If you’re tired of researching dog food brands, don’t worry, you’re not alone. In the last 20 years, several new dog food manufacturers have entered the market to compete in the premium product category. Although the number of producers can make your search more time-consuming, the diversity of options gives you more freedom in choosing what your dog consumes. Now, you don’t have to rely on the pet store or market to stock the recipes your dog prefers. By enrolling in a dog food subscription service, you can receive high-quality meals delivered to your door.

Like delivery services for humans, the pet food delivery companies are proliferating at a time when home delivery is becoming more of an essential factor rather than a perk. We picked two of the top pet food services, Nom Nom and Spot and Tango, and performed an in-depth analysis with product reviews to make your online shopping a little less complicated. Several new pet food services pop up every year, but we feel Nom Nom and Spot and Tango are your best options.

A Sneak Peek at the Winner: Nom Nom

Both Nom Nom and Spot and Tango are excellent services, but we made Nom Nom our overall winner. Although it doesn’t include a dry food option like Spot and Tango, Nom Nom has a more varied fresh menu and even lets you try sample packs of different recipes before committing to the monthly subscription. We liked their Turkey Fare dog food for its high protein/low-fat recipe and blend of fresh vegetables. Like their other recipes, the Turkey Fare looks like a meal fit for a human.

Both companies have similar systems for placing orders, but Nom Nom is more flexible about the delivery schedule, and their customer service department is more responsive and quicker to remedy complaints.

About Nom Nom

Founded in 2014 in San Francisco, Nom Nom has kitchens in Nashville, Tennessee. The company’s meals were formulated by a group of board-certified veterinarians and nutritionists who oversee the recipes’ development and ensure the meals are nutritionally balanced. Unlike the massive commercial pet food companies, Nom Nom slow-cooks their meals to ensure the nutrition is not cooked out. They make their recipes in small batches and then portion them for each order.

Delivery Options

One of the factors that set Nom Nom apart from the competition is its ordering system. It’s one of the few companies that offers a sample pack of four recipes without a subscription. After sampling the meals, you can choose to receive a package every two weeks or every week.

Shipping is free, and you can choose to have two recipes sent for an additional fee, or one meal sent every period for the standard price. If you want to alternate recipes for different deliveries, you don’t have to pay extra.

Price

The weight, age, and nutritional requirements of your dog will ultimately determine the price. Nom Nom is more expensive than commercial dog food, but it’s similar in pricing to most delivery services. However, it’s cheaper than Spot and Tango, even with the additional fee for two recipes.

Packaging

Nom Nom uses recyclable materials in all its packaging. The pre-portioned vacuum-sealed packs are simple to open and pour, and you can throw the wrapping and boxes in the recycle bin. After rinsing the insulation liner, you can compost it.

Ingredients

Nom Nom uses restaurant-quality ingredients in its recipes. All their meals are gluten-free and non-GMO, and the food retains its nutritional value due to the low-temperature cooking process.

The locally sourced premium meat and vegetables make extraordinary-looking pet food. Spot and Tango’s meals also look good, but Nom Nom’s food really does look like it was prepared for a human rather than a dog.

Customer Approval

Nom Nom has a high approval rating from its customers, and most dog owners are happy that their pups go crazy for the freshly made food. If you have a concern or need to change the number of calories, protein, or fat content in each meal, you can reach out by email or talk to a human representative for free. They’re available to answer questions Monday-Friday and have reduced hours on Saturday. Unlike Spot and Tango, they have a customer service number that is not bot-operated.

About Spot and Tango

Spot and Tango was founded in 2013, and it was one of the first companies to offer pet delivery services. It’s based in New York and uses locally-sourced fruit, vegetables, and meat in its recipes. Spot and Tango prepares slow-cooked meals in small batches and sends them to your door only days after they are cooked. Unlike Nom Nom, they also offer a dry food option called UnKibble. They use eco-friendly packaging in their products and strive to reduce overall waste in their operation.

Delivery Options

Spot and Tango ships their fresh product every 2 weeks, and you can choose any three recipes at no additional charge. If you’re interested in adding their UnKibble line of dry food to your order, it will come to your house every 4 weeks. When you have several dogs with differing tastes and preferences, Spot and Tango is a great choice. You can choose alternate recipes and give your pups more variety in their options. To ensure their food stays fresh in transport, Spot and Tango only ships to the contiguous United States.

