Waitrose is bringing back free coffee for all loyalty scheme members, even for those who have not made a purchase, in a bid to offer more “flexibility”.

As of January 27 My Waitrose members who provide a reusable cup can get one complimentary hot drink per day with no purchase needed, the BBC reported.

The free coffee initiative was originally rolled out in 2013, however in 2017, it required customers to shop in-store for the freebie and during the early months of Covid, the offer was stopped entirely.

This was slowly brought back for My Waitrose members who made a purchase; however, the scheme will now be available to all loyalty card holders regardless of whether they are shopping or not.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

A Waitrose spokesperson told the title that the move comes “in response to customer feedback”.

“Some of our members like to have their free coffee before or during their shop, rather than afterwards, so we are just offering a bit of flexibility,” they added.

The move to reintroduce the free coffee initiative comes despite the upmarket grocer having ditched its free newspaper vouchers for loyal shoppers in October, as it instead said it looked to “invest in rewards that benefit all members”.

However, the scrapping of newspaper offer, which was retired in February 2022 after it was only being used by 5% of customers and had been retained for a small number as a “goodwill gesture”, received backlash online.

At the time, one shopper posted to X: “Middle class disaster – Waitrose is going to stop offering free copies of The Times when you shop there.”