What happens to existing subscriptions if I change my meal plan product?

Renaming, repricing, adding, or deleting variants on your meal plan product never disturbs subscriptions that already exist. Each subscription keeps the size and the price it was created with, keeps being charged on schedule, and keeps receiving its meals. Changes apply to new customers — after you reselect the product in Meal plans and save.

Steps

1. Make your changes to the product in Shopify — add sizes, remove sizes, rename a format, change prices.
2. Open Meal plans in the app, select the product again, and save. This is what tells the app about the new variants; until you do it, new customers still see the old list.
3. Check Max meals selectable for every new variant. A new size starts with no cap until you set one.
4. Existing subscriptions need nothing. Leave them alone unless you want to move customers onto a new size — see below.

Frequently asked questions

If I delete a variant, do the subscriptions on it break?

No. A subscription stores its own copy of the size and price when the customer subscribes, so it keeps charging the same amount on the same day and keeps receiving the same number of meals, even after the variant is gone. The customer notices nothing. The only change is inside Shopify: the meal plan line on their orders no longer links to a product, so Shopify's own reports by product or SKU will not count it. The app's own reports, packing slips, and meal counts are unaffected.

If I change a variant's price, do current subscribers pay the new price?

No. Everyone who already subscribed keeps the price their subscription was created with. The new price applies to customers who subscribe from now on. If you want an existing customer moved to the new price, change their plan on their subscription page.

If I rename a variant, what do existing subscribers see?

The new name. Shopify shows the current variant name on the subscription and on the orders it creates, so renaming '25 meals' to '24 meals' changes the label everywhere — but not the price, and not how many meals the customer actually receives. If you renamed a size because the box itself changed, the customers on it are still on the old box until you change their plan.

Why did all my variant IDs change when I only renamed a format?

Shopify rebuilds every variant of a product when you edit an option's values — so renaming a format like 'Regular' to 'Large' replaces the whole list, even though nothing else changed. Deleting or adding one variant does not do this. It is worth knowing because it is not obvious, but it does not affect existing subscriptions either.

How do I move existing customers onto a new size?

Open the subscription in Subscriptions and use Change next to the plan. Pick the new size and confirm — the next renewal uses it. The customer keeps their delivery day, their menu selections for weeks that are still open, and any discount code on the subscription. If you have many customers to move, contact support and we can do them in one pass.

A size I removed still shows on some subscriptions. Can they stay on it?

Yes, for as long as you like — those subscriptions keep working exactly as they are. Two things to know: nobody new can buy that size, and if one of those customers changes their own plan they cannot pick it again, because it is no longer in the list. If you want them on it permanently, recreate that size on the product and ask support to point their subscriptions at it — nothing changes for the customer.

Do I have to warn customers before changing the product?

Not for renaming, repricing, adding, or removing sizes — none of that changes an existing subscription's price or meal count. You only need to tell customers when you deliberately move them to a different size, because that is when what they pay or what they receive actually changes.