Benson Funeral Home

What Benson Funeral Home does

Benson Funeral Home is a family-owned, single-location funeral service provider operating from 1111 25th Avenue South in St. Cloud, Minnesota, founded in June 1962 by Raymond A. and Jeanette K. Benson and led since 1989 by Mark J. Benson as President. The company serves families of all faiths in the St. Cloud area at the time of death or for advance pre-planning, offering traditional funeral ceremonies, cremation, memorial services, and veteran's burial benefits assistance — supported by grief counseling, video tributes, obituary publishing, and an on-site crematory installed in 1981 as one of the first in Minnesota. The facility, built in 1981 and fully remodeled in 2001, contains two chapels and single-level handicapped accessibility, with capacity expanded via a September 2023 merger with Daniel Funeral Home under which both brands continue to operate side by side.

Revenue is generated primarily through professional service fees for at-need funeral arrangements (pay-as-you-go) and multi-year pre-need contracts with guaranteed pricing and irrevocable funding via insurance policies, bank CDs, trusts, or assignment of life insurance benefits, supplemented by one-time merchandise sales of caskets, urns, burial vaults, keepsakes, and monuments. The company maintains a wholly-owned sister company, Central Minnesota Cremation Service (acquired 1990), which supplies cremation capacity to Benson and other Minnesota funeral homes — a vertical integration into a B2B cremation service line. GTM is direct-to-consumer, relying on community reputation built over more than 55 years, word-of-mouth referrals, partnerships with local churches and community organizations, and a content-marketing website that publishes obituaries and captures pre-planning leads.

The business holds memberships in MFDA, NFDA, and CANA, and reports approximately 7 employees; revenue is not publicly disclosed. The firm is privately held, family-owned into its fifth decade, and now operates as a multi-location St. Cloud provider following the Daniel Funeral Home combination.

Name

Benson Funeral Home

Legal name

Benson Funeral Home

Website

https://bensonfuneralhome.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1962

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Benson Funeral Home is a family-owned funeral service provider in St. Cloud, Minnesota, serving families of all faiths since 1962 with traditional funerals, cremation, memorial, and veteran services from a single facility with on-site crematory.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

St. Cloud

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Funeral Services: Traditional funeral ceremonies including prayer service, visitation, funeral and luncheon followed by burial or entombment. Also includes funeral service with burial or entombment following the service, and funeral service with cremation following the service.
2. Cremation Services: Cremation may follow a funeral service or occur before a memorial service. The body is cremated in a simple container, and casket rental is available for viewings prior to cremation.
3. Memorial Services: Memorial services can take place any time after death, from a week to a year. Can be elaborate or simple, conducted at times that fit best for families.
4. Veteran's Services: Assistance in securing military burial benefits and provision of military honors for veterans.
5. Pre-Planning and Pre-Funding Services: Pre-arrangement and pre-funding of funerals with guaranteed pricing. Funding options include insurance policy, bank CD, assignment of life insurance benefits, or trust.
6. Funeral Merchandise: Sale of caskets (metal and wood), outer burial containers/vaults, urns, keepsakes, and monuments.
7. Grief Support Services: On-staff grief specialist Bonnie Stachowski provides phone calls and in-home visits for ongoing grief support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Benson Funeral Home is a family-owned funeral service provider delivering end-of-life services to families in the St. Cloud, Minnesota area. The company sells traditional funeral services (prayer service, visitation, funeral, luncheon followed by burial or entombment), cremation services with on-site crematory facilities, memorial services, veteran's burial benefits assistance, pre-planning with guaranteed pricing, grief support, and related funeral merchandise (caskets, urns, burial vaults, monuments).

Product overview

Benson Funeral Home is a family-owned funeral service provider serving the St. Cloud, Minnesota area since 1962. The company operates as a single-location funeral home offering integrated services including traditional funeral services, cremation services, memorial services, and veteran's services. The product portfolio centers on complete end-of-life care with core funeral and cremation services, complemented by merchandise products (caskets, urns, burial vaults, monuments), pre-planning services with funding options, immediate planning assistance, grief support, video tribute creation, and online obituary services. The funeral home was one of the first in Minnesota to offer on-site crematory facilities and merged with Daniel Funeral Home in September 2023.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Funeral Services

Named customers6 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Daniel Funeral HomecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2023In September 2023, Benson Funeral Home merged with Daniel Funeral Home—another respected, family-owned funeral service provider based in St. Cloud. This partnership brings together two trusted names with a shared commitment to serving the community. Today, funeral directors and staff from both work side by side at each location and throughout the St. Cloud area. The Daniel family has worked closely with Mark Benson to ensure a smooth transition, uniting the strengths of both businesses under one mission.
• Central Minnesota Cremation ServicecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBenson Funeral Home's sister company, acquired by Mark J. Benson in 1990. Serves Benson Funeral Home and other funeral homes throughout the state of Minnesota.
• Minnesota Funeral Directors Association (MFDA)minorOthersBenson Funeral Home and all of its Directors are members of the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association. The company strives to live up to the association's principles: Respectful Care of the Deceased, Courteous, Compassionate Service to Families, Adherence to a Strict Code of Professional Conduct, and Fulfillment of Our Obligation to the Public.
• National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA)minorOthersBenson Funeral Home and all of its Directors are members of the National Funeral Directors Association, adhering to professional standards and codes of conduct.
• Cremation Association of North America (CANA)minorOthersBenson Funeral Home and all of its Directors are members of the Cremation Association of North America.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Foundation Partners Group: Foundation Partners Group is a leading private-equity-backed funeral and cemetery operator with a focus on partnering with and acquiring high-quality independent funeral homes. It is comparable to Benson in its full-service funeral and cremation offering and is a direct consolidator peer.
• Neptune Society: Neptune Society is a national cremation-focused provider owned by Service Corporation International. It is comparable to Benson's cremation service line and represents the kind of scaled, low-cost cremation competitor that pressures independent funeral homes on price in markets where cremation is gaining share.
• Carriage Services: Carriage Services is a publicly traded provider of funeral and cemetery services across the U.S. It is comparable to Benson as a multi-location funeral operator with a similar service menu (funeral, cremation, pre-need), but operates at national scale and pursues an active acquisition strategy that targets independents like Benson.
• StoneMor Partners: StoneMor is a publicly traded death-care company operating funeral homes and cemeteries nationwide. It competes with Benson in the funeral and cremation services category, though with a heavier weighting toward cemeteries and memorial products.
• Service Corporation International: SCI is the largest funeral, cremation, and cemetery operator in North America (parent of the Dignity Memorial brand). It competes with Benson in the same end-of-life services category, but operates at national scale with substantially more marketing, pre-need lead generation, and acquisition firepower than any local independent.
• Park Lawn Corporation: Park Lawn is a publicly traded funeral, cremation, and cemetery operator based in Canada with expanding U.S. operations. It is comparable to Benson in core services and customer base (families arranging end-of-life services) but operates at a much larger multi-jurisdiction scale.

Others

• Matthews International: Matthews International's Memorialization segment supplies caskets, urns, and other funeral products to funeral homes including Benson. While not a direct competitor, Matthews is a key supplier to the same funeral-services channel and is a relevant ecosystem participant for valuation comparables.

Direct peers

• Daniel Funeral Home: Daniel Funeral Home merged with Benson Funeral Home in September 2023 and now operates as the parent of Benson. It is a family-owned funeral service provider in St. Cloud, MN, offering the same traditional funeral, cremation, and pre-planning services — a near-identical business model, customer base, and geographic footprint.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/benson-funeral-home

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Benson Funeral Home