In a recent article from the News Herald that you can find here, a  Cleveland, Ohio based funeral home is more than doubling its square footage of service area in an addition valued at over $1.2 million.  The Gattozzi and Son Funeral Home in Chester Township  is adding the space to keep pace with the area’s wish to allow for more personalized services than have traditionally been Gattozzi’s funerals in the past.

According to Jay Jones, a funeral director at Gattozzi and Sons, “. . .technology and changing attitudes about decorum and how to commemorate people’s personalities and what they did with them on Earth, the definition of a funeral has evolved dramatically.  He continued, ” As the baby boomer generation has aged, its constituents are finding themselves having to plan funeral for loved ones and themselves, they are making funeral choices based on values that are different from previous generations.  Baby boomers see funeral as a valuable part of the grieving process and are seeking ways to make them meaningful.”

A big part of the addition will be a new catered event room which will allow for flexibility to accommodate today’s variety of memorial events.

Funeral Director Daily take:  We decided to include this article in our daily news not so much for the Gattozzi and Sons Funeral Home in particular but for what it represents industry wide.  Over the years, I was able to profit because I watched the trends that were happening – many times by the funeral care companies that were much bigger than I – and because of this was able to get on the trends quicker than my competitors.

It is interesting for me to note that it appears that Gattozzi and Sons operates only one chapel and, if the web-site is correct, they are a Dignity Memorial Funeral Home which would indicate ownership by Service Corporation International (SCI).  Now, I’ve said before, if anybody knows how to make money by operating direct to the consumer funeral establishments, it is SCI.

I’ve also pounded away how revenues are declining per case in the industry and establishments need to find ways to make up for that lost revenues.  Many funeral homes have added catered meals to their offerings, which is a big part of what it appears this addition to Gattozzi and Sons is about.  I surmise that if SCI is willing to invest $1.2 million into an addition to a single funeral home in Ohio, then it may be something that you want to look into with your establishment.

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