Pet food and supplies shop

A shop selling imported cat and dog food, litter and accessories. Dry food runs Tk 487 to Tk 1,900 a kg (21-09-2026). Customs duty on pet food is 25%, and demand is still mostly confined to Dhaka.

Last reviewed: 21 September 2026
Version 1

Starting capital: ৳2,00,000 – ৳10,00,000
Manpower: 1 – 4 people
First sale: 15 – 60 days
Break-even: 8 – 36 months
Kind of work: Shop · Medium difficulty

About the business

This is a new trade and still a small one. The stock is almost entirely imported: dry cat and dog food, pouches, litter, toys, harnesses. In the customs tariff, dog or cat food put up for retail sale (HS 2309.10.00) carries 25% customs duty. Importing it requires a Category-2 animal feed licence from the Department of Livestock Services, which publishes the list of holders each financial year. What the retail shop itself needs we could not confirm: BSTI's 315-product mandatory list includes poultry feed (BDS 138:2006) but no pet food. The prices show where the money gets stuck. At a Dhaka shop on 21 September 2026 a 15 kg sack of dry cat food was Tk 7,300 (Tk 487 a kg), 8 kg Tk 5,200 (Tk 650 a kg), 1.2 kg Tk 650 (Tk 542 a kg), 500 g Tk 300 (Tk 600 a kg), and premium grain-free 1 kg Tk 1,900. Cat litter starts at Tk 320 for 4.5 litres, with bentonite at Tk 400-790. A single 15 kg sack locks up seven thousand taka, and the food carries an expiry date, so anything unsold is thrown away rather than marked down forever. A 2023 report put the national market at about Tk 200 crore a year growing more than 20% annually, with one large online shop's sales rising from Tk 10 lakh a month in 2019 to Tk 20-30 lakh. But the customers sit in a handful of Dhaka neighbourhoods, and outside them the demand is thin.

Unit economics

Item	Range	Evidence
Monthly working capital	৳1,00,000 – ৳3,00,000	Editorial estimate
Selling price	৳487 – ৳1,900 / kg	Market quote
Variable cost	৳365 – ৳1,615 / kg	Editorial estimate
Gross margin	15% – 25%	Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue	15 – 60 days	Editorial estimate
Break-even time	8 – 36 months	Editorial estimate
Cash cycle	20 – 90 days	Editorial estimate
Waste / loss	2% – 10%	Editorial estimate
Daily capacity	5 – 20	Editorial estimate

What you need to start

Weighing scales if you sell loose, airtight containers, an expiry register, and a delivery arrangement if you sell online.Equipment
Stock of food, litter and accessories. At ten 15 kg sacks, thirty bags of litter and some pouches and toys, a small shop holds about Tk 1,00,000 at retail prices.Starting stock
Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality. Dhaka North: online application, issued in 3 working days, renewed in 2. Fee set under section 10(4) of the City Corporation Model Tax Schedule 2016; the amount could not be read from our source. Renewed each financial year.Licence
Category-2 animal feed licence from the Department of Livestock Services, needed if you import yourself. The department publishes the list of Category-2 import-export licence holders for each financial year. Whether it is also needed merely to retail could not be confirmed.Licence
Being able to explain which food suits which age and condition: kitten, adult, sterilised, digestive care. Sell the wrong one and the customer does not come back.Skill
An importer or its distributor. Dog or cat food put up for retail sale (HS 2309.10.00) carries 25% customs duty; VAT, AIT and other taxes raise the total incidence further, but that total could not be verified here.Supplier
A dry, cool shop with shelves off the floor. Sacks of food on a damp floor grow mould and attract insects.Workspace

How the work is done

1First check whether there are customers where you are. This trade still runs in a few Dhaka neighbourhoods; density of flats and nearness to a veterinary clinic are what decide it.
2Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality. Dhaka North: online application, 3 working days; renewal 2.
3Settle an importer. To import yourself you need the Department of Livestock Services' Category-2 animal feed licence, and the department publishes the list of holders each financial year. For a small shop it is simpler to buy from a Dhaka importer.
4Check the expiry date on every sack and write in the register when each one runs out. An expired sack is the whole seven thousand taka thrown away.
5In the first consignment take variety in small quantities: not more than two or three big sacks, the rest small packs. Small packs carry a higher price per kg and tie up less money.
6Stock litter and accessories: litter does not expire and neither do toys and harnesses. This is the safe part of the stock.
7Open an online page and arrange delivery. The larger sellers in this trade sell more online than over the counter.
8Keep in touch with the nearby veterinary chamber or animal hospital: the customers for prescription and special-diet food come from there.
9Decide whether to sell loose. Opening a sack and selling by the kilo moves more, but open food spoils faster and the expiry is then on you.
10Go over the shelves every month and find what has not moved in three months. Discount it well before the expiry date, because after that nobody takes it.

Seasons

JanNormal
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HighNormalLow

Where it works well

Strong fitDhaka · Almost the whole trade sits here: the importers, the large online shops and the flat-dwelling families who keep cats and dogs.
PossibleChattogram · A port city where the imports land, with an urban middle class of its own.
PossibleGazipur · Next to Dhaka with new residential areas spreading, and easy to deliver into from a Dhaka shop.
PossibleNarayanganj · A dense town close to Dhaka, within short delivery distance.
PossibleSylhet · A city of families with relatives abroad, where buyers can afford imported food.
Weak fitBogura · The commercial hub of the north, but the market for imported pet food is still small there.
Weak fitKhulna · A divisional city, but the regular buyers of pet food are still few; count them before taking a shop.
Weak fitRajshahi · A divisional city where demand is thin; online delivery from Dhaka still covers most of it.

Risks and cautions

HighSpoilage: The food carries an expiry date and each sack carries a lot of money. A 15 kg sack costs Tk 7,300, and once it expires the whole amount is gone and it cannot even be marked down. For a small shop that takes too many sacks this is the biggest single risk. We could not source any figure for how much stock is actually lost this way.
HighDemand: The customers are still confined to a few Dhaka neighbourhoods. A 2023 report put the whole national market at about Tk 200 crore a year, the turnover of a single medium factory. It grows more than 20% a year, but from a small base. Outside Dhaka the buyers have to be counted before the shop is taken.
HighDependency: All the food is imported and the duty is 25%. The dollar rate, a duty change or trouble opening an LC will each choke supply and jump the price. The shopkeeper does not set the price; the importer does.
MediumWorking capital: Filling the shelves means many brands and many sizes: kitten, adult, sterilised, a dozen flavours. Each one bought is money locked up, and the flavour nobody wants sits there until it expires.
MediumCompliance: Importing animal feed needs the Department of Livestock Services' Category-2 licence. It is worth checking that the importer you buy from holds one; the department publishes the list. What the retail shop's own duty is could not be confirmed, so do not assume there is none.

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