Scout’s Table cut every price by 20% on 5 October, and you asked whether to follow. Don’t. Three brands already fight over small dogs for a few cents a day. Nobody sells fresh food that a big-dog household can afford, and that is where your cancellations come from.
a day separates the three cheapest plans for a 20 lb dog. That fight is already a price war.
a day is the cheapest fresh plan for a 90 lb dog. That is $269 a month.
of the subscribers you lost in the last year had a dog over 60 lb.
Four rivals and you, with the review score each has earned out of 5.
The biggest of the five. Cut every price by 20% on 5 October.
Good at: Getting a first order. 60% off the first box, ads everywhere, and an app that skips a delivery in two taps.
Bad at: Only four recipes. Leaking packs come up in 42 of the 300 reviews we read.
Frozen tubs in 1,900 grocery stores. No subscription.
Good at: Being tried. Anyone can pick up one tub with the weekly shop and see if the dog eats it.
Bad at: No portions worked out for your dog, and stores run out. Big-dog owners say they empty the shelf.
The premium one. Recipes by vet nutritionists, sold through 600 clinics.
Good at: Trust. The highest score of the five, and prescription diets nobody else has.
Bad at: Price, a five-to-seven-day wait for delivery, and no way to pause a plan online.
Cooked pouches that keep in a cupboard. No freezer needed.
Good at: Cheap to ship, so it was the cheapest for a mid-size dog until October.
Bad at: Owners don’t count it as fresh, and it sells nothing for a dog over 70 lb.
Nine recipes, and the only one of the five that also bakes a dry food.
Good at: Choice. Reviewers praise your menu more than any rival’s, and dogs that refuse other brands eat yours.
Bad at: Price. Only Oat & Antler costs more, at every size, and you have no smaller plan to fall back on.
Per day, full fresh plan, adult dog, before any first-box discount.
| Brand | 20 lb dog | 50 lb dog | 90 lb dog | First box |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scout’s Table | $2.60 | $5.28 | $8.96 | 60% off |
| Bowlful | $2.85 | $6.10 | $10.90 | In stores |
| Larder Dog | $2.98 | $5.40 | None | 30% off |
| Hearth & Hound | $3.40 | $6.90 | $11.60 | 50% off |
| Oat & Antler | $4.60 | $8.90 | $14.80 | 20% off |
Lowest price in each column in bold. Until 5 October, Scout’s Table charged $3.25, $6.60 and $11.20.
Everyone prices by the pound of dog. A 90 lb dog costs between 3.2 and 3.8 times what a 20 lb dog costs, at every brand that will feed one. So the small-dog buyer has three near-identical offers to choose from, and the big-dog buyer has a bill.
What it costs to feed a 90 lb dog for a day, from your own dry food up to the dearest fresh plan.
Owners of big dogs try fresh food, see the bill, and go back to dry. Your own records say so: 2,173 of the 5,300 subscribers you lost between November 2025 and October 2026 had a dog over 60 lb, and 1,390 of them gave price as the reason.
Three moves, in the order we’d make them.
A 20% cut takes about $6.5 million a year off revenue and still leaves you 24 cents a day above Scout’s Table for a 50 lb dog. You would be paying to come second.
18,400 subscribers × $148 a month × 12 × 20% = $6,535,680. Your $6.90 less 20% is $5.52, against their $5.28.
Half fresh, half your baked food, for dogs over 60 lb. It costs what a 50 lb dog’s full plan costs today, and $2.06 less than the cheapest fresh plan a big-dog owner can buy. Offer it first to the 2,173 you lost. If one in four comes back, that is about 540 subscribers and $1.4 million a year.
540 × $6.90 × 365 days = $1,359,990.
A new small-dog subscriber cost you $58 a year ago and $94 in October. Spend that third on owners of large breeds. We found no ad from any of the four aimed at them in October.
Approve a 90-day pilot of the big-dog plan, starting Monday 11 January 2027.
How we got these numbersAll gathered between 2 and 13 November 2026.
PricesFrom each brand’s website on Monday 9 November, for an adult dog of normal activity.
Strengths and weaknesses1,500 public reviews, 300 a brand, posted August to October 2026 and tagged by hand. We also ordered a first box from each.
Subscribers and ad costsHearth & Hound’s own data, November 2025 to October 2026.