Pet food best-by dates: a FEFO routine for small pet stores

Every pet store owner has found it: the bag of kibble pushed to the back of the shelf, three months past its date, behind the delivery that came in last week. It is not one bag. Across a year, short-dated and expired stock is one of the quiet ways a small store loses money.

The fix is not complicated. It is a routine: capture the date once, sell oldest first, look ahead every week, act early.

What does the date on a pet food bag mean?

Most pet food carries a “best by” or “best before” date set by the manufacturer. It is about quality and nutrient levels, not a strict safety cut-off. In the US, the FDA regulates pet food labelling (FDA pet food guidance, checked 18 October 2026); requirements differ in other countries.

Stores still treat it as the sell-by limit, for two reasons:

1. Customers check it. A bag near its date looks like old stock.
2. Suppliers accept returns only before it — if they accept them at all.

Step 1 — Capture the date once, at delivery

The moment to record a date is when the stock arrives, not when you do a count months later.

• For each line on the delivery, record the lot number and best-by date.
• One case usually shares one lot; you type the date once per line.
• In GetPetStorePOS you do this while receiving the purchase order; the software then keeps quantities per lot.

Tip: imported food in the UAE and Pakistan often arrives with less shelf life left after shipping and customs. Check the date before you sign for it.

Step 2 — Sell first-expiry-first-out

FIFO (first in, first out) assumes deliveries arrive in date order. They don’t always. A distributor can send a newer lot one week and an older lot the next. FEFO — first-expiry-first-out — sells the soonest date first.

On the shelf, that means older lots at the front. In the software, it means each sale takes stock from the lot with the earliest date, so your records match what should be leaving the shelf. When the report and the shelf disagree, you know someone shelved the new delivery in front.

Step 3 — Look ahead every week

Run a stock-expiry report every week, same day, same person.

Category	Look-ahead window
Dry food, treats	60 days
Wet food (cans, pouches)	30–60 days
Fresh, frozen, raw	14 days
Supplements, medicines	60–90 days
Fish food, flakes	30 days

The report lists each lot, its date, how many are on hand and their value. That number — the value of stock expiring in the next 60 days — is worth watching month by month.

Step 4 — Act before the date

Short-dated stock is not waste yet. Options, in order of how much money they save:

1. Return or credit — if your supplier accepts returns, claim early; most require it well before the date.
2. Feed it into subscriptions — repeat orders for that food will use it up at full price within weeks. See pet food subscriptions.
3. Endcap and bundle — “buy a 30 lb bag, get the short-dated 4 lb bag at half price”.
4. Staff and rescue — donate to a shelter before the date; some stores get a receipt for tax purposes (check locally).
5. Write off — record it as a stock adjustment with the reason “expired”, so the loss shows in your reports.

Step 5 — Learn from the report

After two or three months, patterns appear:

• A flavour that always ends up short-dated → order smaller quantities.
• A supplier whose stock always arrives close to date → raise it with them.
• A category with repeated write-offs → shorter look-ahead window, or stop stocking it.

A 15-minute Friday routine

1. Open the stock-expiry report (60-day window).
2. Pull the bags due in the next 14 days to the endcap.
3. Email returns to suppliers for anything eligible.
4. Note the total value — is it going down?

That is it. Within a quarter, the value on that report should be trending down — if it is not, the ordering quantities are the next thing to look at.

GetPetStorePOS tracks lots and best-by dates in every plan — see expiry date tracking.