Einstein Bros. Bagels sells any-size iced coffee for $1.99 this summer
Einstein Bros. Bagels put any-size iced coffee at $1.99, adding a $1 cold foam upsell as summer beverage wars push coffee into a traffic driver.
Einstein Bros. Bagels went straight at the summer beverage price fight with a simple headline: any-size iced coffee for $1.99. The limited-time offer, announced June 10, 2026, was built to meet shoppers where they are, with rising demand for cold drinks and less appetite for paying premium prices every morning.
The deal was broad enough to catch almost any order. Customers could choose vanilla, caramel, chocolate, or classic iced coffee, and the price stayed the same whether they ordered a small cup or the largest size. Einstein Bros. also set a clear upsell with $1 cold foam on any beverage, including iced coffees and Juice Refreshers, keeping the base offer cheap while nudging the ticket higher at the register.
Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Serrano framed the move as a response to consumer pressure, and the strategy fits the way coffee is being sold this summer: less as a luxury and more as a traffic driver. When a bagel chain hangs its pitch on $1.99 iced coffee, it is not just chasing caffeine sales. It is trying to pull customers in for breakfast sandwiches, lunch, sweets, espresso, and catering once they are already inside.
That is where the broader company structure matters. Einstein Bros. described itself as America’s largest retail bagel chain, and Panera Brands said the platform was formed in 2021 and includes Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee, and Einstein Bros. Bagels. Panera Brands said it now has nearly 4,000 locations and 120,000 associates, scale that makes a national iced-coffee promotion easier to push across a wide network.
Einstein Bros. said it had 689 U.S. locations as of March 27, 2024, across 44 states and territories, giving the $1.99 offer a footprint that reaches well beyond a single market. The chain has also been leaning on short-run promotions elsewhere this spring, including a Hot Honey menu in March 2026 and a free bagel-and-shmear offer for teachers and nurses on May 11, 2026.
Serrano joined Einstein Bros. Bagels as chief marketing officer effective August 12, 2025, after stops at Burger King, Taco Bell, Dole, Kraft, and DIG Inn. Her latest move shows how aggressively non-coffee-first chains are using iced coffee to compete for summer beverage traffic, and how a cheap cup can say as much about margin pressure as it does about thirst.
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