Best Friend Club

Best Friend Club is a London dog food brand that sells two complete dry foods for adult dogs, chicken and salmon, made in the UK and delivered on a plan worked out for your dog. You answer ten questions about weight, age, breed and activity, and the quiz sets the portion, the price and how often a bag needs to arrive. A 10kg bag costs £55 (£5.50 a kg) and a 2kg bag £15 (£7.50 a kg), with VAT and UK delivery included. You can start with a 2kg trial for £7.50, which is the first delivery of your plan rather than a separate purchase. The nutrition is advised by a vet who is also a co-founder, and the company commits a share of its profit to dog rescue. It is simple and fairly priced against fresh food, but dearer per kg than you might expect for plain kibble, so read our verdict before you subscribe. Our news story on Best Friend Club covers the launch, the recipes and the rescue pledge.

Best Friend Club price and plans

The per kg column is our own division of the listed prices. Prices include VAT and delivery to UK addresses, and there is no separate delivery charge at checkout. The brand shows four worked plans at list price: a 7kg Jack Russell at 69p a day, a 12kg rescue mix at 98p, an 18kg Border Collie at £1.36 and a 36kg Labrador at £1.96. The price stays the same while your dog’s profile does, and the brand says it will give notice of any general price change. Its terms call the £15 for 2kg the standard price at launch, so check the shop for the current figure.

What is in the food

Both recipes are complete dry foods for dogs of 12 months and over, with 22% protein, 11% crude fat and about 370 kcal per 100g.

• Chicken (369 kcal per 100g): wheat, barley, 17% chicken meal, chicken fat and chicken gravy, with vitamins and minerals.
• Salmon (368 kcal per 100g): wheat, barley, 16% salmon meal, fish oil and salmon gravy, with vitamins and minerals. It also states 0.4% omega 3 and 1.2% omega 6.

The brand’s feeding guide says a 10kg dog needs about 167g of the chicken recipe a day, a 20kg dog about 282g and a 30kg dog about 382g. At that rate one 10kg bag lasts a 10kg dog around 60 days, which is roughly 92p a day at the one-off price. The brand says the food is free from added artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, and that it keeps for 18 months, but you should store an opened bag in an airtight container.

Who the food is not for

This is a plain, grain-containing adult kibble, and the range is deliberately small. There is no puppy food, so the plan is not available for a dog under 12 months. There is no wet food, no senior recipe and no grain-free or novel protein option, and no veterinary diets. If your dog has a medical condition or has been prescribed a diet, stick with your vet’s advice and ask before switching. The quiz will tell you if it cannot make a recommendation.

How the Best Friend Club plan works

After the quiz you choose either to start the full plan straight away or to begin with the 2kg trial. Bags are always whole bags, so if your dog needs less than 2kg a month the brand simply stretches the delivery cycle. Deliveries are timed for when the last bag should be running low, not for a fixed day each month, and you can add a second dog with its own recipe and portion. When two deliveries for the same address fall within seven days, the later one is brought forward so they arrive in one parcel.

The trial needs a careful read. It is the first delivery of your plan, and the brand’s terms say that unless you cancel before the cut-off shown at checkout, the first full order is charged and sent automatically. The brand says it sends a reminder before that date and shows the recurring price, the cycle and the deadline before you pay. If your dog does not take to the food you can switch the next delivery to the other recipe or cancel online.

The rescue pledge and who is behind it

Best Friend Club is run by Best Friends Club Ltd from London and says it is certified by Social Enterprise UK. Its articles of association commit it to giving 10% of operating profits to dog rescue and, if profits are paid out to shareholders, 50% of those distributed profits. Separately, in its first year, while it expects to be loss-making, it says it pays its charity partner Fetcher Dog £500 a month, which is £6,000 over the year. Fetcher Dog is a registered charity (number 1182392) that brings dogs from Bosnia to the UK and rehomes them. The brand’s impact page shows what has been paid so far and says a person updates the figures by hand.

Two points of balance. First, the pledge is a company commitment, and the brand’s terms state that your purchase is not a donation by you to a charity. Second, the brand is new, so there is no long record yet of either the food or the giving. The nutrition is advised by co-founder Lilly Shepherd, a small-animal vet and university lecturer, which is the basis for the “vet-backed” wording. That is useful, but it is one vet with a stake in the company rather than an independent endorsement.

Delivery, cancelling and returns

Best Friend Club delivers across the UK and does not ship abroad. You get tracking by email when the order leaves the warehouse, and the next delivery dates are shown in your account. You can bring a delivery forward, push it back, skip, pause, swap recipe, change the address or cancel from your account, with no fee and no minimum term. The cut-off matters: changes apply to the next order only until it starts being prepared, and after that they apply to the following one. Cancelling stops later orders but may not stop one that is already being packed.

