Bryce Bunker

Guiding conversations with community leaders.

In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, perhaps providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals.

And Rocket Space, an event and meeting venue in the heart of the East Valley with a full service four person podcast studio. Guiding growth today. Sarah, are you ready for this one?

I am ready.

Are you sure?

Are you ready for this one?

I am so ready for this one. This is gonna be great. So we've got someone today who grew up in Mesa, Arizona and and graduated with the highest academic distinction, summa cum laude from Arizona State University, where he researched the brain of those impacted by Alzheimer's disease. He moved to California, but the family business eventually called him home to Arizona. He's the youngest of six children and now is a husband to his wife Ashley, and a father to three. He is the sole owner of Bunker Family Funerals and Cremation and recently was presented with the 2021 Visionary Award from the Gilbert Chamber.

He is Bryce Bunker.

Bryce Bunker, welcome to the show.

It's good to be here.

We appreciate you being on the show today. Sorry that you have to have Sarah shenanigans this morning, but that's just how the show goes. So prepare yourself, but buckle up, it's going to be a good one.

All right, we are going to kick off the episode with what we call rapid fire round. Here we go. Your hobby of choice.

Oh, watch sports. That's kind of boring. But that's not boring.

That's a good hobby, actually.

Specific sport.

I'm a huge Suns and Cardinals fan, so those are the two. Yeah, yeah.

Beautiful.

It's a nice change.

All right, Bryce, phone call or text message?

Text message.

Most annoying sound in the world.

A loud motorcycle. Like, really, really loud motorcycle. Or car.

Especially like in the middle of the night when you're trying to.

Yeah. Or just like you're just having a conversation and it goes by and it's like crazy, crazy loud. Not I love motorcycles and cars, but like the loud, loud ones.

I am going to say I don't.

Know what it is.

I have not. I've asked this question a dozen times. I haven't known what my answer is going to be until you said that. And I agree wholeheartedly.

That's a rough one.

All right, so next one. Favorite things about Gilbert or thing?

Just the community feel of it. I love that. It feels like a sense of community. It's a great place to. To raise a family, which I have three young kids, and so that's pretty important to me is having a great place to raise my family. There's good food, which is always a benefit, and we're just. We just keep getting more good food. So that makes me really happy. But overall, just the people, the quality of people. Relationships are everything. So the good people around one day.

With any person living or not, who would it be?

This is maybe not a popular answer, but probably Jesus.

That would be a great answer. I'm with you on that one.

So, yeah, I mean, that would be.

Answer is accepted.

Okay.

What song do you sing on karaoke night?

You might have to sing I'll Probably Believe by Cher.

How's that song go? Do you know?

No, I don't remember.

Come on.

I don't remember.

Okay.

I don't remember.

We'll come back to that one.

Or. Or Zombie by the Cranberries.

I love that song.

I'm trying to think of the two that, like, annoy my wife the most when I seeing him. And that's. That's pretty much the. The two that I go to.

I got it. Annoyance favorites.

Got it.

Okay. I'm with you on that one. Okay.

Best vacation you can remember.

I just got back from Watercolor Florida, and it was. It was wonderful. So that was. That was a good one.

Did you do watercolors?

No. It's this little master plan community in Florida right by Seaside, Florida, if you're familiar with where Seaside is. I'd never heard of it, but two of my brothers live on the east coast now, and so they do more east coast beach trips. And so they pulled us out there for Thanksgiving and it was. It was a magical place. Really good time.

You didn't have to answer that question. That was a silly question. Ben.

We do a lot of watercolors in our house, and so I thought that was a real question personally, but. Okay. Dine in or delivery?

Dine in.

Okay.

A day with your best friend or a party with everyone you know?

Best friend.

Okay, final question. Glass half full or half empty?

Half full.

Nice. We get a lot of half fulls. I think that's the right mantra for most. And we're glad you have a half full with us today. Thank you. To Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport for their support.

With Nonstop service to 60 plus cities, Gateway Airport makes traveling just plain easy.

