Sometimes, traditional dog food just doesn’t cut it — but who has time to try every fresh dog food delivery service on the market?
I do. Finding the best dog food delivery services that meet your dog’s needs can be a challenge, but that’s why you have me.
You may have heard about PetPlate’s fresh dog food delivery service from an episode of Shark Tank. That show really helped the company take off, but is their food high-quality enough to feed Fido?
Given PetPlate’s sparkling online reviews, I decided to take a deeper look at the brand and help pet owners like you decide if their service is right for your dog.
PetPlate shines in two big ways: they have affordable prices and a variety of recipes. Having said that, I think there are probably some better brands out there that are still worth your consideration.
If you read this review and decide to try out PetPlate, make sure to use my link below to get the best deal I know about. I’ll always keep this link up to date.
CLICK HERE: See my best price for PetPlate →Quality
I sampled four recipes from PetPlate: beef, pork, turkey, and chicken. The idea was to inspect and compare each recipe’s appearance, smell, taste, and ingredients so that I could give you the most accurate assessment of their quality.
Appearance
I’ll give PetPlate a thumbs up for appetizing visuals. Across the board, their fresh dog food recipes consistently include giant, appealing chunks of veggies and grains. The meat, however, appears to be ground into a paste-like consistency.
Let’s start by looking at the beef recipe. The vegetables have a pleasant, inviting appearance that you’d expect of fresh dog food. You can easily see whole peas, carrots, and potatoes. But the pasty-textured meat make it visually less tempting than other fresh dog foods.
PetPlate’s pork recipe was a little better. From observation alone, I could tell it includes whole green beans, hearty carrots, and grains resembling buckwheat. Bigger chunks of real pork, too — a step above the gooey meat we saw with the beef.
The turkey recipe comes with vibrant and generous portions of green beans and carrots. Not to mention dark grains of brown rice, which look rather fancy when paired with turkey. Unfortunately, just like the beef recipe, the ground turkey meat has a mashed consistency. Using chopped turkey meat, instead, might have made looking at it more enjoyable.
The chicken dish wasn’t much better. I appreciated the whole green beans and nuggets of sweet potato, but the chicken meat was clearly pureed. Not exactly palatable to the naked eye.
Smell
Thankfully, PetPlate’s recipes smell pretty appetizing.
The beef dish has the light, clean scent of real, fresh beef, with a hint of green peas. There are no off-putting odors.
I couldn’t smell much pork in the pork recipe, but its aromas of green beans and sweet potatoes were evident. Overall, it smells tasty.
The aromas of the turkey recipe are delicious — even savory. However, it stumped my nose. I couldn’t detect which ingredients were responsible for the scents, but smelling it was pleasant nevertheless. If I’m happy to give a try, I think dogs will be, too.
Turns out that PetPlate’s chicken recipe smells like real chicken and freshly chopped green beans. I could also pick up a sugary-like hint of sweet potatoes.
Taste
I’ll be honest. After testing these four dishes from PetPlate, they’re not the best-tasting fresh dog food recipes I’ve tried (and I’ve tried quite a few). But they do have a couple of strengths: palatable textures and the fresh flavor of whole vegetables.
PetPlate’s beef dish definitely tastes like beef, and the veggies give it a robust note of green peas. The pureed beef surprised me. I was concerned it would feel like eating paste, but the texture is pleasing to the tongue.
I was disappointed to discover that the beef recipe’s heavy flavors remind me of regular dog food. In my experience, that can be a sign that the manufacturer is heavy-handed with organ meats. I’m not entirely sure if that’s the case, but the beef still tastes decent.
There’s no denying that I prefer the pork recipe to the beef. I enjoyed the chunky bites of pork, but the chewy grains are what stood out the most. It has too much body to be buckwheat — maybe barley or a similar grain.
The only downside of the pork recipe was the lingering taste it left on my palette. Lingering flavors aren’t common with fresh, human-grade food, so this was another sign that some of PetPlate’s recipes may have more in common with regular dog food.
The turkey dish tastes clean with none of the heavy flavors. Likewise, the texture of the meat and veggies isn’t bad. I’m still not certain where the sweeter flavors are coming from. If it’s not sweet potato, it’s got to be something else.
The chicken recipe’s vegetables have a tasty flavor and texture, and the pureed meat isn’t off-putting. But, similar to the beef recipe, PetPlate’s chicken dish shares some of the heavy flavors of regular dog food.
