Apple Pay Teams Up With Panera On Free Coffee Deal 

Apple is betting the lure of free coffee will help boost use of Apple Pay.

Customers who subscribe to MyPanera+ Coffee can get four months of coffee for free if they check out with their Apple Pay app, according to 9to5Mac, citing an email sent to Apple users.

Good through Jan. 27, Apple Pay users who take the deal may also get a free cookie thrown in as well, provided, that is, they already have Panera subscription and switch their payment method to Apple Pay.

Here’s the text of the email, as reported by 9to5Mac.

“Sign up for a new MyPanera+ Coffee subscription here and get your first four months free when you check out with Apple Pay in the Panera Bread app, through January 27. If you already have a coffee subscription, switch your payment method to Apple Pay here and get a free cookie.”

Throwing in an additional sweetener, Apple Pay users can also get “3 percent daily cash” when they use the app to pay for various items at Panera, or for taking out a MyPanera+ Coffee subscription.

And signing up is fairly easy for Apple users, with Panera’s app available for free at the App Store.

The promotion follows a recent announcement by New York’s subway system that commuters can now use Apple Pay and other contactless payment options at all its stations.

For its part, Panera first rolled out its coffee subscription back in February, offering a “bottomless cup of coffee (or tea) — all day, every day” for $8.99 a month, PYMNTS reported at the time, citing CNBC.

The move, as PYMNTS noted, “is part of Panera’s overall upgrade of its cafe offerings, particularly at breakfast time, with additions like wraps and an expanded variety of coffee and tea options.”

Customers who sign up, in turn, “can get credit for their monthly subscription payment within Panera’s points-based loyalty program,” the report said.