Panera Is Adding New Energy Drinks to Its Menu

In the last few years, plenty of fast food chains have introduced energy drinks to their menus. Panera’s last attempt to do so resulted in several of the highest-profile lawsuits against a restaurant in recent history, after its Charged Lemonades were accused of causing harm and death to multiple customers. 

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Since the drink’s discontinuation in 2024, Panera has steered clear of energy drinks. Now, though, it’s launching its new Energy Refreshers, a lower-caffeine drink that accompanies the release of its new Frescas, which were both tested out late last year. In total, we’ve got four drinks hitting the market – let’s check ‘em out.

New Frescas, New ‘Freshers

Panera’s new drinks are destined to be pretty big this summer, and the chain’s going hard on slightly left-of-center fruit combinations and flavors. In the Energy Refresher corner, we’ve got its Dragonfruit Sunset Energy Refresher and its Passionfruit Paradise Energy Refresher. The former combines pineapple and dragonfruit (which is a big flavor at the moment; Starbucks has its own Dragonfruit and Peach Refresher on its secret menu, alongside its cake batter latte). The former, meanwhile, mixes passionfruit, orange, guava, and pineapple. These Refreshers have just 28 milligrams of caffeine per 20-ounce cup, which is almost a tenth of what the chain’s Charged Lemonades had. 

Then, over in the Fresca camp, Panera’s rolling out a Cherry Lime Fresca and a Strawberry Basil Lemonade Fresca. The first combines cherry and lime; the second combines strawberry, basil, and lemonade. We see you, Panera, we see how you’re not playing games with us here. And we like it. A third Fresca that the restaurant trialled last year, the Pomegranate Hibiscus Fresca, didn’t make it to nationwide status. These two new drinks are caffeine-free, so they’re great any time of the day. Both the Frescas and the Energy Refreshers are available right now. 

What Else Is Going on at Panera?

We’re glad someone’s asking the important questions around here! The chain’s been pretty busy so far this year, having kicked things off with its 2016 throwback menu, designed for all those nostalgia lovers out there (and yes, we’re afraid that 2016 is now considered nostalgic – isn’t that terrifying?). It also recently rolled out its first ever value menu, offering a couple of faves for $5 apiece. 

Alongside these new drinks, Panera’s also hopping on the Dubai chocolate trend with its Dubai Style Chocolate Pistachio Cookies. While these do sound good, we must say that its embrace of this feels a little late; we couldn’t move for Dubai chocolate in 2025, but it kinda seems as though we’re coming to the end of its dominance in food culture. Who knows, maybe Panera will change all that.