Report: Circle K offers a drink a day – for a monthly fee

Convenience-store retailer Circle K is  rolling out a new beverage subscription offering called “Sip & Save.”

 Circle K's U.S. customers can pay a monthly fee of $5.99 to receive one free coffee, tea, slushy, or fountain soda beverage of their choice per day, reported CNBC. Reportedly, the retailer planned to introduce the program in the United Stated in 2020, but delayed it due to COVID-19 related store closures and traffic declines.

Circle K has been testing its new beverage subscription program at more than 100 stores in Georgia and South Carolina during the past three months, with pilot results indicating increases in return visit rates for members that beat projections.

Currently, Circle K plans to run Sip & Save nationally for 90 days. However, the retailer may continue the program if its produces positive results. Casual food service retailer Panera introduced an unlimited monthly coffee subscription plan, “MyPanera+Coffee,’ in 2019. While the cost is higher than that of Circle K’s program at $8.99 per month, members can receive a free beverage every two hours instead of once per day. 

“We really see this an opportunity to drive traffic at a time that people are just starting to come out of the understandable cocoons that they’ve been in for the last 12-plus months,” Kevin Lewis, chief marketing officer of Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard, told CNBC.

Canadian convenience retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard operates close to 14,500 Circle K stores in the U.S., Canada and 23 other countries.