdle to overcome for Panera, the rest will likely go pretty easy. 

The question is does at what point does the customer cost them more than the $9 they bring per month. The old ladies from the knitting club at my local Panera could keep those refills coming for hours and only share one bear-claw between the four of them. They are they to knit and chat- such a monthly plan could help them hang out more often and longer. The trick would be to get the mix right - not much different than keeping the vacuum cleaner category of buffet customers at bay for the venture to be profitable. .

As we all wait for normalcy to return those long hang-outs at Panera with groups of people may be a dream right now. But a ritual of grabbing a cup of coffee every day just to step out of the house maybe actually be therapeutic right now.