Hitzeman Funeral Home Ltd

What Hitzeman Funeral Home Ltd does

Hitzeman Funeral Home, Ltd. is a fifth-generation, family-owned funeral home founded in 1904 by Frederick Hitzeman in Chicago and relocated to its current Brookfield, Illinois headquarters at 9445 31st Street (opened 1963). The firm provides traditional funerals, cremation services, veteran funeral services with VA benefits coordination, pre-planning/preneed arrangements, and a diversified menu of specialized offerings including green burials with alkaline hydrolysis, Parting Stones solidified remains, DNA Memorialization through a Lazarus DNA partnership, and a Celebration Package featuring catered food and a full bar (the firm holds one of only two Illinois funeral-home liquor licenses). The single Brookfield facility is ADA-compliant with parking for 100 cars, multiple chapels, and 24/7 immediate-need availability, serving Brookfield, La Grange Park, La Grange, Riverside, North Riverside, Westchester, and other Chicago western suburbs, and is staffed by approximately 8–10 employees including licensed funeral directors, embalmers, and family members.

Revenue is generated primarily through one-time fees for funeral and cremation services and merchandise (caskets, urns, shrouds), supplemented by transaction-fee DNA memorialization ($250–$750), affiliate flower sales through Phillips Flowers & Gifts, and multi-year preneed insurance/life insurance contracts. The go-to-market model is community-led and direct-to-consumer: families reach the firm through word-of-mouth, local community involvement (Brookfield Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club International, West Suburban Chamber, La Grange Park Chamber), funeral-planning seminars, obituary email notifications, and organic search via the Tukios-powered website. The customer base is composed entirely of individuals and families — grieving families needing immediate services, veterans and military families navigating VA benefits, pre-planning individuals, and environmentally conscious consumers — with no enterprise or institutional accounts. There are no external investors, no parent company, no subsidiaries, no funding rounds, and no patents or trademarks disclosed. The technology stack is intentionally lean: a Tukios website platform for obituaries, planning forms, and hosting, plus Google Analytics for traffic monitoring; no proprietary software, APIs, or AI/ML capabilities are present.

Name

Hitzeman Funeral Home Ltd

Legal name

Hitzeman Funeral Home, Ltd.

Website

https://hitzemanfuneral.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1904

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hitzeman Funeral Home, Ltd. is a fifth-generation, family-owned funeral home in Brookfield, Illinois, serving Chicago western suburbs since 1904 with traditional funerals, cremation, veteran services, pre-planning, and specialty offerings including Parting Stones, DNA memorialization, green burial, and a licensed celebration package.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brookfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Traditional Funeral Services: Full-service funerals including visitation, funeral service, burial, embalming, casket selection, and coordination with cemeteries and clergy
2. Cremation Services: Cremation options including direct cremation, traditional funeral followed by cremation, memorial services, and graveside services. Includes competitive pricing and flexible payment options.
3. Pre-need/Pre-planning Services: Advance funeral planning services where families can pre-arrange and potentially pre-pay for funeral services. Includes flexible funding options like preneed insurance policies.
4. DNA Memorialization Services: DNA collection and preservation services priced at $250-$750 for testing and banking
5. Green Burial & Cremation Services: Environmentally sustainable burial and cremation options including alkaline hydrolysis (flameless cremation) and green burial merchandise
6. Funeral Merchandise: Caskets, urns, shrouds, and other funeral-related merchandise sold to families
7. Flower Sales: Partnership with Phillips Flowers and Gifts for flower arrangements delivered to funeral home

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Hitzeman Funeral Home is a family-owned funeral home providing full-service death care including traditional funerals with visitation and burial, cremation services, veteran funeral honors, pre-planning, and specialized options such as green burial, alkaline hydrolysis, Parting Stones solidified remains, DNA memorialization, and a celebration package with bar service. Services are delivered in-person at the Brookfield, Illinois facility and through online pre-planning tools.

