Pay-Per-Chew: More Restaurants Try Subscription Programs

Consumers are willing to pay monthly subscription fees for streaming services, pet food, and even toilet paper. And now some restaurants are banking on doing the same with their favorite dishes.

Major chains such as Panera and PF Chang’s, as well as local hangouts, are increasingly experimenting with a subscription model to ensure consistent revenue and customer traffic. Some offer unlimited drinks or free shipping for a monthly fee; others will bring your favorite snack every time you visit.

They’re following a trend: The average American juggled 6.7 subscriptions in 2022, up from 4.2 in 2019, according to Rocket Money, a personal finance app.

“It’s just another way for customers to show support, joy and love for our offerings,” said Matt Baker, chef at Gravitas, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Washington.

For $130 a month, Gravitas Supper Club members get a three-course takeaway meal for two. Baker said Gravitas switched to takeaway food during the pandemic but saw demand plummet as soon as the canteen reopened. The Supper Club, which serves about 60 members per month, supports this income.

Upscale Chinese chain PF Chang’s has also seen an opportunity to boost takeout orders thanks to a subscription plan launched in September. For $6.99 per month, members get free shipping, among other perks.

Other restaurants are experimenting with memberships that allow diners to pre-pay per visit.

There are 26 Take-Care-Of-Me members at El Lopo in San Francisco. They pay either $89/month for $100 loans or $175/month for $200 loans. When the members arrive, El Lopo starts bringing their favorite foods. On each visit, they can give a free drink to any visitor to the bar.

El Lopo owner Daniel Azarkman founded the club in March 2021 to encourage patrons to return after the pandemic has eased. Now he is getting messages from restaurants across the country who are interested in starting similar programs.

“What it really achieves is that they appear more often,” he said.

Rick Camack, executive director of industry relations at the Culinary Education Institute, said he expects many restaurants to offer subscription in the coming years. Consumers are used to them, he says, and regular monthly income helps restaurants manage their cash flow.

But not all subscription programs have been successful. In 2021, On the Border Mexican Grill introduced their Queso Club, which offered free cheese sauce for a year for $1. A year later, the program stopped accepting new subscribers.

Edithann Ramey, director of marketing for On the Border, said more than 150,000 people have signed up for Club Queso, with members visiting seven times as often as the average guest. But the Dallas-based chain didn’t earn enough to cover the cost of the fall.

On the Border is currently retooling the program and plans to re-introduce it later this year. It may charge extra or upgrade to a monthly model, Ramy said, but the subscription element will remain.

“It’s becoming a hot trend and we want to remain a leading brand,” Ramey said.

Taco Bell is also fiddling with their $10 Taco Lover’s Pass, which allows subscribers to get tacos every day for a month. The pass was introduced in January 2022 and again in October; It made a splash, but the chain is trying to come up with ways to make it more valuable to consumers, said Dane Matthews, chief digital officer at Taco Bell. For example, a subscription might promise faster service or unlock unique menu items.

Other restaurants have unsubscribed, saying they have a lot of work to do in the kitchen.

In late 2020, the prestigious Italian restaurant SheWolf in Detroit began sending a box of pastas, sauces and other treats to subscribers for $80 a month. But when his canteen fully opened six months later, it was too much work to collect hundreds of boxes.

However, SheWolf keeps one foot in the subscription space. Dan Reinish, the restaurant’s director of beverages, sends out Italian wines to about 80 subscribers who pay $60 or more each month.

Other companies were more fortunate. At the start of 2020, St. Louis-based Panera’s loyalty program had nearly 40 million members, but the company wanted to encourage them to check in more often. So the company launched a subscription program that offered unlimited coffee and tea for $8.99 a month. Customers began to come several times a week, and about a third of the time they bought food.

Last year, Panera expanded its subscription. Members can now pay $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year for unlimited hot and cold drinks. Yearly subscribers also get free shipping.

Eduardo Luz, Panera’s chief brand and concept director, didn’t give exact numbers, but said members now account for 25% of the network’s transactions.

“That’s huge traffic,” Luz said.

The idea quickly spread abroad. Pret A Manger, a sandwich chain owned by the same private company as Panera, launched its own coffee subscription in the UK in 2020. As of November, it was used 1.2 million times a week. Pret also offers subscriptions in France and the US.

Chris Hosford, a communications consultant based in Southern California, joined Panera’s subscription plan a year ago. On his usual routes, he passes four or five Panniers and often stops for coffee and snacks.

“For me, that’s a small savings—about $5 to $10 a month on average,” Hosford said. “But I can handle it.”