Adelaide cafe chain launches Netflix-like coffee subscription service for customers

A new coffee subscription program sweeping Adelaide will allow regular customers an unlimited caffeine hit for a weekly fee, similar to a streaming subscription model.

Nick Young, owner of Unley Social, which has implemented a coffee subscription scheme. Picture: Dean Martin

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In what is thought to be a first for Australia, a collection of Adelaide cafes have begun offering coffee subscriptions akin to Netflix for their regular customers.

For $13 a week or $50 a month, patrons of the Social Coffee cafes Unley Social, Gilbert Social, and Please Say Please receive a coffee or coffee-adjacent drink on each visit.

Notably, there is no limit on how many coffees customers can claim per day, and no restrictions on milk used or cup sizes.

Food, retail products, and alcohol served in the cafes are not included in the service, which rolled out in the three cafes over the weekend.

The initiative was started to create a more accessible cafe experience for the community, Unley Social owner Nick Young said.

For $13 a week, regular customers will be able to have as many coffees as they like, the only catch being one per visit. Picture: Dean Martin

“We’ve always been in coffee to connect with our customers,” he said.

“And this is one way that we do that.”

“They pay once now and then they can come as much as they’d like and bring a friend and hopefully have a great time and enjoy the space.”

He said since the subscription service’s launch, the community response had been “very positive”, with more than 200 customers signing up.

“Nine out of 10 people love it, and the few people that don’t like it only don’t like it because they’re worried that we’re going to lose money,” Mr Young said.

He told The Advertiser the next three months will act as a trial period, and that the business would just “see how it plays out”.

“I’ve never heard of anybody doing it before.”

“It’s very early, of course, to see if it is going to work for us and what the ramifications will be.”

Mr Young founded the Social Coffee brand, which also includes a coffee roasting operation in the Adelaide Hills, with partner Emma Roberts, opening their first cafe in February 2023.

“We opened one community cafe and got a little carried away and had a good time, and thought we’d open some others and start roasting our own coffee.”

The move to start the subscription service comes as coffee prices across SA look set to skyrocket as a result of the cost of living crisis.

In January, it was reported the cost of a regular flat white could soon set South Aussies back more than $7 per cup.

Originally published as Adelaide cafe chain launches Netflix-like coffee subscription service for customers