Waitrose brings back free coffee for non-shoppers

Waitrose has re-introduced free coffee to all loyalty scheme members, even if they haven’t bought anything from the supermarket.

The company has told those who sign up to its myWaitrose scheme that from January 27 they can get a complimentary hot drink every day without any purchase – as long as they bring a reusable cup.

The freebie was introduced in 2013, but four years later the terms were changed to apply to customers who shopped in-store, before it was scrapped entirely during Covid and then Gradually it was restarted.

A Waitrose spokesperson said: “Some of our members prefer to drink a free coffee before or during their shop rather than after, so we’re just offering a little flexibility in response to customer feedback.”

The perk was extremely popular when it was launched – although it was criticized by some existing Waitrose customers, who suggested it attracted the “wrong type” of shoppers to the stores.

After being halted in the early months of Covid, Dame Sharon White, former chair of the John Lewis Partnership, which runs Waitrose, gradually reopened it for shopping loyalty scheme members.

He was replaced in September last year by Jason Terry, who worked at Tesco for more than 30 years.

Labor has previously criticized Waitrose’s free coffee offer.

In 2014, the then Shadow Communities Minister, Andy Sawford, asked fellow MPs to write to the managing director of Waitrose to say that the plan could “further destroy the British high street” and take business away from smaller companies.

At the time, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he did not know “what people were complaining about”.

The only other group that 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.”

When it was introduced in August 2023, Pete Nightingale, secretary of the West Mercia Police Federation, said: “From a business point of view it makes sense because any police presence is bound to have an impact – either through reassurance to buyers “As or as a deterrent to shoplifters.”