Who Owns Your Pet Crematory? (2026): One Company, 20 Brands

When your vet hands you a brochure for pet cremation, the name on it usually sounds like a small local business. Lasting Paws. West Coast Pet Memorial. Trusted Journey. Pet Angel Memorial Center. Final Gift. Abbey Glen. Names chosen to feel like the sort of place a family runs out of a building on the edge of town.

Many of them are brands of the same company.

That company is Gateway Services Inc., and you do not have to take our word for any of this, because Gateway publishes the map itself. On its corporate website under the heading "LOCATIONS/BRANDS," Gateway lays out a state-by-state directory of the United States and links each state to the consumer brand that serves it. Counted on August 16, 2026, that page links out to twenty distinct consumer-facing brand websites.

This is not an accusation, and nothing here suggests anything improper. Operating many consumer brands under one parent is legal, common, and happens in hotels, eyewear, veterinary clinics and funeral homes alike. Gateway is open about it on its own site. The point of this guide is narrower and, we think, uncontroversial: when you are choosing between two "local" crematories, it helps to know whether they are actually two companies.

Last verified: August 16, 2026. Ownership statements below are sourced to Gateway's own website and to filings by the Federal Trade Commission, each linked in place. We do not state a price for any company in this article.

The Fastest Way to See It: Gateway's Own State Map

Gateway's corporate site assigns each US state to a brand. Here is that map as it read on August 16, 2026, transcribed from gatewayservicesinc.com. If your state is on this list, the brand named beside it is the one Gateway's own website points you to.

Gateway's site also links a further set of brands outside the state map -- Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park, Unforgettable Pets, Animal Memorial Service, At Home On The Range, Peaceful Pets Aquamation, Eco Animal Cremation, Pets Remembered Cremation and Forget-Me-Not Pet Crematory -- plus Gateway Pet Memorial and Cremanimo, which the map assigns to Canadian provinces.

A secondary guide, hallowedpaws.com, published a similar brand list independently. We mention it because corroboration is worth something, but we sourced the table above from Gateway's own website rather than from that guide, and you should too.

Two caveats worth stating plainly. First, a company's own marketing page is a snapshot, not a registry -- brands get added, sold and retired, and this table will drift. Check the source page before relying on it. Second, a state appearing here does not mean Gateway is the only operator in that state. There are thousands of independent pet crematories in the US, including in every state above. It means only that this is the brand Gateway's site routes that state to.

What the FTC Filed, and Exactly What It Covers

On September 4, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint against Gateway Services, Inc. and Gateway US Holdings Inc. The complaint is a public document and you can read all of it: FTC complaint against Gateway Services (PDF).

Four things from that complaint, quoted or stated exactly as filed:

On scale. The FTC writes: "Gateway is by far the largest pet cremation services company in the United States, with 1,992 U.S.-based employees. Gateway operates over 100 locations servicing 17,000 customers across North America."

On corporate structure. The complaint states that Gateway Services, Inc. is located in Guelph, Ontario, and that Gateway US Holdings Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gateway Services, Inc., organized under the laws of Delaware, with its principal place of business in Cranston, Rhode Island.

On non-compete agreements. The complaint alleges that beginning in 2019 Gateway required non-compete agreements of all newly hired employees regardless of position, barring them from pet cremation work anywhere in the United States for twelve months after leaving. It states that over 1,780 US-based Gateway employees were subject to them, and that all Gateway employees except those working in California were covered.

On facility closures. The complaint states that between January 2020 and October 2023, Gateway closed dozens of cremation facilities across the United States.

On November 25, 2025, the FTC approved a final consent order: FTC approves final order prohibiting noncompete enforcement by Gateway Services.

Now the part that matters most, and we want to be precise about it. That order concerns employment non-compete agreements -- Gateway's contracts with its own workers. It is not a finding about pricing, about how any pet's remains were handled, about advertising, or about the quality of any cremation. A consent order is not a finding of fraud, and it is not an admission of liability. If someone tells you the FTC found that Gateway mistreated pets, that is not what the document says, and you should ask them to show you where it does.

What it does tell a consumer is something quieter but still real: the company's US footprint is large enough, and consolidated enough, that federal antitrust staff took an interest in whether its employees could go work elsewhere in the same industry.

