Brothers bet on booming pet economy with crematorium and event center in Pharr

Earlier this year, Jason De Leon, a city councilman in Edinburg with a background as a funeral director, suffered a loss.

His Boxer of over 10 years — Noni — died.

Noni lived about the average lifespan for a boxer. He was humanely euthanized. Afterward, De Leon had him cremated.

All in all, Noni died with about as much dignity as a dog could reasonably hope for.

The experience, however, left De Leon feeling cold.

“I never felt like I got to mourn,” he said. “And that’s something that got stuck in my head. It was eating at me. The Valley needs something for that; the market’s there.”

Recognizing that market — and the emotional drive behind it — led De Leon and his brother Jacob to invest in RGV Pet Cremation & Funeral Home, a business they plan to open in Pharr this September. The brothers aim to capitalize on the increased money people have been willing to spend on pets in recent years while meeting emotional needs around them.

Pet ownership in the United States has been on the rise in recent years.

Last year, Americans spent about $158 billion on their pets. The Pet Advocacy Network reported that 57% of households own at least one pet, underwriting about 1.3 jobs in pet-related goods and service industries, and 2.7 million jobs directly or indirectly linked to the pet support sector.

Although increased spending on pets is expected to slow for the next few years compared to a pandemic-era uptick, pets will remain big business in the U.S.

There’s a strong emotional component to that spending.

Almost all pet owners consider their animals to be a part of their family, according to a 2023 Pew Poll, and half of them consider their pets to be as much a part of their family as a human member.

De Leon doesn’t say pet owners; instead, he says “pet parents.”

Pet parents expect — and deserve — more than dropping their pet in a hole in the back yard or being handed a plain box with their ashes, De Leon said.

“We want to offer that service to pet parents,” he said. “We think it’s extremely important as the pet community grows so much in the Valley; we just felt like it was time to offer that service.”

Pet cremations and funeral services aren’t new to the Rio Grande Valley.

There’s at least half a dozen businesses that offer those types of services locally.

Some are fairly bare-boned. Others are more elaborate.

De Leon says he was part of starting one of those operations, Memorial Pet Passages, years ago.

Memorial is one of the more robust options for pet funerals in the Valley. It offers pet cremation, funeral and memorial services, obituaries, caskets, and urns.

De Leon says he wants to offer those services as well, but he has a vision for something more robustly focused on animals. 

RGV Pet Cremation & Funeral Home, he says, will offer 24/7 pet funeral planning and pickup throughout the Valley.

If your pet dies, they’ll come get it and help you decide what to do with its body.

De Leon also wants to lean into pet burials at homes or ranches, which is a more novel concept than cremation.

If you bury your pet with RGV Pet Cremation & Funeral Home, De Leon said, you’ll be offered a police escort to the burial ground, which will feature a tent, chairs and a grave dug by their staff.

“Just the way you would have it at a cemetery,” De Leon said.

De Leon acknowledges that most people probably aren’t going to opt for a funeral with all the bells and whistles. 

“It might not be for everyone. Some people might not want that service, but for those who do, we’ll offer it,” he said.

The De Leons’ new business will also feature a business idea that’s more experimental.

They want their new spot to have a pet event center, enough room for 25 or 30 people having a party based around a pet.

“Fairly small,” De Leon said. “The idea is we have room to grow if we need to, but we want to see where the market takes us. So we want to make sure that the investment is done correctly.”

What sort of event would you hold for a pet, you may ask? De Leon has some ideas.

You could have a pet birthday bash. A pet quinceañera. Maybe a pet wedding.

The specifics on those potential nuptials and any other potential pet party, De Leon said, will be up to the clients.

“Well, you know what, that’s gonna be up to the eyes of the pet owner,” he said. “We’re gonna rent out the space, all the personalizations and everything, they’re going to provide. We’ll have recommendations, but they’ll personalize everything because they know their pet more than we do.”

On its face, throwing a quinceañera for a chihuahua might seem a little much. De Leon thinks there’s a market, though.

He pointed to falling birth rates and many people’s intense sentiment toward their pets.

“They’re family,” he said.

There’s another factor at play that’s very fairly incontrovertible: pictures of dogs in party hats are cute, and they get clicks online.

De Leon says he thinks the event space will appeal to a segment of influencers and their furry companions.

“It’s a thing you’re seeing more and more with the rise of TikTok,” he said. “It’s a thing you’re seeing with influencers; it’s good content for them.”