Jay B Smith Funeral Homes

What Jay B Smith Funeral Homes does

Jay B Smith Funeral Homes is a family-owned funeral services provider operating two locations in the St. Louis metropolitan area (Fenton and Maplewood, Missouri). Founded in 1932 when Jay B. Smith and his wife Marie purchased the historic Sarah Sutton Harrison mansion in Maplewood, the firm has provided burial, cremation, preplanning, grief support, and veterans services for over 90 years under continuous family ownership, currently led by David Work with Preplanning Specialist John Wiltsch. The core product portfolio spans burial packages (e.g., Chapel Service at $5,525) and cremation packages ranging from $1,395 (no service) to $6,295 (Full Funeral Ceremony with Cremation), with supplemental offerings including an Online Preplanning Tool, Lunch & Learn community events, free downloadable eBooks and checklists, the Circle of Friends+ post-loss support program, and a local-florist flower delivery service. Pricing is publicly disclosed on the website, with a General Price List available; cremation prices are listed as effective November 1, 2025.

The business operates as a direct-to-consumer service with 24/7 phone availability, in-person arrangement conferences at both locations, and off-premise services at churches, cemeteries, and other venues. Distribution is entirely local and physical, with no digital or third-party channels. Revenue is generated primarily through one-time at-need service fees for burial and cremation, supplemented by recurring or pre-funded preplanning contracts, sale of memorial merchandise such as caskets and urns, and flower commissions. The technology stack is minimal: the firm runs on the Tukios, Inc. website platform for its online presence and obituary publishing, integrates Google Analytics for web monitoring, and uses the Circle of Friends+ (EverythingAfter) platform for grief support outreach. The firm is privately held, has no subsidiaries or institutional investors, and operates with a small staff of 7 employees under family management.

Name

Jay B Smith Funeral Homes

Legal name

Jay B Smith Funeral Home

Website

https://jaybsmith.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1932

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Jay B Smith Funeral Homes is a family-owned funeral services provider operating two locations in Fenton and Maplewood, Missouri, offering burial, cremation, preplanning, veterans services, and grief support to families in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Funeral Services

NAICS

Funeral Homes and Funeral Services (81221), Funeral Homes and Funeral Services (812210), Death Care Services (8122)

SIC

Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Hospice-Affiliated/Independent) (HLADAHAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Family Aftercare) (HSABAFAI), End-of-Life Emotional & Spiritual Support (Chaplaincy/Counseling) In-Home (HSABAFAH)

Keywords

• Funeral services
• Cremation services
• Burial services
• Preplanning services
• Grief support

Headquarters

HQ city

Fenton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Funeral and Cremation Services: One-time service fees for funeral arrangements including transfer of remains, preparation, visitation facilities, ceremony services, hearse, and burial/cremation coordination. Services are charged individually or as packaged bundles. Pricing varies significantly based on service type (burial vs cremation) and level of customization.
2. Preplanning and Prefunding: Advance funeral planning services where families can pre-fund funerals through payment plans or lump-sum payments. Preplanning is presented as optional but commonly chosen to lock in current prices and relieve family burden during grief.
3. Flowers and Merchandise: Sale of funeral flowers through local florist delivery, sympathy gifts, and memorial merchandise (caskets, urns, memorial packages). Flowers are ordered through the website and delivered by local florists.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Jay B. Smith Funeral Homes provides traditional funeral and cremation services to families in the St. Louis metropolitan area from two funeral home locations in Fenton and Maplewood, Missouri. Core offerings include complete burial services, a tiered menu of cremation packages ($1,395–$6,295), chapel rental for memorial services, advance preplanning with optional prefunding contracts, veterans burial benefits assistance, funeral personalization (music, readings, symbols, candles), obituary publishing, and post-loss grief support.