Who Owns Gateway

Gateway is not itself a household name, and it is not publicly traded, so there is no 10-K to read the way there is for the human-side funeral chains.

What is on the public record comes largely from the private equity firm involved. Imperial Capital, a Toronto-based private equity firm, describes taking a majority stake in Gateway in March 2015. In its own published case study, Imperial Capital says it grew Gateway from four locations to more than 125 care centers, and grew revenue from under $10 million to over $300 million, and says it acquired Regency Pet in March 2022.

We are attributing those figures deliberately. They are Imperial Capital's own account of its own investment, published as marketing. They are not audited, not independently verified, and not something we can confirm. Treat them as what a seller says about a business it built, which is exactly what they are.

In November 2022, ICG Strategic Equity invested US$760 million into a continuation fund and took the controlling position in Gateway.

The practical translation for a pet owner: the crematory your vet uses may ultimately be held by an institutional investment vehicle several corporate layers up. That is not sinister -- pension funds and endowments own pieces of a great many ordinary businesses. But it is a different thing from the family-run operation the brand name suggests, and you are entitled to know which one you are hiring.

"Over 100" or "150+"? Both Numbers Are Real

You will see two different location counts for Gateway, and it is worth understanding why rather than picking whichever one suits an argument.

• The FTC complaint (September 2025) says Gateway "operates over 100 locations." That is a US figure in a US regulatory filing.
• Gateway's own website, checked August 16, 2026, advertises "over 150+ Locations" and "over 2,000 Team Members." That is a North American figure -- it includes Canada, where Gateway operates as Gateway Pet Memorial and Cremanimo, and where the company is headquartered.

So they are not contradictory; they are counting different territories at different dates. When you see a US-only claim, the FTC's number is the one to cite. When you see a North America claim, Gateway's own number is the relevant one. Gateway's site also describes the company as "the largest pet aftercare provider in North America" and says its "facilities are locally managed, with staff who live and work in the communities they serve."

Gateway Is Not the Only Consolidator

It is the biggest one in pet aftercare, but consolidation in this sector is broader than a single company.

Park Lawn Corporation is a deathcare company that also holds pet cremation operations and was taken private in August 2024. We are not publishing a Park Lawn pet-brand list in this article, and we want to say why rather than leave a gap: Park Lawn does not publish a public brand map the way Gateway does, and we could not verify one from a primary source. Rather than print a list we cannot stand behind, we are telling you it exists and showing you, below, how to check any specific crematory yourself.

Matthews International turns up constantly in pet cremation searches and confuses people. It is an equipment supplier -- it manufactures cremation systems -- not an operator of crematories. A facility running Matthews equipment is not a Matthews-owned facility, any more than a restaurant with a Hobart mixer is owned by Hobart.

Companies That Are Not Part of This Story

It would be easy, and wrong, to conclude that every multi-location pet cremation brand is a private equity rollup. Two of the names families most often ask us about are not on Gateway's brand map at all:

Faithful Companion. As of August 16, 2026, Faithful Companion does not appear anywhere on Gateway's state map or brand list, and its own website does not carry Gateway branding. Notably, Gateway's map routes Tennessee to Pet Angel Memorial Center and North Carolina to Agape Pet Services -- two markets where Faithful Companion also operates, independently of Gateway. Its own locations page lists 13 US markets. We have not been able to verify its ownership structure from a primary source and so make no claim about it either way. See our Faithful Companion locations guide.

Pet Passages. Pet Passages operates as a network of locally owned providers, and its individual locations use city-specific web addresses of the form charlotte.nc.petpassages.com. It does not appear on Gateway's brand map.

The lesson is not "chains bad, independents good." It is that the brand name on the brochure carries no information about ownership in either direction, so the only way to know is to check.

How to Check for Yourself: Five Minutes, Four Steps

This is the part of the article we would most like you to keep. It works for any pet crematory in the country, and it does not depend on us keeping a list up to date.

1. Just ask. It is the fastest method and it almost always works.

Call the crematory or ask your vet's office one sentence: "Who owns this crematory -- is it independently owned, or is it part of a larger group?" This is a completely normal question, staff answer it routinely, and you will usually have your answer in under a minute. Nobody is obliged to hide it, and in our experience nobody tries to.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the brand's website.

