Funeral Home Business Plan Sample

Starting Funeral home business plan

Are you looking for how to open funeral home? A funeral home business mortician and burial services for the deceased. The services may include funeral planning, body preparation, transportation, burial, or cremation.

Funeral homes have been in demand from always. However, these days the demand for funeral services has increased due to the sudden rise in death rate because of coronavirus.

While it’s true that the funeral home business is profitable, it’s also correct that running such a business is not easy. You will have to procure protective kits, chemicals, and a lot of other mortuary items on daily basis. Moreover, you will need to ensure that strict protocols and safety rules are being followed throughout the process.

To ensure the successful running of your business, it is essential to first create a business plan. If you don’t know the components of a comprehensive business plan, you can take help from this business plan for a funeral home startup, James Funeral Home.

Executive Summary

2.1 The Business

James Funeral Home will be a licensed and registered funeral home based in San Antonio. The business will aim at performing all the funeral rituals including bathing and enshrouding, burial, cremation, etc. Moreover, the business will also provide catering services and transportation.

2.2 Management of Funeral home

Opening a funeral home is a relatively difficult venture. The funeral process needs to be carried out with great care and attention. Therefore, there must be efficient management and supervision to ensure that all of the sensitive tasks are taken care of properly.

Before exploring how to start a funeral home business you should keep in mind that it is a tough business. Running a funeral home means you have to be on call 365 days a year. Whether it’s Christmas or your wedding anniversary, you’ll have to arrange for the presence at the funeral home. In this sample plan on how to set up a funeral business we will be listing the details of how James Funeral Home will be managed and administered.

2.3 Customers of Funeral home

In your startup business plan for a funeral home, you should identify your customers. So that you can design your services accordingly. The customers of a funeral home are usually families of the deceased. However, in some cases, alive people also plan their funerals before dying.

2.4 Business Target

Our target is to become the number one choice of people of our city whenever they need funeral services. Moreover, we aim at boosting our net profit margin to $24k per month by the end of the three years.

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Company Summary

3.1 Company Owner

James Ben will be the owner of James Funeral Home. James holds a BS in Mortuary Science from Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. He has also worked as an embalmer for two years.

3.2 Why the funeral home is being started

After working as an embalmer for two years, James decided to start a funeral home of his own. He entered the business world as he wanted to use his potential to the fullest. And to earn large profits while serving people on a wider scale.

3.3 How the funeral home will be started

Step1: Make Your Business Plan

James had good management skills. However, he didn’t possess the skill set required to make a crematorium business plan. He studied several funeral home business plan examples but eventually decided to hire a professional for it. The marketing analysis, sales strategy, and financial planning done by his business consultant are given in this sample funeral home business plan.

Step2: Get Identified 

The next step is to establish a physical basis for your business and define your business’ services and aims. After this, your customers will start recognizing your presence and the distinct features of yours as compared to your competitors.

Step3: Recruitments

The hiring process is actually a part of the step in which you set up your physical presence. In this phase, you have to organize tests and interviews to find the most skillful and responsible employees for your business.

Step4: A Strong Web Presence

Along with other operations of your funeral home business, it is really important to focus on web development too. Through a website, you will be able to reach a wider audience and leave a positive image of yourself before even interacting with people.

Start-up Expenses
Legal	$252,400
Consultants	$0
Insurance	$32,000
Rent	$35,000
Research and Development	$25,000
Expensed Equipment	$53,000
Signs	$4,000
TOTAL START-UP EXPENSES	$401,400
Start-up Assets	$311,900
Cash Required	$339,000
Start-up Inventory	$48,000
Other Current Assets	$218,000
Long-term Assets	$238,000
TOTAL ASSETS	$1,154,900
Total Requirements	$1,556,300
START-UP FUNDING
Start-up Expenses to Fund	$401,400
Start-up Assets to Fund	$1,154,900
TOTAL FUNDING REQUIRED	$1,556,300
Assets
Non-cash Assets from Start-up	$1,514,800
Cash Requirements from Start-up	$356,000
Additional Cash Raised	$47,800
Cash Balance on Starting Date	$31,000
TOTAL ASSETS	$1,949,600
Liabilities and Capital
Liabilities	$26,000
Current Borrowing	$0
Long-term Liabilities	$0
Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills)	$43,000
Other Current Liabilities (interest-free)	$0
TOTAL LIABILITIES	$69,000
Capital
Planned Investment	$1,556,300
Investor 1	$0
Investor 2	$0
Other	$0
Additional Investment Requirement	$0
TOTAL PLANNED INVESTMENT	$1,556,300
Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses)	$324,300
TOTAL CAPITAL	$1,880,600
TOTAL CAPITAL AND LIABILITIES	$1,949,600
Total Funding	$1,556,300