Product overview

Hitzeman Funeral Home & Cremation Services is a family-owned funeral home offering a comprehensive suite of death care services. The core offerings center on Traditional Funerals (visitation, funeral service, immediate burial, green burial, private services) and Trusted Cremation (traditional service with cremation, direct cremation, memorial service, graveside service). The portfolio includes specialized add-on modules: Personalization Services (photos, videos, music, readings), Veteran Funerals (VA benefits assistance), Celebration Package (alcohol/catering during visitations), Green Burials & Cremations (environmentally sustainable options), Parting Stones (solidified remains), DNA Memorialization & Testing, and Pre-Planning Services. Additional support services include Grief Resources, Online Planning Forms, Online Memorials, and Flower Ordering through partner Phillips Flowers & Gifts. The business serves Brookfield, La Grange Park, La Grange, Riverside, and surrounding Chicago western suburbs communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Traditional Funerals

Quantifiable outcome

• Only two funeral homes in Illinois with a valid liquor license for celebration packages
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Phillips Flowers and GiftscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with local florist for flower arrangements. Orders are made fresh and delivered by a local florist directly to the funeral home. Families can order flowers through the obituary page on the website.
• Brookfield Chamber of CommercecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCommunity business association. Hitzeman family members are actively involved, with Chuck serving on the Board of Directors and having held Vice President position.
• Brookfield/La Grange Lions ClubcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerService organization with family involvement across multiple generations. Chuck Hitzeman serves as Vice President (5th generation), having held President position. Todd and Norbert also received Melvin Jones Fellowship Award.
• Lithuanian National CemeteryminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorGreen burial cemetery near the funeral home. The closest cemetery in proximity to Hitzeman Funeral Home that allows green or natural burials with designated areas.
• Tukios, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationWebsite platform provider for obituaries, online planning forms, and website hosting. Operates the website infrastructure and provides privacy policy and terms of use for the funeral home's digital presence.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Green Burial Council: Green Burial Council is the certification body for environmentally sustainable burial merchandise and providers. Hitzeman is certified through this organization, making it directly relevant to the green burial and alkaline hydrolysis side of the business.
• Parting Stone: Parting Stone is the provider of solidified remains technology that Hitzeman Funeral Home distributes to families. It is a technology and supplier partner rather than a competitor, but directly comparable on the differentiated cremation product line.

Direct peers

• NorthStar Memorial Group: NorthStar Memorial Group is a private equity-backed consolidator of funeral homes and cemeteries. Like Hitzeman, its portfolio operators provide traditional funeral, cremation, and pre-need planning services in defined local markets.
• Park Lawn Corporation: Park Lawn Corporation is a publicly traded funeral, cremation, and cemetery operator with a portfolio of independent local brands. Its business model of acquiring and operating family-style funeral homes makes it a strong comparable for Hitzeman Funeral Home's go-forward strategy.
• Foundation Partners Group: Foundation Partners Group is a private equity-backed owner and operator of funeral homes and cemeteries across the U.S. It is the most direct platform comparable for an independent family-owned funeral home considering sale or partnership, with overlapping services including traditional funerals, cremation, and personalization.

Broad incumbents

• Service Corporation International (SCI): SCI is the largest funeral, cremation, and cemetery services provider in North America, operating the Dignity Memorial brand. It competes with Hitzeman Funeral Home in the broader Chicago market but as a multi-location consolidator rather than a single-site family operator.
• StoneMor Partners: StoneMor Partners operates a large portfolio of funeral homes and cemeteries across the U.S. Its combination of cemetery operations and cremation services overlaps with Hitzeman's green burial and cremation offerings, though at much greater scale.
• Carriage Services: Carriage Services is a publicly traded provider of funeral and cemetery services with a decentralized operating model that empowers local operators, closely mirroring the local-control philosophy used by Hitzeman Funeral Home.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hitzeman-funeral-home-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 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 Hitzeman Funeral Home Ltd