Price

Spot and Tango’s prices will vary depending on your dog’s stats, but the service is a bit more expensive than its competitors. The option of choosing from three recipes is helpful, but each recipe is priced differently. Turkey and Red Quinoa is the least expensive meal, and the Lamb and Brown Rice is the priciest. If you alternate your meals every week, you’ll pay a different price for every order. Generally, all fresh dog food is more expensive than commercial wet food, but you can keep your costs lower with Spot and Tango by choosing a meal that your dog enjoys and supplementing your order with UnKibble dry food. Spot and Tango’s dry food is not as nutritionally balanced as their fresh meals, but it’s an excellent option for pups that like dry kibble.

Packaging

Spot and Tango is passionate about reducing waste and minimizing its environmental footprint. Their packaging is biodegradable and eco-friendly. Compared to other food delivery services, including Nom Nom, Spot and Tango’s meals are better insulated and protected during delivery. The vacuum-sealed meals are packed in a separate box and then covered with an insulation liner and protected with an exterior box. This air gap between the meals and the box insulates the food and keeps it cooler during delivery.

Ingredients

Like Nom Nom, Spot and Tango produces their gourmet meals in a USDA-approved facility. They source their ingredients from local meat and produce farmers, and they only make small batches to ensure your food is as fresh as possible. Spot and Tango only uses natural ingredients in its meals, and you can see the results in the meals’ attractive appearance. They use whole meat products rather than byproducts or meat filler, and they don’t process their fruits and vegetables into tiny pieces. If you examine their Lamb and Brown Rice meal, you’ll see large chunks of meat and whole, fresh blueberries.

Customer Approval

Spot and Tango customers are happy with the quality and variety of their menu, and most canines seem to enjoy the tasty meals. If you check Spot and Tango’s website, you’ll only find five-star reviews. Every customer raves about their food, but it’s strange that no one seemed to have issues with the company. After searching through other product review sites, you can find several angry comments about the company’s customer service. Many dog owners were outraged that they could not speak to a human about a delivery issue. Customer service is handled with emails, and you may have to wait a few days for a response to a complaint.

The 3 Most Popular Nom Nom Dog Food Recipes

1. Turkey Fare

Nom Nom’s Turkey Fare is the company’s highest rating offering. It contains ground turkey and eggs for healthy proteins and a nice blend of carrots, spinach, fish oil, and other essential vitamins and nutrients. It has 37.6% protein and less fat than the other recipes. Although it’s not entirely grain-free, the brown rice in the recipe is a healthy source of carbs for your pet. Compared to most premium dog food, the Turkey Fare truly looks like a meal fit for humans, and dogs seem to like it too.

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2. Beef Mash

Made from high-quality ground beef, the Beef Mash includes eggs, carrots, and peas. It has added taurine to prevent a taurine deficiency that could lead to dilated cardiomyopathy. It also contains essential vitamins like vitamin B12, vitamin B1, and vitamin D3. Although it uses real russet potatoes in lieu of using a cheap powdered filler, some dog owners question the reasoning behind including potatoes at all.

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3. Chicken Cuisine

With diced chicken, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, and spinach, Nom Nom’s Chicken Cusine is packed with minerals and essential vitamins. It has fewer carbohydrates than its other recipes, but it also has more fat than other offerings. Fish oil and sunflower oil are excellent sources of omega fatty acids to promote a healthy and shiny coat.

The 3 Most Popular Spot and Tango Dog Food Recipes

1. Beef and Millet

 

Spot and Tango’s Beef and Millet meal uses USDA beef as its source of protein and includes an appetizing blend of millet, cranberries, spinach, carrots, peas, vegetable stock, and a natural blend of minerals and vitamins. It’s high in protein, but it’s a little higher in fat and carbs than its other recipes. The inclusion of millet means that the food is not technically grain-free, but the millet provides iron, B vitamins, and phosphorus and is not known to affect allergy-prone canines.

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2. Turkey and Red Quinoa

 

Spot and Tango’s Turkey Red Quinoa is the least expensive menu option, and it has the highest level of protein (43.4%) of any other recipe. The meal includes turkey, eggs, red quinoa, spinach, carrots, peas, apple, and sunflower oil. It’s also supplemented with Spot and Tango’s proprietary blend of vitamins and minerals. It’s low in fat and suitable for mature canines that require more protein and nutrients than fat.