Product overview

Jay B Smith Funeral Homes is a family-owned funeral service provider offering a comprehensive portfolio of funeral and cremation services across two locations in Fenton and Maplewood, Missouri. The core product portfolio includes burial services (Chapel Service at $5,525, Church Service, and Graveside Service) and cremation packages ranging from $1,395 (no service) to $6,295 (Full Funeral Ceremony with Cremation), plus Chapel Rental for Memorial Service at $1,595. Supporting these core services are multiple add-on modules including an Online Preplanning Tool, Preplanning Specialist Consultation with John Wiltsch, downloadable resources (Preplanning Checklist, Healing & Meaningful Funerals eBook, Veterans' Burial Benefits eBook), Grief Support Resources and Circle of Friends+ for post-loss support, personalization services (Music & Readings, Symbols & Memorialization, Candle Lighting/Actions), Gather/Reception services, Veterans Services with VA benefits coordination, Lunch & Learn educational events, Social Security Benefits Assistance, Medicaid Spend Down Planning, Send Flowers delivery service, and Obituary Services. The company operates on the Tukios website platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Burial Services (Chapel, Church, and Graveside) Traditional funeral and burial services offered across chapel, church, or graveside venues for families in the St. Louis metro area. The Chapel Service tier ($5,525) covers transfer of remains to the funeral home, body preparation, facilities for visitation, funeral ceremony, funeral coach, service vehicle, and memorial package. Church and Graveside variants follow the same care and coordination model at the venue of the family's choosing.
• Full Funeral Ceremony with Cremation Complete funeral ceremony in chapel or church with visitation, embalming, ceremonial casket, and cremation services priced at $6,295 (includes $725 package discount). Includes basic services of funeral director, transfer of remains to funeral home, preparation, facilities use for visitation, chapel/church ceremony, paperwork assistance, minimum container and cremation fees, ceremonial casket, memorial package, and basic urn.
• Visitation with Cremation Visitation service with body present followed by cremation, priced at $5,995 (includes $475 package discount). Includes preparation of the body, visitation facilities and staff, and cremation services.
• Memorial Service and Memorial Visitation Memorial ceremony held in chapel, church, or graveside without the body present, priced at $4,285 (or $3,895 for two hours of visitation). Includes up to four hours of visitation with facilities and staff, chapel memorial service, minimum container, cremation fees, and memorial package.
• Memorial Service and Cremation Limited-services package priced at $2,945, covering limited services of funeral director and staff, use of facilities and staff for a chapel memorial service or off-premise memorial service, and cremation fees.
• Direct Cremation (No Service or Viewing) Cremation-only arrangement priced at $1,395 plus a $375 container fee. Includes transfer of body to the funeral home and cremation, with no viewing, visitation, or ceremony.
• Chapel Rental for Memorial Service Facility rental product for families who choose to use the chapel for a memorial service but did not use the funeral home for funeral or cremation services. Priced at $1,595 and includes limited services of funeral director and staff, use of facilities and staff for chapel memorial service, and memorial package.
• Preplanning Services (Consultation + Online Planning Tool) Advance funeral planning services combining a complimentary in-person consultation with Preplanning Specialist John Wiltsch and the online preplanning tool at startpreplanning.com/JayBSmith_PlanAhead. Customers can lock in current pricing through payment plans or lump-sum prepay, protect assets from nursing home costs via Medicaid-friendly contract structuring, and ensure VA burial benefits eligibility.
• Veterans Services Specialized funeral services for veterans including assistance with VA burial benefits, military honors, flag presentations, and coordination with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Targeted at U.S. military veterans and their surviving families.
• Personalization Services Customization of funeral and memorial services through music, readings, photos, albums, flowers, religious symbols, candles, artwork, and interactive memorial actions such as candle lighting and shared memories, plus post-service gathering/reception options held at funeral home, event center, home, or restaurant.
• Gathering and Visitation Services Pre-funeral gathering services including traditional funeral service with viewing, visitation, memorial service, and evening/weekend/holiday services held at the funeral home or other venues chosen by the family.
• Send Flowers (Sympathy Floral Delivery) Online flower ordering service where sympathy arrangements are made fresh and hand-delivered by local florists to funeral services or family homes.
• Obituary Services Creation and publication of online obituaries on the firm's obituary listing page, with optional text/email subscription alerts for new notices in the community.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Tukios, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationTukios, Inc. provides the website platform and technology infrastructure for Jay B Smith Funeral Homes. Tukios operates the website service, manages obituary publishing, and provides the underlying technology for funeral home websites. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are governed by Tukios, Inc. located in Ogden, UT.
• Circle of Friends+ (EverythingAfter)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerCircle of Friends+ is a grief support program that provides resources on grief and settling affairs sent via text and email. Enrollment is facilitated through the funeral home website. The program is operated by EverythingAfter and helps extend post-sale support to grieving families.
• Local FloristsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLocal florists handle flower delivery for sympathy arrangements ordered through the funeral home website. Flowers are hand-delivered by local florists to funeral services or family homes.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Baue Funeral Homes: St. Louis-area family-owned funeral provider with multiple locations. Direct regional competitor serving the same metro and customer base, making it the most geographically comparable peer to Jay B. Smith.

Direct peers

• Park Lawn Corporation: Publicly traded funeral, cemetery, and cremation operator in North America. Directly comparable in offering burial, cremation, and preplanning services across multiple locations, with a similar mix of acquired family businesses and standardized service offerings.
• Foundation Partners Group: Private, PE-backed owner/operator of funeral homes and cemeteries across the U.S. Closely comparable as a roll-up acquirer of family-owned funeral businesses and a relevant peer for any consolidator evaluating the St. Louis market.
• Service Corporation International: The largest funeral services operator in North America (parent of Dignity Memorial). Directly comparable business model—full-service funeral, cremation, and preplanning across many markets—and the dominant competitive benchmark for any U.S. funeral home operator.
• Carriage Services: Publicly traded operator of funeral homes and cemeteries. Comparable in providing full-service funeral, cremation, and preplanning with a multi-location model and a focus on personalization, directly mirroring Jay B. Smith's positioning in the St. Louis metro.

Broad incumbents

• Dignity Memorial: National funeral, cremation, and cemetery network operated by SCI. Comparable in offering full-service funeral, cremation, veterans services, and preplanning, but at much larger scale and as part of a broad national portfolio rather than a single-metro focus.

Others

• Batesville: Leading North American manufacturer of burial caskets and cremation products. Comparable as the dominant supplier-side participant in the funeral goods value chain, relevant to any discussion of merchandise mix and unit economics.
• Homesteaders Life Company: Pre-need funeral funding and insurance provider that partners with independent funeral homes. Comparable as a peer in the preplanning and prefunding revenue layer that Jay B. Smith offers, and a potential capital/financing partner for any expansion of pre-need sales.
• Wilbert Funeral Services: Provider of burial vaults, urns, and other cemetery/funeral products and services. Comparable as an enabling supplier to the funeral home industry, particularly for burial services which remain a meaningful share of Jay B. Smith's revenue.

Emerging players

• Neptune Society: Cremation-focused brand under Service Corporation International specializing in low-cost, direct cremation. Represents the digital-first, low-price segment of the market that pressures traditional funeral homes on the cremation portion of their mix.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jay-b-smith-funeral-homes

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Jay B Smith Funeral Homes