Panera Bread Is Getting Rid Of Popular Menu Item In Michigan

In 2022, I took a road trip to Virginia for a weekend, and while I thrifted some fantastic jackets and saw one of the strangest concerts of my life, the other big highlight was my friend and I's scheme to get a free trial of Panera Bread's new Unlimited Sip Club so we could book it down there and get free drinks the whole way there.

I'm not a huge coffee person, but I needed a kick since it was a long drive, so I consumed so much of the mango Charged Lemonade, a lemonade with caffeine in it. When I tell you I was bouncing in my seat, I mean it. I had no idea it had so much caffeine in it, and I am not alone. The amount of caffeine in these drinks has caused Panera Bread quite a bit of trouble, and now it's being removed from the menu.

Charged Lemonade's Caffeine Totals

Since it was released, the drink has been met with backlash due to just how much caffeine is in these drinks. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says adults can have 400 mg of caffeine a day. As you can see from the image above, a large 30 fl oz Charged Lemonade has a whopping 390 mg of caffeine. For comparison, a 32 fl oz can of Monster has 320 mg of caffeine, a Red Bull has 160 mg in 16 fl oz., and an average cup of coffee (8 oz) has ~95 mg.

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While that is technically below the recommended caffeine total if you only have one cup, the issue comes with the fact that a) it is still a large amount of caffeine served in a way that people don't expect and b) Sip Club Members can have an unlimited amount, so many people were consuming far more than the recommended caffeine intake.

Why It's Being Removed

How does that large amount of caffeine affect consumers? It can kill them, according to two lawsuits. A 21-year-old and a 46-year-old both suffered cardiac arrest after consuming the drinks, with the caffeine intake being deemed the trigger for the attacks.

Panera has tried making changes to the nutrition facts and way the drink is advertised following the lawsuits but has ultimately announced it will just remove the drink entirely from stores. It really is for the best to just completely remove it before it can cause more issues.