If you change your mind, tell the brand within 14 days of delivery. If the bag is unopened it will explain how to return it, and you then have a further 14 days to send it back for a refund. Once a bag is opened it may not take it back for a change of mind, although faulty, damaged or unsafe food is covered by your normal consumer rights. You can contact the brand at [email protected] or on 020 7131 9234 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Best Friend Club price per kg against other dog food subscriptions

This is where the brand needs scrutiny. Comparing a dry kibble with a fresh food by weight is misleading, because fresh food is mostly water. The fairer measures are the cost per day for the same dog and the cost per 1,000 kcal. These are the figures we found at the last check, and the competitor numbers are list prices that can change.

The Butternut Box figures are third party estimates based on a 124 kcal per 100g recipe, and the brand’s own example plans are £2.90 a day for a 7kg Maltipoo and £3.97 for a 30kg Greyhound, against Best Friend Club’s 69p for a 7kg Jack Russell and £1.96 for a 36kg Labrador. Different dogs, but the gap is wide: for a typical 10kg dog, Best Friend Club costs about 40% of a Butternut Box plan. That is the real selling point. Against other dry foods it is less compelling. Scrumbles lists at £6.00 a kg, so Best Friend Club is a little cheaper, but Tails.com advertises plans from 62p a day with no fixed price, and many mainstream kibbles cost well under £5.50 a kg. The brand’s plan examples sit at or below the one-off per kg price, so the quiz is worth running before you decide.

Is Best Friend Club worth it?

Our honest view: it is a good fit if you want a simple, tidy alternative to fresh food, and a weaker one if you are comparing it with other kibble. At £5.50 a kg the food is not cheap for a wheat and barley recipe with 17% chicken meal. You are paying for the portion planning, the delivery to your door and the rescue commitment, and those have real value for some owners. Free changes and a no-minimum-term plan are fair, and the single clear price is refreshing. The small range, the trial that rolls into a plan, and the lack of any track record are the limits.

Our advice is to run the quiz and compare the plan price with what you pay now. Try the £7.50 trial if your dog is an adult with no special diet, diarise the cut-off date, and keep the cancellation page handy. Only keep the plan if your dog does well on the food and the monthly price beats your current kibble.

Pros

• A clear £55 for 10kg with VAT and UK delivery included
• Far cheaper per day than fresh dog food for a similar sized dog
• Nutrition advised by a practising vet, with full ingredient and analysis details published
• Pause, skip, swap, move or cancel online with no fee and no minimum term
• Rescue giving is written into the company’s articles of association

Cons

• £5.50 a kg is not cheap for a wheat and barley kibble
• Only two adult recipes: no puppy, wet, senior or grain-free food
• The £7.50 trial becomes a plan unless you cancel before the cut-off
• The brand is new, so there is no long-term record on the food or the giving
• Changes cannot be made once an order has started being prepared

Best alternatives to Best Friend Club

• Butternut Box: fresh, gently cooked frozen meals in portioned pouches, much dearer per day but with more variety.
• Scrumbles: a UK family business making dry and wet recipes for dogs and cats.
• Caboodle: dog food in daily boxes, already measured out for your dog.

For more options, browse all our dog subscription boxes.

Best Friend Club FAQ

How much does Best Friend Club cost?

A 10kg bag is £55 and a 2kg bag is £15 as one-off purchases, with VAT and UK delivery included. A plan is priced by the quiz, and the brand’s examples run from 69p a day for a 7kg dog to £1.96 for a 36kg dog.

How much is Best Friend Club per kg?

£5.50 a kg for the 10kg bag and £7.50 a kg for the 2kg bag at list price. The 2kg trial works out at £3.75 a kg.

Does the Best Friend Club trial roll into a subscription?

Yes. The £7.50 trial is the first delivery of your plan, so unless you cancel before the cut-off shown at checkout, the first full order is charged and sent. The brand says it sends a reminder before that date.

How do I cancel Best Friend Club?

Cancel online from your account at any time, with no fee and no minimum term. Cancel before the cut-off for the next order, because an order that has started being prepared may still be sent and charged.

Is Best Friend Club suitable for puppies?

No. Both recipes are for dogs of 12 months and over, and the brand does not yet make puppy food.

Is Best Friend Club vet approved?

The brand says nutrition is advised by its co-founder Lilly Shepherd, a vet, and describes the recipes as vet-backed. That is one vet with a stake in the company, not an independent endorsement.

Where does the Best Friend Club money go?

Its articles of association commit 10% of operating profits and 50% of any distributed profits to dog rescue, and in its first year it says it pays Fetcher Dog £500 a month. Your purchase is not a personal donation.

Does Best Friend Club deliver outside the UK?

No. It delivers across the UK only, and delivery is included in the price.