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Services

Before owning a funeral home, it is essential to decide your services. Through this practice, you can make arrangements for equipment and space accordingly. In this business plan template for funeral home, we’re listing the services that James Funeral Home will provide.

• Funeral Planning

Our primary service will be providing funeral plans. These days, many people have started to purchase funeral plans. So that their families don’t have to stress over their funeral charges after their death. In this service, we’ll also be responsible for informing all the friends/ relatives of the deceased about the death.

• Body Preparation

We will prepare the dead body to be buried or cremated. This service will include all the relevant tasks such as bathing the deceased, enshrouding, etc. The paperwork required for burial will also be completed by us.

• Burial/ Cremation

We will provide space for performing eulogies and brief prayers for the dead. Moreover, we’ll also be responsible for burying the dead body. Since in some religions, there is a ritual of cremating the deceased. Thus we’ll be offering cremation services too.

• Transportation

We’ll also transport dead bodies from one place to another in specialized refrigerated vehicles.

• Catered Meal

We’ll offer plated dinner to the mourners in a location other than our funeral home. Since funeral homes are generally prohibited to offer food in the same building, we decided to offer it in another building located nearby.

Marketing Analysis of Funeral Home

Accurate marketing analysis is the key to get prominent in the market as soon as you get launched. For doing so it is essential to know the market, direct and indirect competitors, stakeholders, and market fluctuations. An accurate market analysis will enable you

• To recognize the potential customers
• To identify the needs and expectations of your target customers
• To decide a pricing strategy for the business plan that would allow you to meet financial goals while drawing more customers than your competitors

James studied several funeral home business plans to identify potential customers and market trends. However, he ended up realizing that hiring a professional market analyst would be better for him. As that will make him achieve a greater level of accuracy.

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5.1 Market Trends

Funeral homes are high in demand especially after the surge in deaths due to coronavirus. According to IBISWorld, there are more than 28k funeral homes running in the United States. Moreover, Statista predicts that the cremation rate in the U.S. would rise to 79.1 percent by 2035 – resulting in a need for more funeral homes.

Thus, it is evident that opening a funeral home will not run you into a loss. You only need to do efficient planning before starting funeral home to ensure success for your business.

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

The detailed marketing segmentation of our target audience is as follows:

5.2.1 Families of Deceased

Our primary customers will be the families of late. We expect them to avail of our body preparation, burial, and catering services. In San Antonio, the population is quite large and so the death rate. Therefore, we expect to get a considerable number of customers.

Our business values are based on customer care. We totally empathize with the families of the deceased. And therefore, to help the grievers in their misery we are offering body preparation and burial services at relatively lower prices.

5.2.2 Funeral Planners

Our second group of target customers will comprise alive people who purchase funeral planners before they die. These days, many adults and seniors have started to buy funeral plans so that their families and friends do not have to arrange money for their funerals.

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5.2.3 Old Homes for Elder Orphans

The third category of our target customers will include the organizations that shelter elder orphans. Elder orphans are the senior people who do not have any friends or family to look after them. The funeral charges of such people are often paid by shelter homes. Thus, we expect them to contact us for our services too.

Market Analysis
Potential Customers	Growth	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	CAGR
Families of Deceased	49%	51,000	53,000	56,000	60,000	63,000	9.00%
Funeral Planners	35%	39,000	42,000	43,000	44,000	47,000	10.00%
Old Homes for Elder Orphans	16%	16,000	17,000	18,000	19,000	21,000	10.00%
Total	100%	106,000	112,000	117,000	123,000	131,000	10%

5.3 Business Target

Setting financial and customers’ related goals before starting a business is a good practice. It allows the business owners to direct the energy and resources towards the company’s goals.