CLICK HERE: See my best price for PetPlate →Ingredients
PetPlate offers six recipes. I love that, because it’s more than you typically see from other fresh dog food brands. Beef, chicken, turkey, and lamb are their primary menu offerings. They also have two “functional recipes”: pork and venison. The pork recipe is high in protein and fiber. The venison is low in fat, which is allegedly easier for a dog to digest (always check with your veterinarian to confirm).
Board-certified veterinary nutritionists formulate every PetPlate recipe to meet AAFCO standards. PetPlate makes their fresh dog food in USDA kitchens that adhere to the same safety standards as human-grade food.
For those interested in protein, PetPlate’s recipe protein content ranges from about 8% to 11% as fed. This is a typical percentage across most fresh dog food brands.
Protein Content
- Beef 7.9%
- Chicken 10.8%
- Turkey 9%
- Pork 11%
Convenience
Next, let’s talk about the convenience of PetPlate’s subscription plan, shipping speed, and food packaging.
Purchasing
Like most fresh dog food brands, PetPlate requires you to sign up for a subscription. The good news is that it’s very easy to cancel that subscription if you later decide PetPlate’s not right for your pup. Log in to the website and view your account dashboard to cancel your plan with ease.
They do ask a few questions to find out why you’re canceling. However, the cancelation process is still easy, fast, and straightforward.
Shipping
My PetPlate shipping experience was on the slow side.
I placed my order on a Sunday night. It was delivered two Tuesdays later — not reaching my door until a full six business days after I made the purchase.
Most fresh dog food brands have faster shipping. The sole exception (in my experience) was A Pup Above, which took around eight business days. Of course, shipping times will likely vary depending on your location within the United States.
Packaging
The food itself is packaged in 12-ounce (340-gram) containers. This is an ideal size that prevents you from defrosting too much food at once and risking spoilage.
The plastic containers are a nice touch, as well. It makes the food easy to store, quick to open, and generally effortless to work with. I also appreciate that PetPlate puts their nutritional information and ingredients right there on the container.
All you need to do before serving is to defrost the food in the fridge overnight. Once thawed, PetPlate says it’s good in the fridge for up to a week.
They do not recommend leaving the fresh dog food at room temperature any longer than two hours — probably good advice as far as food safety is concerned. I’m surprised I haven’t seen other fresh dog brands recommend the same.
PetPlate also recommends zapping the food in the microwave for 10 to 30 seconds. Their claim is that this helps to bring out the flavors and makes the food more appealing for your dog. Although I didn’t do that myself, it’s definitely another approach you could take.
Cost
How do PetPlate’s costs stack up to other fresh dog food brands?
To keep things fair, I always like to compare the price of fresh dog food on a dollars-per-pound basis. This takes some calculation but is worth it. If you only look at the dollars-per-week or dollars-per-day figures that vendors provide, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison since the amount of food you get from each vendor tends to vary.
My math has PetPlate coming in at about $7/lb.
This is a similar to both The Farmer’s Dog’s and Nom Nom’s pricing. That being said, I think both The Farmer’s Dog and Nom Nom’s food quality is better than PetPlate’s, so it’s worth checking them out too.
Remember, use my link below to get the best deal from PetPlate I know about. I’ll always keep this link up to date.
CLICK HERE: See my best price for PetPlate →Frequently Asked Questions
Is PetPlate successful?
PetPlate might not have gotten a deal on Shark Tank, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t successful today! The founder, Renaldo Webb, says that he took the Shark Tank team’s advice to heart and used it to improve his product and sales methods. Now, according to insidergrowth.com, PetPlate is “extremely successful.”
Is PetPlate human-grade?
Yes. PetPlate is made with human-grade (not feed-grade) ingredients. That means they don’t use leftover parts (intestines, bones, etc.) as filler [1]. Most veterinary nutritionists state that human-grade foods are healthier and overall better for dogs, but always check with your vet to confirm. PetPlate uses human-grade ingredients exclusively.
How long does PetPlate last?
When refrigerated, PetPlate lasts for up to five days. When stored in the freezer, PetPlate products may last for up to one year.
Where is PetPlate made?
PetPlate products are made in upstate New York at a facility that is set up to USDA standards. The facility uses the same protocols as Whole Foods. All of their fresh dog food meets AAFCO standards.
Who owns PetPlate?
Founder Renaldo Webb, who took his product and idea before the Shark Tank panel, still owns PetPlate. Webb founded PetPlate in 2016 and by 2017 the company was nationally recognized. Thanks to the support of so many pet owners across the nation, Webb has enjoyed great success even though his product was not offered a deal on Shark Tank.