Panera Bread is phasing out its Charged Sips drinks nationwide in the aftermath of three separate lawsuits that all alleged the brand’s caffeinated lemonade was the cause of two deaths and one woman’s long-term heart health issues, as first reported by Bloomberg, and confirmed by the company. The controversial beverages are being replaced by four new drinks: a blueberry lavender lemonade, pomegranate hibiscus tea, citrus punch, and a tropical green smoothie, and are part of the menu and brand overhaul that the company first announced this March.
“We listened to more than 30,000 guests about what they wanted from Panera and are focusing next on the broad array of beverages we know our guests desire – ranging from exciting, on-trend flavors, to low sugar and low-caffeine options,” a Panera spokesperson told Nation’s Restaurant News. “Our enhanced beverage portfolio, including new Blueberry Lavender Lemonade, Pomegranate Hibiscus Tea, Citrus Punch and a Tropical Green Smoothie will reinforce our mission of delivering what our guests want most – amazing taste, quality ingredients and value.”
Panera’s caffeinated lemonade beverages were released last spring around the same time as the expansion of the Unlimited Sip Club subscription program. Originally called Lemonade Chargers, this beverage was advertised as an alternative to coffee, and comes in flavors like Fuji apple cranberry and mango yuzu. A large portion of the Charged Lemonade mango flavor contains 390 mg of caffeine – or nearly 3.5 12-ounce Red Bull energy drinks — which is just shy of the 400 mg maximum dosage of caffeine that you can safely drink in a day, according to the FDA.
The highly caffeinated beverages were blamed for two fatal cardiac arrest incidents in Oct. and Dec. 2023, respectively, from consumers with underlying health conditions who separately drank multiple Charged Sips beverages in one sitting and suffered fatal cardiac arrest incidents shortly thereafter.
In January, a third lawsuit was filed against the company after a competitive athlete with no underlying health conditions started experiencing heart palpitations immediately after drinking the caffeinated beverages in April 2023.
In the aftermath of all of these health incidents, Panera has maintained its innocence stating that the company, “stands firmly by the safety of our products.” However, the beverages were observed to be removed from the self-serve area earlier this year, with no direct comment from the company.
The latest beverage menu changes were confirmed by Panera employees on the Panera subreddit, who shared an internal memo that revealed the “three new bubbler beverages,” will be replacing the Charged Sips within two weeks, and that they will be kept in the back of house area, as opposed to the front of house self-serve beverage area.
Multiple Sips Club members on Reddit and other forms of social media have complained that this latest change will cause them to cancel their Panera unlimited beverage club subscription.
Contact Joanna Fantozzi at [email protected]