Our business targets are:

• To earn a profit margin of $24k per month by the end of the third year
• To maintain a CSAT score of above 85%

5.4 Product Pricing

The prices of our funeral plans and catered foods are a little higher as compared to our competitors. However, our other services could be availed at lower rates than those of our competitors.

Marketing Strategy

Sales strategy is another component that can decide the future of your business. This part enables you to reach out to your target customers and increase your sales on a monthly and yearly basis.

In this marketing plan for funeral home, we’re providing the sales strategy of James Funeral Home.

6.1 Competitive Analysis

James studied several funeral business ideas to find out the areas where his competitors were lacking. After that analysis, he decided to come up with the following competitive aspects:

• James Funeral Home will have a user-friendly app so that people can connect to it remotely and conveniently.
• Secondly, it’s the only funeral home in the whole city that is providing catering meals to the mourners in a separate location.
• Third, it has extremely responsible employees who’ll always adhere to SOPs and strict protocols.

6.2 Sales Strategy

• We’ll promote our startup through Google Local ads and local magazines
• We’ll offer a 50% discount to the first 100 purchasers of our funeral plans
• We’ll offer a 30% discount on our transport and catered meal services for the first two months of our launch

6.3 Sales Monthly

6.4 Sales Yearly

6.5 Sales Forecast

Sales Forecast
Unit Sales	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Funeral Planning	32,000	33,920	35,955
Body Preparation/ Transportation	46,000	48,760	51,686
Burial/ Cremation	40,000	42,400	44,944
Catered Meal	24,000	25,440	26,966
TOTAL UNIT SALES	142,000	150,520	159,551
Unit Prices	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Funeral Planning	$56.00	$64.96	$75.35
Body Preparation/ Transportation	$47.00	$54.52	$63.24
Burial/ Cremation	$51.00	$59.16	$68.63
Catered Meal	$40.00	$46.40	$53.82
Sales
Funeral Planning	$1,792,000.00	$2,203,443.20	$2,709,353.76
Body Preparation/ Transportation	$2,162,000.00	$2,658,395.20	$3,268,762.74
Burial/ Cremation	$2,040,000.00	$2,508,384.00	$3,084,308.97
Catered Meal	$960,000.00	$1,180,416.00	$1,451,439.51
TOTAL SALES	$6,954,000.00	$8,550,638.40	$10,513,864.98
Direct Unit Costs	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Funeral Planning	$52.00	$58.00	$67.00
Body Preparation/ Transportation	$46.00	$51.00	$60.00
Burial/ Cremation	$48.00	$56.00	$64.00
Catered Meal	$37.00	$42.00	$48.00
Direct Cost of Sales
Funeral Planning	$1,664,000.00	$1,967,360.00	$2,408,998.40
Body Preparation/ Transportation	$2,116,000.00	$2,486,760.00	$3,101,136.00
Burial/ Cremation	$1,920,000.00	$2,374,400.00	$2,876,416.00
Catered Meal	$888,000.00	$1,068,480.00	$1,294,387.20
Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales	$6,588,000.00	$7,897,000.00	$9,680,937.60

Personnel plan

Before starting a funeral parlor business you should make a list of employees you will need along with their job descriptions.

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7.1 Company Staff

James will be the CEO himself. However, he’ll hire the following staff

• 2 Supervisors to help manage the operations
• 1 Accountant to maintain financial records
• 1 Front Desk Officer
• 8 Morticians to perform funerals
• 3 Cooks to prepare food
• 2 Waiters to serve food
• 8 Cleaners to maintain the facilities
• 3 General Assistants for routine tasks and paperwork
• 1 Sales Executive to promote the company
• 1 Web developer/ App Developer to manage the company’s website and app
• 2 Drivers to transport dead bodies

