Andrea Bogard LeBlanc has understood since childhood the relationshipbetween comfort, togetherness and food during times of grief.

Food forThought

ProfileBy Stan Goldstein

“Ilove to cook and I’ve always been interested init,” she said. “When I was

10 and my neighbor died at age 15,my mother said, ‘What type of fooddo we need to take?’ So, we madesome finger foods, foods you canhold in your hand. My mother madesome deviled eggs, neighbors broughtover casseroles. I remember everyonebringing some food.”Bogard LeBlanc, 57, the owner of

Bogati Urn Co. in Sarasota, Florida,plans to put together a book concen-trating on the role food plays in lossand grieving. “The book is in its preliminary

stages, it’s something I wanted to dofor a long time. I hope to get storiesfrom funeral directors and people inthe industry,” she said. “The bookwill include recipes, regional and cul-tural specialties; feel-good food sto-ries and tips on preparing foods forservices and/or grieving families.”

In 2018, Bogard LeBlanc attendedthe funeral of her nephew, Garret,who died suddenly at 22. As theydrove his cremated remains back tohis home in California, they pickedup all his favorite foods from hiscollege town in Tucson, Arizona,and then stopped at Burger King, hisfavorite fast food restaurant, on theway to the service.“They had all his favorite foods at

the service: Philly cheesesteaks, keylime pie, Jell-O shots, barbecue,baked potatoes,” said BogardLeBlanc, who then began thinkingabout how foods bring people com-fort and togetherness in times ofgrief. Bogard LeBlanc has her own

food-related “feel-good story” taking place in April.“My father died in November,

and we’re planning his memorialservice over Easter weekend,” shesaid.

The service will be at Agatucci’sRestaurant in Peoria, Illinois. It’swhere her parents had their firstdate in 1949. The restaurant, whichopened in 1926, is still in business.“My parents met at that pizza

place,” she said. “We’re going tocelebrate with the foods he alwaysliked.”It’s stories like this that Bogard

LeBlanc hopes to include in thebook.“I’m looking for something with a

story attached. Food is so importantin a person’s life, like chicken soupfor the soul. “I think the role food plays in

grieving is a special, touching storyto tell, and who better to help metell it than those working with griev-ing families every day?” BogardLeBlanc said. “I welcome any infor-mation someone feels compelled toshare on this topic and look forwardto reading the emails to come.”

This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of American Funeral Director, published by Kates-Boylston Publications,and is being shared with permission. Visit www.americanfuneraldirector.com to subscribe.

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This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of American Funeral Director, published by Kates-Boylston Publications,and is being shared with permission. Visit www.americanfuneraldirector.com to subscribe.

15 Years and GrowingBogard LeBlanc’s Bogati Urns, in

its 15th year of operation, continuesto grow.Bogard LeBlanc founded her com-

pany with just two lead crystal urndesigns in her product line. Nowthere are hundreds of urn designsavailable.“I started with a lead-crystal de-

sign from Poland. In 2003, there wasa funeral suppliers show in Clearwa-ter, Florida and due to the proximity,I believed it would be a good way totest the market before I formallystarted a company,” Bogard LeBlancsaid. “It was well received.” She decided to officially launch

the company the following year.She named it Bogati after a conver-sation she had with her Polishbrother-in-law.“We were looking through the dic-

tionary, and were trying to find a

word to mean substance of quality.We found ‘bogaty’ which means‘rich’ in Polish. We changed the ‘y’ toan ‘i’ and that’s where the Bogatiname came from.“My first trade show booth as

Bogati Urn Co. was in early 2004 inTampa at the AAHA (American Ani-mal Hospital Association) confer-ence,” Bogard LeBlanc said. “Mysister-in-law, who was the marketingdirector for the veterinarian divisionof CareCredit, encouraged me to at-tend. It was a success and my prod-ucts were picked up by Kelco SupplyCo. and my company was highlight-ed in veterinarian trade publicationlater that year.”She began the business with her

former husband in St. Petersburg,Florida, in a shared commercialspace. It moved to a commercialrental space in Sarasota in 2009.Bogard LeBlanc purchased her first

warehouse five years ago and a sec-ond one last November. The newheadquarters, also located in Saraso-ta, includes eight offices and over14,000 square feet of warehousespace, more than double the capacityof the previous onsite warehouse.Bogard LeBlanc never envisioned

her company would grow this big.She expects to do about $3 million inbusiness this year.“With this larger overall space, we

have room to continue to grow inmany ways, including developingnew product lines that will provideour customers with a variety of prod-ucts at different price points,” Bogard LeBlanc said.