Visit GatewayAirport.com for more information. Sarah, what do you want to know about this guy.

Well, let's go back a little bit. So you have an interesting journey to where you are now, especially after you graduate high school.

You.

You go to ASU studying specific proteins of the brain, and then you go to California, and then somehow you go into Internet tech startup.

Yeah, she wants you to tell her journey, I think, is what she tries to.

I mean, it sounds like, man, I got a lot of. I think just nobody really wanted me, and so I had to figure out where I could add value. But was it them or was it you?

I don't know.

I think I was more the issue. But, yeah, I just. I was. You know, I think at that period of your life, you're trying to figure out what really resonates with you and where you want to build yourself around from a career perspective. And I always loved the idea of medicine and had a great respect for those who practice medicine. And so that's initially what took me on the course to study biochemistry at the time. And I had an opportunity to work under a doctor there that did some research. And so I worked in the lab there. And then I kind of came. I started my family at that point in time, and I was realizing that it takes really smart people to do those things, and maybe I'm not one of them. And so I just really kind of had this moment where I thought, if this is the only thing that I can think will make me happy in my career is doing this, then I should proceed. But if there's other ways, other things that I think that I can do that I'd be happy, then that might be a better fit for my family. And so at the same time, this Internet and startup was kind of coming together, and they had asked me to be involved in it. And so I made the decision to move to California after I graduated and did that for a year. And I think both experiences were really beneficial for me because I love the scientific process of having a hypothesis and then creating a way to test that hypothesis and learning from that. And then the nature of an Internet startup, you think you're gonna take over the world one day and be homeless the next, and reality is usually somewhere in between. Yes, it is, yes, but. But it was a lot of fun and just taking risks, I think that was an important part for me is learning how to take risks and testing out different things and trying to find problems to solve. And so, yeah, both were. Both were great experiences for me.

Okay, I've got a question that's personal for me. I've got a son who's getting ready to graduate, and he's looking at colleges. You chose asu. Why? And what made you go that route?

Because he's a smart man, quiet girl.

I actually, I started at Brigham Young University in Utah, and then when I fell in love with my wife and was trying to convince her to marry me, she lived here and she was a breadwinner, and I was going to BYU at the time, and I loved her more than a lot more than byu. So I came down here and she was the. She was the breadwinner for. For our family as I went to issue. But I actually, I loved my Asia experience, so it was a. It was a good fit for me.

Okay, good, good. So the. The decisions you made in your college years, what influenced those? Like, where did you pull from them? It was just instinctively always in you. I mentioned to you before I thought I was gonna be an architect. That's why I went to school. What made you go down those paths? What inspired you in those ways?

Yeah, I think I touched on the studying medicine and the Internet startup, but really, what turned me to where I ultimately am now? The family business. I'm the youngest of six kids, and I have four. My oldest passed away, and so I have four living siblings that are all incredibly talented and chose to do different things with their life. My dad always kind of had a rule, and it was, if you want to come back to the family business, graduate from college, go work for someone else, and then come back. And his reasoning for that was he didn't want anyone to feel like they had to. Well, my brothers all are very bright, educated, talented, talented guys. My sister at the time was focusing on building her family. And it got to the point where my dad realized, oh, man, I'm getting close to retirement age and nobody's come back to the family business. And so he called us all together and we had this family meeting. And you may or may not know, in the funeral space, there is a lot of acquisition activity. Right. And so whereas it traditionally was a very family owned, owned business, now most of them are owned by either publicly traded companies or privately traded conglomerates or whatever it may be. And my dad just simply said, I will not do it. I will not sell my business. And so I've got to figure this out. And it was at that point in time where I just had this introspection of, why have I not considered this before? And it's not that I hadn't considered it, but it was always. It felt like the easy way out. Go work for dad. And you're on this fast track because nepotism or whatever it may be, you know, I'm part of the family. And it just felt like the easy way out. And then as I thought more about that, I just thought, man, that's really silly. You have an opportunity to do something that is incredibly impactful for people at the most difficult of times. I've had the luxury of being able to watch a father do it with incredible compassion and all of his heart. And I thought, what do you want? Personally just had to evaluate what do I want out of my life? Is it to make a difference in people's lives or elsewhere? And so at that point in time, I just. I really thought about it and talked to my wife and thought it would be silly not to do this.