7.2 Average Salary of Employees

Personnel Plan
	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Supervisors	$20,000	$22,000	$24,200
Accountant	$9,000	$9,900	$10,890
Morticians	$55,000	$60,500	$66,550
Cooks	$24,000	$26,400	$29,040
Waiters	$14,000	$15,400	$16,940
Cleaners	$49,000	$53,900	$59,290
General Assistants	$21,000	$23,100	$25,410
Sales Executive	$8,000	$8,800	$9,680
Drivers	$14,000	$15,400	$16,940
Front Desk Officer	$6,500	$7,150	$7,865
Web Developer	$13,000	$14,300	$15,730
Total Salaries	$233,500	$256,850	$282,535

Financial Plan

Financial planning for a funeral home business is a little complicated. Firstly, because you’ll need to buy and discard certain materials and protective kits off and on. And secondly due to the complexity involved in setting prices of funeral plans. When you sell a funeral plan to a person you don’t know the inflation rate that will prevail at the time of their death. The period may be shorter or longer – resulting in unpredictable losses or profits.

However, there are still many areas through which you can control the financial trajectory of your business. In this build a funeral home business plan, we’re providing the financial plan developed for James Funeral Home. So that you can have an idea of the cash flows, gross margins, and business ratios for this business.

8.1 Important Assumptions

General Assumptions
	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Plan Month	1	2	3
Current Interest Rate	8.01%	8.09%	8.13%
Long-term Interest Rate	8.17%	8.24%	8.29%
Tax Rate	23.98%	24.03%	24.11%
Other	0	0	0

8.2 Brake-even Analysis

Brake-Even Analysis
Monthly Units Break-even	5403
Monthly Revenue Break-even	$136,750
Assumptions:
Average Per-Unit Revenue	$232.00
Average Per-Unit Variable Cost	$0.65
Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost	$162,000

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

Pro Forma Profit And Loss
	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Sales	$6,954,000	$8,550,638	$10,513,865
Direct Cost of Sales	$6,588,000	$7,897,000	$9,680,938
Other	$0	$0	$0
TOTAL COST OF SALES	$6,588,000	$7,897,000	$9,680,938
Gross Margin	$366,000	$653,638	$832,927
Gross Margin %	5.26%	7.64%	7.92%
Expenses
Payroll	$233,500	$256,850	$282,535
Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses	$125,000	$128,000	$133,000
Depreciation	$2,100	$2,180	$2,260
Leased Equipment	$0	$0	$0
Utilities	$2,700	$2,900	$3,200
Insurance	$2,000	$2,100	$2,195
Rent	$3,400	$3,500	$3,600
Payroll Taxes	$36,000	$38,000	$40,000
Other	$0	$0	$0
Total Operating Expenses	$404,700	$433,530	$466,790
Profit Before Interest and Taxes	($38,700)	$220,108	$366,137
EBITDA	($38,700)	$220,108	$366,137
Interest Expense	$0	$0	$0
Taxes Incurred	($7,740)	$44,022	$73,227
Net Profit	($30,960)	$176,087	$292,910
Net Profit/Sales	-0.45%	2.06%	2.79%

8.3.1 Profit Monthly

8.3.2 Profit Yearly

8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly

8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

Pro Forma Cash Flow
Cash Received	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Cash from Operations
Cash Sales	$53,000	$57,240	$61,819
Cash from Receivables	$15,400	$16,632	$17,963
SUBTOTAL CASH FROM OPERATIONS	$69,000	$75,210	$81,227
Additional Cash Received
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received	$0	$0	$0
New Current Borrowing	$0	$0	$0
New Other Liabilities (interest-free)	$0	$0	$0
New Long-term Liabilities	$0	$0	$0
Sales of Other Current Assets	$0	$0	$0
Sales of Long-term Assets	$0	$0	$0
New Investment Received	$0	$0	$0
SUBTOTAL CASH RECEIVED	$70,000	$76,000	$82,000
Expenditures	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Expenditures from Operations
Cash Spending	$31,000	$34,000	$37,000
Bill Payments	$21,000	$22,000	$23,000
SUBTOTAL SPENT ON OPERATIONS	$52,000	$56,000	$60,000
Additional Cash Spent
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out	$0	$0	$0
Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing	$0	$0	$0
Other Liabilities Principal Repayment	$0	$0	$0
Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment	$0	$0	$0
Purchase Other Current Assets	$0	$0	$0
Purchase Long-term Assets	$0	$0	$0
Dividends	$0	$0	$0
SUBTOTAL CASH SPENT	$52,600	$56,808	$61,353
Net Cash Flow	$15,300	$16,400	$17,200
Cash Balance	$24,000	$25,900	$27,300

