Panera Bread’s charged lemonade leads to the death of two individuals.
The deaths originated with Panera’s initial advertising of their supercharged lemonade. “Online, Panera says its ‘Charged Lemonade’ has a comparable amount of caffeine to its Dark Roast coffee,” says CNN.
In actuality, “the charged lemonade had 390 milligrams of caffeine in it, far more than what can be found in drinks like Monster or Red Bull but was not advertised properly,” (usatoday.com). For comparison, a 20-ounce cup of Cafe Blend Dark Roast Coffee at Panera contains 268 milligrams of caffeine, a can of Red Bull contains 111 milligrams of caffeine and a can of Monster Energy contains 86 milligrams.
Because of this misleading description, 21-year old Sarah Katz drank the high caffeinated drink on September 10, 2022. The drink sent her into cardiac arrest, leading to her death later that day.
Prior to drinking the lemonade, Sarah was cautious of what she consumed and drank given her heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1. She did not think to question what she drank, since the drink advertised itself as “plant based and clean” (usatoday.com).
Instead of taking the charged lemonade off their roster after the incident, Panera changed the description of the lemonade online, “[putting] more detailed disclosures in all of its restaurants and on its website warning customers to consume the Charged Lemonade in moderation, stating that it is not recommended for children, people sensitive to caffeine or pregnant or nursing women” (usatoday.com). Even with this updated information, the supercharged lemonade went on to take another life.
In December of 2023, Dennis Brown passed away after drinking the supercharged lemonade. Similar to Sarah Katz, Dennis was unaware the lemonade contained amounts of caffeine akin to energy drinks due to Panera advertising it as “plant based and clean.” As a result, he went into cardiac arrest.
Despite their lemonade leading to the death of two individuals already, Panera Bread has yet to take their supercharged lemonade off the menu.
