Is an “Event Center” in your business future

Over my years in funeral service I operated from two different funeral home buildings.  The first building that I operated in was a former residence remodeled over a few times since about 1933 to offer a funeral home operation.  In 2006 we moved into a brand new building built exclusively for the funeral and cremation business in, what I think is a great location, right next to the largest cemetery in the area.

When I look back what was interesting about these buildings is that they both had four basic parts.  Each had a business office, a death care preparation center, a designated arrangement area, and an area for public receptions/visitations and funeral services.  Each facility worked well and, just like many of you, we tried to arrange visitation, funeral, and arrangement schedules so that there was as much privacy as we could give every family.

One thing always bothered me. . . and still does.  Sometimes when a family came in to make funeral arrangements there might be a visitation and/or funeral service going on and in getting to the front door and into the private arrangement area, the arriving family sometimes had to move through another group of mourners.

Oddly enough, I thought about this last Sunday after church.  During the sermon our pastor made comments to the number of Americans who are leaving the organized church and how membership and attendance at church is dropping universally all over the country.  We can argue the merits of this, but for the sake of this article, I’m taking the viewpoint on, “How will that effect funeral home buildings?”

There are a couple of other trends that I see and ask myself the same question.  Those trends include the increased use of online cremation services where no facility is visited, the increased use of trade removal and preparation facilities, as well as the decreased visitation trends.  There is also a trend that I see that some people just don’t like coming to funeral homes. . . . . yet, if there is to be a funeral service, visitation, memorial service, or simply a hospitality reception it has to be physically held somewhere.

I also wanted to take in the economic impact of the large fixed costs that come with the facilities of a modern day funeral home with chapels inside of it.  You would think that with decreased church membership, a funeral home would be the default location for these services. . . or will it be.

In my community, even with facilities available in our funeral home building, we have done services everywhere from outdoor Bible camp locations to 5-Star resort hotel ballrooms. . . .and lots of places in between those facility types.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Here’s what I’m wondering. . . .will we eventually have death care providers with non-adjoining facilities in communities?  The “Office” facility would consist of a business office, arrangement offices, and preparation rooms. . .some may include a crematory.  And then, off of that site, an “Event Center” where public events could be held. . . . and they would not have to be strictly death-care related. . . .I can see wedding receptions, anniversaries, birthdays, and more events celebrated at these facilities.  The funeral home can then control the food and beverage offerings of these events for added income.

Some of these are in use today. . . and have proved successful.  Here is a link to the Flanner Buchanan Community Life Center in Indianapolis.  Built in 2001, on cemetery property, it has become a go-to place for Indianapolis weddings.

My take, in a world where I believe over time, less and less services will be held at a funeral home, is that it would be financially more viable for a death care company to operate its business, arrangement, and pre-arrangement operations in a smaller building without massive chapels or visitation areas.  And then, somewhere centrally located in the community, operate an event center where, for those that wanted these services, they could be held.

Funeral homes have historically moved casketed remains off premises to churches for funerals, so I don’t see the issue of off-premises as being an issue.  As a matter of fact, as compared to churches, the funeral business would have authority over pricing and catering as well, which I see as a great asset or income addition to the funeral home business operations.  And, the opportunity to be the “go-to venue” for other types of celebrations could be another added income opportunity

I’m also coming from the perspective of larger cities where funeral home operators may have two or more physical locations.  This type of operation would allow them to have less fixed costs in those locations with a centrally operated event center that would accommodate their death care services.  I don’t know all of the ramifications, but it is interesting to keep an open mind and ponder the “What ifs” of the future.

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3 Comments

  1. David Bellerose on April 12, 2022 at 7:37 pm

    Tom. For years as an owner I always thought this was great for families. Sit down , funeral disposition, flowers and meal all in one stop to make it easier for them. And after services, our parking lot is empty. Our state would not allow it because of old laws. But that has changed in recent years.



  2. Lori Salberg on April 11, 2022 at 3:23 pm

    Tom – this is exactly why ICCFA started the Hospitality College at the ICCFA University 4 years ago. Here is a link with more information: https://iccfa.com/university/ – The Hospitality College is geared to teach funeral home operators how to offer catering services and/or build up an event center like Flanner Buchanan and Wells. Flanner Buchanan staff were professors the first year and Lauren Blevins Hogan, who works with the Wells group, is a professor this year. Lots to learn about this exciting opportunity…



  3. Wells Greeley on April 11, 2022 at 10:18 am

    Hi Tom! Go Gophers & hope you are well. Regarding events Center, check out http://www.wells Funeral Home.com.



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