01/12/17

In their own words “Starting a Pet Crematorium”

We often get asked a lot of questions from our customers when considering starting a pet crematorium business.  With different individuals motivated by different factors for running a business of this kind. It is never straight forward for us to give all the answers based purely on our opinions.  We are always in contact with our past customers to ensure that they are happy with the service provided as well as to answer any questions and discover their experiences so that we can share the outcomes with you honestly when you do decide to choose your Addfield machine.

We recently had the opportunity to spend a morning with husband and wife David and Pauline Aris who run Mirfield Pet Crematorium near Huddersfield in the UK.

Mirfield Pet Crematorium chose to invest in an Addfield Mini for their pet cremation.

“We chose a machine which was capable of cremating more commonly kept pets and accommodating fairly large pets but we wanted a low-key business with the main focus being on our customers service.”

Starting a new business especially in Pet Cremation is often done out of any number of very strong reasons including financial but not always.

“We chose to start our own Pet Cremation Business for the following reasons:

Pauline’s company was closing down and she had several years to run before retirement.

We had previously had our own dog individually cremated, but it took us a great deal of searching online before we were happy we had found a suitable company.  However, the company was about 18 miles away.  We wanted to be able to help others, providing a service we wanted for our own pets. 

Our home and garden location was ideal, backing onto an industrial area which helped with planning permission. It also meant we could operate from home.”

Starting any new business can always be a daunting process which can also be very rewarding since launching the business David has found it to be a real learning curve however being able to be there for his customers as someone who has been at the receiving end of the process has really allowed David and Pauline to deliver excellent service as they can fully understand and relate to the feelings of the bereaved pet owners, and help them through their grief.

Choosing a supplier to entrust with your future business is not always straight forward with every company generally stating that there machine is the ‘Best’ solution.  At Addfield we are confident in our machines but also our service at every stage of the process especially with supporting new start-ups, assisting them through any growing pains as well as guiding through the process of getting used to the machine and it’s operation.

“We faced many challenges starting the business – to the point we almost gave up on the idea.  The main problem was dealing with our local planning department and gaining planning permission.  It took us a year to gain planning permission and we felt the young council officer and staff in general were unsure of how to deal with an application such as ours because it is so unusual at the moment.

We believe we made the right choice with the machine because when all is well, it is easy to operate and easy to clean out.  The side door is very useful and helps us monitor the cremation progress because every cremation is different.  The insulation is impressive and the outside is amazingly cool considering the temperatures reached inside.

 Addfield have been helpful and it has been reassuring to know there is someone at the end of the phone if things go wrong or if there are any queries.  The service we have received from Addfield has been pretty good so far. 

We have found the machine generally easy to operate and work with.  There are always teething problems at the start, but solving these increases our knowledge of the working of the machine.  The cremulator is a doddle to use.  We have experienced some problems but Addfield are quick to help.”

With Pet Cremation becoming such a growing business in the UK and internationally we always try to encourage our customers to think about the future and where they could see themselves in the near future. However this is completely down to you as to how far you want to build it.  With Mirfield they chose a solution to fit their plans perfectly.

“We have no plans to expand the business as we believe small is beautiful.  We can keep costs down by running the company ourselves and these savings can be passed on to our customers.   We try to offer a good service at a fair price.  It also means that we can oversee and control every cremation ourselves.  We believe this gives peace of mind to our customers.  The biggest concern the majority of our customers have told us is that they need to be confident they are getting only their ‘own pets’ ashes back.”

As with all of our customers we intend to continue supporting Mirfield for many years to come from providing annual servicing to offering advice and guidance when required with our back office team made up of experts in there respective field we are confident that Mirfield will have many successful years ahead of it and look forward to hearing how the next year turns our now that they are all up and running smoothly.  Thank you David and Pauline Aris for sharing your experience with us.

If you are looking for a high quality Pet Cremation service and want to learn more you can visit Mirfield Pet Crematorium here www.mirfieldpetcrematorium.com

If you are interested in learning more about running your own pet cremation business we have produced a number of articles and FAQ’s to help guide you in the right direction.

Starting your pet cremation business

How to start a pet crematorium

Frequently Asked Questions Pet Cremation Machines

To learn more about what it’s really like running one of the UK’s busiest Pet Crematoriums watch our interview by clicking here.

To discover more from our pet cremation range click here