Waitrose has reintroduced free coffee for all loyalty scheme members even if they haven’t bought anything from the supermarket.
The company has told those signed up to its myWaitrose scheme that from 27 January they can get one complementary hot drink a day with no purchase needed – provided they bring a reusable cup.
The freebie was introduced in 2013 but the terms were changed four years later to apply to customers who had shopped in-store, before being completely scrapped during Covid and then gradually reintroduced.
A spokesperson for Waitrose said: “Some of our members like to have their free coffee before or during their shop, rather than afterwards, so we are just offering a bit of flexibility in response to customer feedback.”
The perk had been hugely popular when it was launched – though it was criticised by some existing Waitrose customers who suggested that it attracted the “wrong type” of shopper to the stores.
After being stopped in the early months of Covid, Dame Sharon White, the former chair of the John Lewis Partnership, which operates Waitrose, slowly reintroduced it for loyalty scheme members who made a purchase.
She was replaced in September last year by Jason Tarry, who worked at Tesco for more than 30 years.
Labour had previously criticised Waitrose’s free coffee offer.
In 2014, the then shadow communities minister, Andy Sawford, asked fellow MPs to write to Waitrose’s managing director to say that the scheme could “further destroy the British high street” and take business away from small firms.
At the time, the UK’s 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 are the police.
The company offered hot drinks to the police “as part of an initiative to cut down on shoplifting”.
When it was introduced in August 2023, West Mercia Police Federation secretary Pete Nightingale said: “It makes sense from a business perspective because any police presence is bound to have an impact – either as a reassurance for shoppers or a deterrent for shoplifters.”