Business Spotlight: Friends of the Family offers aid in time of loss

by Clarissa French

SBJ Editor

For many people, a pet is more than a companion; it's a member of the family. And when a pet dies, many owners experience a profound sense of grief and a desire to memorialize their beloved animal.

That's where Friends of the Family steps in, providing complete burial and cremation services for pets.

Owner Doug Davis is a busy man. His phone rings every 10 or 15 minutes, and he calmly answers pet owners' questions with details, costs and options up front.

Friends of the Family, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, provides service to more than 60 area veterinary clinics and to individual pet owners.

While Davis declined to disclose revenues, he said business is growing. He just added a fourth crematorium, and he puts 45,000 miles on his vehicle a year to serve his clients.

"We serve both sides of the lake, Branson, Branson West, all the way over to Sarcoxie, Cassville, Aurora, Monett, Mt. Vernon and Miller," Davis said. He also gets individual referrals from a host of clinics throughout the region.

History

Friends of the Family Pet Memorial Gardens Inc. was established in 1984 by Doug Davis' father, Ron Davis. These days, Doug runs the business, but Ron is still active as an employee.

Ron's initial idea was simple: a pet cemetery. But the concept grew as he investigated the industry. Ron traveled to pet cemeteries and crematoriums in Kansas City and Tulsa, asking about every aspect of the business. "And that added the element of individual cremation and approaching the veterinarians to do disposal service," Doug Davis said.

Disposal service for vets has become a cornerstone of the business, but individual cremations and ash return is the big business, Davis added.

Friends of the Family is Springfield's only animal crematory.

Services

When a pet dies, many owners choose cremation as an affordable option that also fits their lifestyle.

Individual cremation starts at $60 and ranges as high as $200, based on the weight of the animal, Davis said. Communal cremation, in which the ashes are not returned, but are spread in Friends of the Family's scatter garden, starts at $40.

For individual cremations, Davis picks up the animal's body and returns the ashes in a finished cedar box.

"We're kind of the exception in the industry as for returning everything in a cedar box. Everybody else in the industry, they're looking for a decorative type urn upgrade. I would much rather keep this affordable, because every walk of life loves their pet," Davis said. "That was a philosophy that my dad developed from the get-go. You've got to keep it affordable for everybody, and get something for your money."

Cremations far outnumber burials.

"I think cremation is so popular because we're a transient society," Davis said. With the average homeowner moving every seven years or so, "they don't want to bury when they know that 10 years down the road they're going to be on the East Coast or the West Coast and their pet's left here. They grab that cedar box, pack it with everything else, and that dog or cat goes wherever they go.

"And on the flip side I have people drive from New Mexico, Iowa, Texas to bring their dog to bury here because they know they'll eventually end up back here," Davis said. "So it works both ways."

On the burial side, costs range from about $300 to $600 depending on the size of the casket. The burial package includes the casket, an 8-by-16-inch engraved granite marker, the land, the interment and tax.

There are currently 940 animals buried at Friends of the Family Pet Memorial Gardens, as well as 145 cremation interments. Thousands of animals' have their final resting place in the communal cremation scatter garden.

Good-byes

Special requests are not unusual at Friends of the Family.

"Our philosophy is the only thing set in stone is our prices," Davis said. When it comes to accommodating pet owners' wishes, "as long as it's within our means, we'll do whatever we can to make it easier for you," he added.

Some owners want their pets buried with pictures, toys, favorite treats. He's also had owners bring in Milk Bones, pictures, toys, collars, and even poems to be cremated with their pets.

The relationship between pets and owners is a special one.

"I've had them tell me that they loved their pets more than their children. The pet doesn't hold its hand out, the pet doesn't come around only when it wants money.' They've said this to me," Davis said. He smiled. "Sometimes you get a little too much information."