Waitrose has reintroduced free coffee for all loyalty program members, even if they haven’t purchased anything from the supermarket.
The company has informed those signed up to its myWaitrose program that from January 27, they will be able to enjoy one free hot drink per day without any purchase – as long as they bring a reusable cup.
The gift was introduced in 2013, but the terms were changed four years later to apply to customers who had shopped in-store, before being scrapped completely during Covid and then gradually reintroduced.
A Waitrose spokesperson said: “Some of our members like to have their free coffee before or during their shop, rather than after, so we are just offering a little flexibility in response to customer feedback. »
The benefit had been hugely popular when it launched – although it was criticized by some existing Waitrose customers, who suggested it attracted the “wrong type” of shoppers into stores.
After being shut down in the early months of Covid, Dame Sharon White, former chair of the John Lewis Partnership, which runs Waitrose, slowly reintroduced it for loyalty program members who made a purchase.
She was replaced in September last year by Jason Tarry, who worked at Tesco for more than 30 years.
Labor previously criticized Waitrose’s free coffee offer.
In 2014, then-ghost communities minister Andy Sawford asked fellow MPs to write to the chief executive of Waitrose to say the plan could “further destroy the great British public” and deprive small businesses of their business.
At the time, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he didn’t know what “people were complaining about.”
The only other group who can get a free coffee from Waitrose without buying anything is the police.
The company offered hot drinks to police “as part of an initiative to reduce shoplifting.”
At its introduction in August 2023, West Mercia Police Federation Secretary Pete Nightingale said: “It makes sense from a business point of view, as any police presence is bound to have an impact – either to reassure shoppers, or to deter shoplifters. »