Corporate parents leave their fingerprints in footers, privacy policies and careers links, because those are the pages lawyers and HR own rather than marketing. To take one concrete example: the footer of lastingpawspetmemorial.com reads "© 2026 - Powered By Gateway", and its Careers and Privacy Policy links both point to gatewayservicesinc.com. That is the company disclosing its own parent, in the place companies usually do it.

Look for: a copyright line naming a different company, a privacy policy hosted on another domain, a Careers link that jumps to a corporate careers portal, or a Terms page that names an entity you have never heard of.

3. Check the state license, not the website.

Every US state licenses or registers crematories, usually through a funeral board, a department of agriculture, or a board of veterinary medicine, depending on the state. The licensee of record is a legal entity -- an LLC or corporation -- not a brand name, and that entity name is what you want. Search your state's board for the facility's address. It takes a couple of minutes and it is the most authoritative answer available to a member of the public.

4. Look up the business entity in your Secretary of State's registry.

Once you have the legal entity name from step three, search it in your Secretary of State's business registry. Most states publish these free online. You will see the registered agent, the officers, and often the parent or manager entity. Following that chain up two levels usually gets you to the real owner.

If steps one through four all come back "independently owned by the people who work there," you have learned something genuinely useful. If they come back pointing to a national parent, you have also learned something useful. Neither answer is a reason to walk away by itself.

Does Any of This Change What You Should Do?

Honestly, less than you might expect -- but not nothing.

What it does not change. A crematory owned by a national company is not, for that reason, worse at its job. Larger operators often have newer equipment, formal chain-of-custody tracking, backup capacity when a machine goes down, and standardized identification procedures. Several of the brands on Gateway's map hold high review averages in our own directory. Scale is not the enemy of care.

What it does change. Three specific things:

• It changes what "getting a second opinion" means. If your vet offers one option and you find another online, and both turn out to be brands of the same parent, you have not actually compared two companies. Make sure at least one of the providers you consider has no corporate relationship to the others.
• It changes who you are negotiating with. Pricing and package structure at a national brand are typically set above the branch. The person you speak with may have limited discretion, which is worth knowing before you ask.
• It changes what a name tells you. A homespun-sounding brand is a marketing decision, not evidence of local ownership. Judge the facility on its answers, its license, and its reviews -- never on how folksy the name sounds.

For what to actually ask once you know who you are dealing with, our guide on how vets handle pet cremation covers the vet-to-crematory handoff, and how to know the ashes are your pet's covers identification and chain of custody -- which matter far more to your outcome than the ownership question does.

Questions to Ask Any Pet Crematory

Ownership is one line item on a longer list. These are the questions that change what you actually receive:

1. Who owns this crematory? Independently owned, or part of a group? If a group, which one?
2. Is the cremation private, partitioned, or communal? These words are used inconsistently across the industry, so make the provider define the one they are using. Our guide to communal vs private pet cremation explains the difference.
3. What is the identification and chain-of-custody procedure? Ask specifically how the pet is tagged and tracked from pickup to return.
4. Where does the cremation physically happen? Some brands coordinate with partner facilities rather than owning one in every market. Ask for the address.
5. Can I witness or visit? Not every family wants to, but the answer tells you something about the facility.
6. What is the written, itemized price? Get it in writing, including the urn, any paw print or fur clipping, transport, and return delivery. Get a total, not a "starting at."
7. How long until my pet comes home, and how will they be returned?

Our questions to ask a cremation provider checklist keeps every conversation on the same terms.

Find an Independent Provider Near You

If you want a quote from a provider with no relationship to the brand your vet suggested, our directory lists pet and human cremation providers city by city:

• Boise, ID
• Kansas City, MO
• Charlotte, NC
• Nicholasville, KY
• Reno, NV
• Albuquerque, NM

Browse any city in our directory, or start with our pet cremation near me guide.

This article states ownership facts sourced from Gateway Services Inc.'s own corporate website as it read on August 16, 2026, and from the Federal Trade Commission's administrative complaint filed September 4, 2025 and final consent order approved November 25, 2025, each linked above. The FTC consent order concerns employment non-compete agreements and is not a finding of fraud, a finding about pricing, or a finding about the handling of any animal's remains; a consent order is not an admission of liability. Growth and revenue figures attributed to Imperial Capital are that firm's own published account of its investment and are not independently verified. Operating multiple brands under a single corporate parent is lawful and common. This article does not state a price for any company. Corporate structures change; verify against the linked primary sources before relying on any statement here.