I love that you talked a little bit about your dad and how graceful he was with the others. What was that like growing up in that world?

Yeah, different. Different way of growing up. When your dad's a funeral director known as funeral homes. And in a lot of good ways. I mean, I'll never forget a trip that we took. We got in a car and we drove our whole family 14 hours. And my dad got a call as we were pulling into. We drove to Utah. We were going to go on a ski trip. And as we drove into to Utah, he got a call that a family friend had passed away. And we drove him straight to the airport and he got on a flight and went home to be with them. And so experiences like that. And as a kid, every time I answered the phone at my house, it was before everybody had cell phones. And so every time I answered the phone at my house.

You're talking about these corded things that you.

Yeah, those old things you stick your finger and spin around a wheel. I'm just joking. I'm younger than that.

Ben's dating himself right now.

That's right. But, you know, when you answer the phone, I didn't know whether it was going to be somebody, a friend looking for me or a mother that just lost a child or somebody that just lost a parent. And so you just have this, I think, respect and gratitude for life. And so growing up in that environment, I think, just gave me a very different perspective on life in general.

So sibling dynamic now. Now that you are running the family business, you're the baby of the family.

The baby, I feel more ways than one.

Yeah. How is that received by your siblings?

I have the greatest siblings. I mean, we are. We are the best of friends. I mean, legitimately, Best friends, and we're all each other's biggest fans, and we all support each other, and we all have very different skill sets and different strengths. And. And so they. They fully support me, and they were. Were very understanding of the fact that they. They didn't want to do this. And. And so there's no. There's no regret. I don't think that they've done it. They're doing just fine for themselves, and so it's great. And I think there's this inherent pride that each of us have. Whether I'm involved in the family business, and my sister works with me a little bit as well. She does a lot of the advanced planning and things. But there's this pride, I think, that comes with being involved in our family business, whether you're involved in it day to day or not. Just because we grew up with hearing from people, oh, your. Your dad took care of our family. And there's like this kind of reverence and respect that comes with that. And so I think they're all happy that. That I do it. And then I took over the family business because there's still a connection there for them.

I like that. I got. Here's another selfish question. I asked this because I'm thinking your story. I'm listening and going, man, this could be me someday because I have some kids and I have some businesses. And sure, was there a stigma about that as you guys were growing up? Like, there's no way we want to do this, or is it, like, taboo to, like, think about that idea of taking over the family business? I mean, I'm curious because I have no idea what my kids think, but this is very interesting.

No, it wasn't. I think at some point in time, we probably all thought we would because I'm fourth generation. So it went from great grandpa to grandpa to dad to us. And so I think it was more of a surprise when you had the aha moment of I don't think I'm going to do this, than it was the inverse of thinking, you know, oh, I definitely don't want to do this. And so, yeah, being in a long story, traditional family family business or generational family business, I think it was more of an aha moment, realizing you're not going to do it than you are.

Yeah. What do you think would have happened if you didn't come back? Like, have you ever thought about that path? Like, where things would have gone?

Yeah, I think about it all the time because I think, you know, my life would be dramatically. Would Be dramatically different. I mean, this is who I am. It's woven into the fabric of every part of my life. It drives pretty much every conversation I go, you know, with everyone, wherever I go. And when death's a part of every aspect of your life, it changes things, you know, it's a significant thing. So, yeah, I think about it all the time, but I have no idea what the answer is of where I would be. Hopefully I'd be doing something good and impactful, but who knows?

Is that tech startup still going?

No.

Okay.

No.

So it wouldn't have been that.