Above: Bogati Urn Co. moved into a larger warehouse spacelast year. Right: Bogati Urn Co. founder Andrea BogardLeBlanc. (Photos courtesy of Bogati Urns)

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“It’s grown into something sowonderful, I don’t feel as though I goto work every day. We have a greatgroup of eight employees. When Istarted the company, I had no idea Iwould enjoy this business as much asI do. But looking back, it makessense. With a bachelor’s degree in ad-vertising and an associate’s degree innursing, I’ve discovered it is perfectfor my skill set.” Bogard LeBlanc graduated from

Drake University in 1984. Sheworked in newspaper advertisingfor the Dallas Morning News, a na-tional rep company and L.A. Week-ly before moving to Florida in 1991.While in Florida, she worked as ahome-care nurse for various agen-cies and was a registered nurse casemanager for a hospital home careagency. But that firm hit some fi-nancial issues and Bogard LeBlancwas laid off.“I was happily laid off,” Bogard

LeBlanc said. “I liked nursing, but Ialways wanted a second career. It’sthe most freeing thing in the world,to own your own business. Both myfather and his father were entrepre-neurs with pharmacies, so growingup I also thought that I may havemy own business.”Among the changes Bogard

LeBlanc has seen over the past 15years is more women getting intothe funeral business.“With an increase in cremation,

we see a lot of competitors gettinginto the business including a lotmore women. I think it’s the aware-ness that this is a nurturing field, afield like teaching and nursing,” shesaid.

Awarding ScholarshipsThe company, as part of its Bogati

Gives Back efforts, chooses funeralservice and mortuary student recipi-ents for the Bogati Scholarship Fund.Thirty-nine of the 40 applicants forthe scholarships in 2018 were fromwomen.“I started to give money to a lot of

different organizations and decidedwhy not give to the funeral indus-try?” Bogard LeBlanc said. “I sent

out notices to schools that have mor-tuary programs so students wouldapply.“It started last year, and it was re-

ally nice. We had 40 applicants andit was difficult to choose. We chosefive students and gave out $4,750. Ifeel it’s important to give back to thestudents who eventually become li-censed funeral directors.

Students may apply until the begin-ning of July for the this year’s fall se-mester scholarship awards. Winnerswill be announced at the end of July.(Details on how to apply can be foundat www.bogatiurns.com/scholarship/)What helps an applicant to be

selected?“Sometimes it’s a personal story or

what they are committed to outsideof work and school,” Bogard

LeBlanc said. “One woman who wonwent on some medical trips withphysicians she worked for. It’s some-thing showing they went above andbeyond.”

Around the WorldBogati has clients nationwide and

in 25 countries.“It is amazing. We even have a pet

crematorium in Russia we sell to.They’re unable to buy from India because of export laws,” she said.Bogard LeBlanc has seen a big

increase in urns for pets.“The pet market has grown con-

siderably the past few years. In 2018,50 percent of our sales were pet related so I suspect that it will be thesame this year” she said. “Our focusinitially was funeral homes. Wedidn’t start pets until 2012. We sellsome pet urns through Kelco. Wealigned with them and they pickedup our line of crystal.”The company also added engraving

in 2013. “It’s a nice added feature.It’s a small growing part of our business,” Bogard LeBlanc said.A new trend with urns is brighter

colors.“We’re always looking for new de-

signs to keep up with trends, fromfunerals to celebration of life,” Boga-rd LeBlanc said. “Now, some don’twant something dull or traditional.Purple has been a huge color. Theywant something bright and colorfulbecause it’s a celebration of life.”While Bogati is a wholesaler with

an online business, funeral directorsdo stop by to see the warehouse.“Our local funeral directors do

come in on a regular basis to seewhat we have. Plus, since Florida is avacation capital, we’ll have others inthe business stop by while they’re vis-iting,” Bogard LeBlanc said. With 15 years of business experi-

ence, what does Bogard LeBlanc seefor the future? “I want to continue to grow and

streamline what we offer, we got aplan and we keep chugging along.”

Submissions for Bogard LeBlanc’supcoming book may be emailed tosales@bogatiurns.com •

This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of American Funeral Director, published by Kates-Boylston Publications,and is being shared with permission. Visit www.americanfuneraldirector.com to subscribe.

Purple is a popular color choice forurns. (Photo courtesy of Bogati Urns)

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