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

Pro Forma Balance Sheet
Assets	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Current Assets
Cash	$278,000	$311,360	$342,496
Accounts Receivable	$25,200	$28,224	$31,724
Inventory	$5,000	$5,600	$6,294
Other Current Assets	$1,000	$1,000	$1,000
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS	$291,000	$325,920	$366,334
Long-term Assets
Long-term Assets	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Accumulated Depreciation	$16,940	$18,973	$21,344
TOTAL LONG-TERM ASSETS	$20,800	$23,296	$26,208
TOTAL ASSETS	$296,000	$331,520	$372,960
Liabilities and Capital	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable	$17,500	$19,600	$22,030
Current Borrowing	$0	$0	$0
Other Current Liabilities	$0	$0	$0
SUBTOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES	$14,800	$16,576	$18,631
Long-term Liabilities	$0	$0	$0
TOTAL LIABILITIES	$15,000	$16,800	$18,883
Paid-in Capital	$30,000	$30,000	$30,000
Retained Earnings	$54,800	$59,732	$65,705
Earnings	$202,600	$220,834	$242,917
TOTAL CAPITAL	$272,200	$296,698	$326,368
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND CAPITAL	$287,200	$331,520	$372,960
Net Worth	$272,200	$296,698	$326,368

8.6 Business Ratios

Ratio Analysis
	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	INDUSTRY PROFILE
Sales Growth	7.39%	8.19%	9.07%	3.00%
Percent of Total Assets
Accounts Receivable	9.31%	10.32%	11.43%	9.80%
Inventory	5.44%	6.03%	6.68%	9.90%
Other Current Assets	2.16%	2.39%	2.65%	2.40%
Total Current Assets	151.00%	151.00%	152.00%	158.00%
Long-term Assets	11.61%	11.70%	11.82%	12.00%
TOTAL ASSETS	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Current Liabilities	4.65%	4.69%	4.73%	4.34%
Long-term Liabilities	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Total Liabilities	7.22%	7.28%	7.34%	7.38%
NET WORTH	100.10%	100.90%	101.83%	110.00%
Percent of Sales
Sales	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Gross Margin	94.87%	97.43%	100.16%	99.00%
Selling, General & Administrative Expenses	92.94%	95.45%	98.12%	97.80%
Advertising Expenses	1.53%	1.57%	1.62%	1.40%
Profit Before Interest and Taxes	40.98%	42.09%	43.26%	33.90%
Main Ratios
Current	37	37.9	38.5	32
Quick	33	35	35.875	33
Total Debt to Total Assets	0.18%	0.19%	0.18%	0.40%
Pre-tax Return on Net Worth	74.66%	75.30%	76.50%	75.00%
Pre-tax Return on Assets	95.20%	99.96%	104.96%	112.00%
Additional Ratios	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Net Profit Margin	31.40%	32.37%	33.38%	N.A.
Return on Equity	55.70%	57.43%	59.21%	N.A.
Activity Ratios
Accounts Receivable Turnover	7.8	7.8	7.9	N.A.
Collection Days	100	100	100	N.A.
Inventory Turnover	33	34.65	35	N.A.
Accounts Payable Turnover	16.3	16.9	17.5	N.A.
Payment Days	27	27	27	N.A.
Total Asset Turnover	2.5	2.6	2.6	N.A.
Debt Ratios
Debt to Net Worth	-0.03	-0.04	-0.04	N.A.
Current Liab. to Liab.	1	1	1	N.A.
Liquidity Ratios
Net Working Capital	$228,700	$241,507	$255,032	N.A.
Interest Coverage	0	0	0	N.A.
Additional Ratios
Assets to Sales	0.86	0.87	0.89	N.A.
Current Debt/Total Assets	1%	0%	0%	N.A.
Acid Test	28.01	28.5	28.93	N.A.
Sales/Net Worth	2.1	2.1	2.1	N.A.
Dividend Payout	0	0	0	N.A.

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