No, it wouldn't have been that. No, it wouldn't have been that.

So you. You face tragedy and loss on a. On a daily basis, and yet you are positive and you have to lead others to stay positive as well in your team. How do you do that?

Yeah, I mean, I mean, it starts first and foremost with having a great team and, and we have exceptional people who I have the utmost respect and love and admiration for. And I think that's. That's part of it is loving the people that you work with. It's not easy. Just like everyone else, when you face tragedy day in, day out, it wears on you. It's a grind. It's not your role or your time to grieve or to show that grief necessarily. And so I think I've gotten pretty good at compartmentalizing it. When I come home, I'm dad and you're a jungle gym or whatever it is. And you have to be present and be that. That person. And I try to leave work where it is, but there are times where it's. Where it's a challenge. And I still am learning how to compartmentalize those emotions and be all in when you're there, because you don't, people will ask, do you get calloused or kind of numb to death? And the answer is absolutely not. Because if I do that, then I'll stop being good at what I do. If I stop caring, then that. That's a really, really bad thing. So it's still, for me, learning how to be emotionally all in when you're dealing with a family and then be able to transition to happiness as quickly as possible after. But leading people again, it's about having the right people in place and then always trying to. To be positive and reassuring them constantly that what they're doing is impactful and is important and is valuable, and they really are. Funeral directors are exceptional. A good funeral director are exceptional people. And people have no idea the amount of Time and emotion and sacrifice that they make for what they do. It makes it easy when you work around people like that.

So let's flip that coin for a second because you mentioned there was a loss in your family. How do you uncompartmentalize it when it's.

Yeah. So. Great question. I. That was. He's my oldest brother and I'm the youngest, and he passed when he was four years old, so I wasn't here. Okay. But I can relay a little bit the experience of my dad. So the story is he was. He was on a tractor, riding in the shovel. My uncle did construction, and he ended up falling out and was run over and passed away. And so my dad owned the family businesses at the time and had to bury his own son. But, I mean, it was obviously incredibly difficult. But he used that experience, I think, as a way to fortify who he was as a funeral director and a gift that he could give other people. Nobody ever can say, I know how you feel, because I think grief is such a unique individual journey. But I have seen firsthand when parents lose a child or whatever it may be, that my dad kind of walking a similar path, there's this instant bond and connection. So I think you use those difficult experiences to fortify who you are and the value you can add in your profession.

Yeah.

It's interesting to me to think of the fact that the services you provide in the daily life of general population probably aren't even in the realm of thought. And then when tragedy does strike, and I know this just from my own experience this past year, there's nothing more important than having the compassion from the service providers. You know, for me, it was with. With your organization and your team and how thoughtful and kind and patient they were in a time that was just, you know, beyond belief or understanding for our family. And so I'm grateful to you and to your team. You do incredible work, and it's so important, and I can't imagine. I really can't imagine doing what you do every day. And it takes a special person to do that.

Well, thank you. We got. We got a good group, a good group of people. So that makes it. That makes it easier when you've got each other, too.

So since we're going down this path, coach me for a minute, William, or maybe everybody that's listening. So what are the right things to say to people in those situations? I'm always lost for words and, you know, hugs as bad as all I can do. And I'm not a hugger. What, what kind of things you to recommend?

Fair question. And I'm. I'm still figuring it out too great. Each individual is different, you know, and so just listen more than you talk. I think that's the biggest thing. We all feel like we need to say something, but really people just want to know that you care and that you love them. And so I think my biggest recommendation instead of say this, I mean there's no magic thing of what to say, but be there to listen.

I was gonna say Ben's so disappointed.

I know he's looking for the book of life. Trust me, I would love to know. And there's things that you say to some people that are really, I think, impactful and others it wouldn't resonate well with them. So yeah, I wish there was a magic thing to say, but I think.

No green M and M, huh?

No, no, you just gotta listen. Listen more than. More than you talk a lot.

So what are some of the craziest questions you get?

Craziest questions.

