Panela bread is lemonade on Ni Xing's menu. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images new york CNN Bloomberg, who first reported the news, said that this kind of lemonade will be removed from the menu in the next two weeks. The chain refused to comment to CNN on the time when the drinks were taken off the shelves.
In recent months, Panera faced at least three separate lawsuits for a series of controversial beverages, claiming that the high caffeine content in the product caused two customers to die and another customer had irreversible health complications.
A spokesperson for Panera said that new beverages will replace it, including low-sugar and low-caffeine options, including a new blueberry lavender lemonade, pomegranate hibiscus tea, citrus punch and a tropical green smoothie.
The paid lemonade series was launched in April 2022, which is related to the release of the beverage subscription plan, which allows people to get the soft drinks and coffee they need every day at a price of .99 per month. (Since then, the price has risen to .99 per month. )
Despite the controversy, Panela kept the paid lemonade on the menu, because experts said that withdrawing the drink immediately might be seen as an implicit admission that it had problems from the beginning.
On Tuesday, December 12th, 2023, a customer bought a glass of lemonade from Panera Bread Co at the Rego Center Shopping Center in Queens, new york, USA. Panela's paid lemonade has been the subject of many lawsuits. Why is it still on the menu? James Hagarty, a crisis public relations expert, told CNN earlier: "In litigation, lawyers often subconsciously take public actions as little as possible out of some vague concerns." He pointed out that this practice may adversely affect the market value of the company, sometimes causing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
Hagarty added that this is a "cost-benefit analysis ... the loss of reputation value often exceeds anything that happens in court."
Last month, Panera carried out "the largest menu reform ever", and re-focused on sandwiches, soups, salads, macaroni and cheese. Many commodities were also fired, including bread, several sweets and peppers.
"We are very happy to continue the success of our recent menu transformation, which started with our core choice of sandwiches and salads," Panera spokesman said of the transformation. "We have listened to the needs of more than 30,000 guests for Panera, and then we will focus on all kinds of drinks that we know our guests need."
These changes come as Panera is planning to go public again later this year. In November 2023, this chain store laid off 18% of its employees, totaling 300 people. Reuters recently reported that the company was relaxing its standards for ingredients in an effort to save million a year.