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3. Lamb and Brown Rice

If your dog has allergies to poultry or beef, Spot and Tango’s Lamb and Brown Rice is an excellent option. The recipe is high in protein, low in carbs, and loaded with whole pieces of blueberries, lamb, egg, parsley, and brown rice. It has a higher fat content than the other recipes, and it costs more than the turkey or beef meals.

Recall History of Nom Nom and Spot and Tango

According to our research, Spot and Tango do not have a history of recalls. However, Nom Nom voluntarily announced its first-ever cat food recall in 2021. A possible listeria contamination caused its primary supplier, Tyson Foods Inc., to recall the affected Nom Nom cat food, Chicken Cuisine, produced between March–May 2021.

Nom Nom vs Spot and Tango Comparison

We’ve discussed the merits of Nom Nom and Spot and Tango and looked at the companies’ operations, but let’s compare them side to side to get an idea of which service fits your needs. Although both services have pros and cons, your puppy will benefit from using either brand. Commercial pet food companies use high-temperature processing techniques to produce their products, but Spot and Tango and Nom Nom slow-cook their meals to preserve the food’s nutrition.

Ingredients

Nom Nom and Spot and Tango depend on local farmers and producers for their ingredients. Their recipes are formulated by certified veterinarians and nutritionists. If you look at other pet food delivery services and compare their meals to Spot and Tango’s and Nom Nom’s, you’ll notice how much more appetizing the companies’ meals are to their competitors. Nom Nom wins the award for the most human-like recipes, but Spot and Tango is a close second.

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Price

If you have a small dog that prefers the same recipe every week, the cost of services from both companies is about the same. Nom Nom’s base prices are the same for their meals, but each product from Spot and Tango is a different price. Spot and Tango’s Lamb and Brown Rice is suitable for dogs with poultry or beef sensitivities, but you’ll pay much more per order than other recipes. Overall, Nom Nom is a more affordable option.

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Selection

Nom Nom offers one more freshly made food option than Spot and Tango, but Spot and Tango also feature three dry food meals. If you want two different recipes in your Nom Nom delivery, you have to pay an extra fee, but you can choose any combination of products for free with Spot and Tango. However, since each recipe is priced differently, your bill will fluctuate depending on your chosen meals.

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Additional Products

If you want to give your canine some healthy treats, you can order Spot and Tango’s Yam Yums, Chicken Munchies, or Nom Nom’s Chicken Jerky and Beef Sirloin Jerky. Dog owners have reacted positively to both companies’ treats, but Nom Nom’s jerky treats are higher in protein and more substantial than Spot and Tango’s products.

Unlike Spot and Tango, Nom Nom offers probiotic supplements and a probiotic testing kit. You can take a stool sample from your pup and send it to Nom Nom for analysis. After the sample is examined, the company will suggest changes to your meal plan to maintain your dog’s digestive health.

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Ordering Process

Customers seem impressed with both companies’ online ordering platforms. With either company, you can easily make changes to your plan online, but Nom Nom appears to be quicker to respond to concerns than Spot and Tango.

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Customer Service

Spot and Tango’s customer service is one of the few drawbacks of using the company. Some customers were charged automatically for a delivery when they claimed they never agreed to the automatic renewal, and others were dismayed that they waited several days to hear back from Spot and Tango. Both companies have money-back guarantees, but the warranty does not apply to opened packages. If you break the vacuum seal on either company’s meals, you cannot receive a refund.

Nom Nom has a much smoother customer service system, and you can contact a human with any concerns. If you want to change your dog’s recipe, you can speak to a company technician who will modify the meal before the next delivery. Ordering online is convenient and less time-consuming than talking to a person, but it’s nice to have the option to speak to a knowledgeable employee when you have problems with the delivery.

Conclusion

Nom Nom and Spot and Tango are two of the highest-rated pet food delivery services, but Nom Nom takes the top price. It’s more affordable than Spot and Tango, and its visually stunning meals seem more suited for the dinner table than the kitchen floor. If you’re looking for a mix of dry food and fresh wet food, Spot and Tango may be for you. They have three different UnKibble flavors and three fresh meals.

Nom Nom does not carry dry food, but their treats are packed with more protein and nutrition than Spot and Tango’s products. For pet owners with dogs, Nom Nom is the clear choice.  Also, Nom Nom’s line of probiotic treatments and testing kits display the company’s commitment to maintaining your puppy’s health. Although Spot and Tango and Nom Nom are exceptional services, we suggest trying Nom Nom for the best prices and high-quality customer service.

• See also: 10 Important Tips for Hiking With Small Dogs & What to Bring