Waitrose plans to curb the number of free tea and coffee provided to loyalty card members by handing out cups after they have paid for their shopping.
At the moment, members of the myWaitrose scheme can collect their tea or coffee as they enter the supermarket.
However, this procedure will now be ‘refined‘, with an email sent to members today confirming that from April 3 member will be asked to confirm they have made a purchase before picking up their free hot beverage.
There will continue to be no minimum spend requirement.
Waitrose said the change was “just a refinement” of the usual offer.
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“Our myWaitrose free tea and coffee offer is one of the ways we thank our customers for shopping with us – and we want all our customers to be able to enjoy a free hot drink when they shop with us in our branches,” the email read.
“From 3 April, we’ll simply be asking myWaitrose members to make a purchase before collecting their cup at the checkout.”
This comes after Waitrose canned a tea and coffee free-for-all scheme in 2015, which used to allow myWaitrose members to have a free hot beverage in its cafes even if they had bought nothing else.
Members were told they had to now purchase a “treat” such as “a sandwich, cake, biscuit or piece of fruit” in order to have their free tea or coffee.
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