What are the things Sarah asked you?

It was actually I was inspired by Ben's last question.

So yeah, craziest questions I get. Well, I think for me it's not necessarily questions but what people assume that I do on a day to day basis.

Okay.

I think when people think of like a funeral director, naturally there's like this draconian, you know, very outdated, like musty image that comes to mind, which my goal is to break as many funeral stereotypes as possible. That sounds like in a lot of.

Ways that sounds like the embalmer kind of.

Yeah, exactly. And so I think that's, that's what people, when they think of like a funeral arranger or funeral director, that's what they think of. And we have incredibly talented people that are wonderful that do perform a lot of those duties. I personally don't ever. So I think for me it's just the misunderstanding of what I do on a day to day basis.

Literally the only thing I think of is Dan Aykroyd and my girlfriend.

Oh yeah, yeah, yep.

Fair she would think of that. Okay, so let's talk about extracurricular activities that were important to you when you grow up.

What were they?

What did they teach you?

I was involved in athletics growing up. Wasn't that good at them, but I did them nonetheless. Like what?

Like what?

I played football growing up and I played basketball. I quickly realized that.

What position? Football.

I played outside linebacker.

Oh, so you were a hitter? I like it.

Yeah. Very average. Very average one. We were on some really good teams, and I played with some really good guys, and so we had some success.

But point guard and basketball?

Yeah. But I think by the time I was a sophomore in high school, there's not a huge market for a 5,8 unathletic guy. So I pretty much phased out of basketball pretty quickly.

So there's only a few spud webs out there, right?

That's right. That's right. That's right. So, yeah, I think for me, the thing that was most valuable about that is just learning to compete. I mean, competition is important in everything that you do. And it sounds, I think, silly to say, like, okay, what does a funeral director need competition for? But whether that's internal or external or with competitors or just wanting to be the best that you can be, I think going through that, that process of extracurricular activities is incredibly important. And I don't, I mean, now that I'm raising kids, I don't care what that, what that is for them. If that's playing an instrument and great. If it's been involved in academics, that's, that's great. But I think just learning to compete on some level is beneficial for your entire life.

You wouldn't mind a football player or a basketball player, though, right?

No, I certainly wouldn't. I certainly wouldn't mind it. It's not looking likely right now.

That's okay.

So, and truthfully, I, you know, it's funny how your perspective changes when you're a parent. You just want good kids.

You just want kids that are kids with character.

Yeah. Make good choices and are good to people and kind. And that's, that's what matters most. But I certainly wouldn't turn it down if they had the exact same hobbies that I did. I got it.

So the competitive side of you in your industry, is there a lot of competition or is it. I'm thinking about how now. Marketing guy. Right. So I'm thinking about how you market this kind of industry. And I would imagine people don't think about this until they need it. So is it a lot of, like, are you doing a lot of brand awareness? What kind of things are you doing to make yourself competitive in that?

Absolutely. From a marketing standpoint, with, with the funeral home, there's, it's a multifaceted approach, just like it is with, with most things. Obviously there's, there's a greater emphasis placed on relationships on, on a local level, but you still have your, you know, your pay per click advertising and all those kind of advertising things that you have to do. But for me, because what we do is so personal and requires such a relationship of trust. My. My strategy is always the more people that can know and understand that my staff and I are good people who truly care, then the better our chances are. So that's one aspect of it. But on, I think more of the entrepreneurial side of things, I. We've made a conscious decision, or I have. We have. We operate multiple brands that all speak very differently to their value offerings to consumers. And so I think that's been one of the biggest things to me is realizing that for so long, everyone that faced a death was kind of pushed through this same funnel, but had these very dynamic and different experiences that they wanted out of the funeral home or whatever it may be. So it's been the discovery of finding out what those are and then creating different brands and different offerings around that has been a rewarding process. Awesome.

Is that a different approach than others in the industry take, or what makes you different?

