In early May, Panera Bread confirmed it was , a buzzy line of caffeinated drinks at the center of lawsuits filed against the restaurant chain. The drinks first drew attention via influencer Sarah Baus, who about her dining experience at Panera one afternoon. Baus claimed she unknowingly drank “four or five” highly-caffeinated Charged Lemonades.
The TikToker assumed the drinks had a “normal amount of caffeine.” While Baus came out of her experience with millions of TikTok views, some others were not so fortunate, according to a suite of lawsuits hitting the bread-based chain. Panera’s souped-up refreshers contained 155 — 302 milligrams of caffeine (depending on serving size and flavor, according to Panera) skirting quite close to the of 400 milligrams per day.
According to a Panera spokesperson at the time, the chain would be pivoting to “low sugar and low-caffeine” offerings. The representative declined to comment on whether any of the lawsuits directly caused the drink’s discontinuation. In October 2023, parents of University of Pennsylvania student Sarah Katz against Panera alleging their daughter died as a result of consuming Charged Lemonade.
The suit noted that Katz had a preexisting heart condition and limited her caffeine consumption because of it. According to the suit, Katz purchased one of the drinks on Sept. 10, 2022, from a Panera Bread in Philadelphia, went into cardiac arrest and died hours later.
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