Four alternative free coffee schemes as Pret ditches subscription perks – from Leon to Starbucks
COFFEE lovers are threatening to leave Pret’s paid-for loyalty scheme after the chain changed its terms.
If you enjoy treating yourself to a hot or iced beverage most days, you might find you’d now be better off taking your loyalty elsewhere.
Club Pret’s £30 a month subscribe and save worked out as up to five drinks every day for just £1.
From September, the cost of the scheme is falling to £10 a month which would work out as roughly 33p a day. But you now have to pay half the cost of your drink of choice.
If you buy a hot drink at £3 a go. You’d pay £1.50, plus the 33p in membership working out at £1.75 for one coffee.
If you ordered another four on the same day, it would cost another £6 working out at a total of £7.75 for five drinks in one day.
To soften the blow, Pret has reduced the price of its no frills filter coffee to 99p, down from £1.80.
But those who enjoy a drink with the added extras could find that other coffee chains are now a better deal. We look at what is on offer…
Leon Roast Rewards
You can sign up to chain Leon’s Roast Rewards for £25 a month and, as with Pret’s original offer, get five barista-made drinks a day.
This works out at roughly 83p a day for five drinks – definitely not a bad deal if you’re buying even one coffee every day.
Under the terms of the off membership, you can only buy one drink every hour. So you can’t get a free drink for you and a pal at the same time.
As part of the scheme, you also get 20% off breakfast and the all day food menu.
There are branches of Leon across the country, you can find your nearest through the find Leon tool on the website.
Starbucks
You can join Starbucks membership for free – a no brainer if you’re regularly getting drinks there.
Customers get three stars for each partial £1 spent, then a free drink when they get 150 stars. It means spending around £50.
For a £2.95 small latte, it means buying 17 small lattes to get a free one.
Taking a leaf out of airline loyalty programs, Starbucks has a “gold level”.
This is reached once you have collected 450 stars – after spending £84.
It lets you claim perks like extra shots, dairy-free milks and whipped cream for free.
There is also a drink on the house for your birthday.
How it works:
- £1 spent = three stars (includes partial pounds spent), 150 stars = free drink
- Small latte cost: £2.95
- Number of drinks to hit target: 17
- Cost for a ‘free’ coffee: £50.15
- Reusable cup bonus: 25p off
Caffe Nero
Every drink gets you a reward stamp in your Caffe Nero app which is also free.
You get an extra one if you bring your own cup.
Every nine stamps is a free drink.
So, take your reusable cup and you get a free latte, cappuccino, flat white or whatever your chosen caffeine is after paying for just four and a half.
With a small latte costing £3.50, that is a free one after spending £31.50.
Go green with a reusable cup and it is half that, so just £15.75.
How it works:
- One drink purchased = one stamp, nine stamps = free drink
- Small latte cost: £3.50
- Number of drinks to hit target: Nine
- Cost for a ‘free’ coffee: £31.50
- Reusable cup bonus: Yes, one extra stamp
Costa
Costa also runs a free loyalty scheme but also changed the terms last August
Customers must now buy an extra two coffees to get a free one at Costa, meaning you’ll get a freebie after buying ten, rather than eight.
As with Nero, you get an extra stamp for a reusable cup.
Stamps can be collected in any of the chain’s 2,800 coffee shops, as well as around 12,000 machines in petrol stations and convenience stores.
How it works:
- One drink purchased = one bean, 10 beans = free drink
- Small latte cost: £3.50
- Number of drinks to hit target: ten
- Cost for a ‘free’ coffee: £35
- Reusable cup bonus: Yes, one extra bean