Helpful Resources

• FTC complaint against Gateway Services, September 4, 2025 (PDF)
• FTC final order, November 25, 2025
• Gateway Services Inc. corporate site
• Cremation Association of North America (CANA)
• American Veterinary Medical Association

Related guides on this site:

• Lasting Paws Pet Memorial locations
• Faithful Companion locations
• pet cremation costs: what to expect
• communal vs private pet cremation
• how vets handle pet cremation

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns my local pet crematory?

There is no national registry, so the answer depends on the facility -- and the brand name will not tell you. The fastest method is to ask directly: "Is this crematory independently owned, or part of a larger group?" Staff answer this routinely. If you want to verify independently, check the crematory's state license (the licensee of record is a legal entity, not a brand name), then look that entity up in your Secretary of State's business registry. Many local-sounding brands are independent; many others are brands of Gateway Services Inc., which publishes a state-by-state brand map on its own corporate site.

Is Lasting Paws owned by Gateway?

Yes, and Lasting Paws says so itself. The footer of lastingpawspetmemorial.com reads "© 2026 - Powered By Gateway," and the site's Careers and Privacy Policy links both point to gatewayservicesinc.com. Gateway's own corporate site also links Lasting Paws as the brand serving Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. Both checked August 16, 2026. This is a disclosed corporate relationship, not a hidden one -- see our Lasting Paws locations guide.

Who owns West Coast Pet Memorial?

Gateway Services Inc.'s own corporate website links West Coast Pet Memorial as the brand serving California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, as that page read on August 16, 2026. Gateway is a pet aftercare company headquartered in Guelph, Ontario, with a US subsidiary, Gateway US Holdings Inc., whose principal place of business the FTC's September 2025 complaint gives as Cranston, Rhode Island. You can confirm the brand assignment yourself at gatewayservicesinc.com.

Did the FTC find that Gateway did something wrong with pets?

No, and this is worth being clear about. The FTC's September 4, 2025 complaint and its November 25, 2025 consent order concern employment non-compete agreements -- contracts Gateway required of its own employees, which the FTC alleged barred them from working in pet cremation anywhere in the US for twelve months. The order prohibits enforcing them. It contains no finding about pricing, advertising, or the handling of any animal's remains, and a consent order is not an admission of liability. Anyone citing it as proof of mistreatment is misreading the document.

Is it bad if my pet crematory is owned by a big company?

Not inherently, and we would not tell you to avoid one on that basis. Larger operators frequently have newer equipment, formal chain-of-custody tracking and backup capacity, and several Gateway brands carry strong review averages in our own directory. What common ownership changes is the meaning of comparison shopping: if the two providers you are weighing are brands of the same parent, you have not really compared two companies. Make sure at least one option you consider is unaffiliated with the others.

Is Faithful Companion owned by Gateway?

Not according to Gateway. As of August 16, 2026, Faithful Companion does not appear on Gateway's state map or brand list, and Faithful Companion's own website does not carry Gateway branding. Gateway's map instead routes Tennessee to Pet Angel Memorial Center and North Carolina to Agape Pet Services, two states where Faithful Companion operates separately. We have not verified Faithful Companion's ownership structure from a primary source and make no claim about it beyond that. See our Faithful Companion locations guide.

How many pet crematories does Gateway own?

Two different figures circulate, and both are accurate for what they measure. The FTC's September 2025 complaint says Gateway "operates over 100 locations" -- a US figure in a US filing. Gateway's own website, checked August 16, 2026, advertises "over 150+ Locations" and "over 2,000 Team Members" across North America, which includes its Canadian operations. Use the FTC figure for US claims and Gateway's figure for North American ones.

Does it cost more to use a chain pet crematory?

We do not publish price claims about any company, because pet cremation pricing is set locally, varies by your pet's weight, and is rarely posted online by anyone -- chain or independent. What we can tell you is how to compare properly: get a written, itemized total from at least two providers that are not owned by the same parent, and make sure both quotes describe the same service, since "private," "partitioned" and "individual" are used inconsistently across the industry. Our guide to pet cremation cost by weight explains what drives the number.