I think what makes us different is that we are rare in the aspect that with our different brands, we speak to very different consumers. So our bunker brands are very traditional. Again, we've been around since the early 1900s, and so our buildings are traditional, our services are traditional. I mean, of course, we always try to be innovative and adapting to family needs, but when you think of a funeral home, it's fairly similar to what you'd get at the bunker experience. And then it's just to focus on the details there.

Curious question real quick. Do you do virtual things now?

Absolutely. You have to. I mean, through Covid, you had to. But then with the Gilbert Memorial park project, I mean, from an architecture standpoint, and the experience we tried to create was really, okay, give me a funeral home stereotype and let's go as far from that as we. As we can and within, obviously within boundaries.

But you have like a coffee shop now and all that stuff there?

No, but. Well, I certainly, yeah, we serve coffee there. I mean, we don't necessarily have a coffee shop, but. But I do. I do. You know, I. I think I'll continue to push the envelope more and more as things progress and you learn. And I. I do think there's this polarization that's happening in funeral service and from this very, very simple and kind of no fuss approach to getting things taken care of to a very dynamic experience like we provide at Gilbert Memorial Park. So I think that process has been fun, which is one of the reasons we started after.com is more on the exact opposite of what Gilbert Memorial park is.

So which will it be? One of your kids to take over the family business or is there someone else in the family that.

I don't know. I don't know. It's interesting because there's, like, my dad desperately wanted somebody to take over the family business while simultaneously not wanting somebody to take over the family business because it's hard. I mean, Grant, every. Every job has its own challenges.

Yeah, but yours is a lot of mental taxing.

But it's mentally taxing, and it's 24 7, and I work like Sarah all the time. Just drain you, right?

The energy, which.

That's right.

I'm a little too sensitive to that.

Yeah. No, it's. I mean, it's six days a week, and then you get a call. You get a call on. In the middle of the night on Sunday, and it's a number that you know. But you don't talk too often. You get a pit in your stomach right away because you know what likely is on the other end of that phone call. And so, yeah, it's a heavy business, but it's great, too.

So what's the future look like for you now? You've got a great path. You've got some great recognition for the work you've done, which I can see why now, after talking to you. I didn't know your story until I met you here. So what's the future look like?

Yeah, Great, Great question. We'll continue to be bold and innovative and take risks and continue to discover what is most impactful for people when they lose somebody that they love. And that's not the same for every individual. And so we will continue to learn from the families that we're fortunate to serve in all aspects and all of our different brands and continue to find ways that. That we can add more value to them. And like I said, those. Those experiences can look very, very different. And so we've. We've done a lot of different things that have taken some of our businesses very different directions, and we'll continue to do that and won't. We'll never stop trying to find ways to add additional value. So whether it's creating additional rooftops or expanding kind of our virtual footprint in some other markets that we're working on right now, we'll see what the future holds. But we're definitely pro growth and figuring out ways to add more value in more areas.

Awesome.

Last question for me. Let's say 20 years from now, one of your kids or nieces or nephews are running the Organization. What's your advice to them?

I think my advice to them for my dad, and I'm gonna answer this question in a roundabout way, so I apologize, but my dad was the perfect person to purchase a business from as a child one, because he just loves me and supports me. And so you hear all these stories about, you know, about, like, family transitions, and they're all pretty bad stories. Like, mine hasn't been like that. My dad's been a dream. I tend to. I enjoy the entrepreneurial whatever. You get the idea. You nailed it. Yeah, there we go. I enjoy that. That process and testing different things and finding different ways to add value. My dad just has a service heart and spent his whole career just giving and giving, giving. So my. My advice to my kid would be, no matter what you do, if you're going to be in this business, don't forget the core of what you're doing, and that's that there's somebody that has lost somebody that they love, that's broken and needs somebody that they can count on. You don't need to be a hero because they're. They're the hero and the individual that passes the hero of their own story, but they need somebody to walk them. Walk them through that. And so I think that's what my advice would be, is never, never get so caught up in what you're trying to accomplish that you forget the core of what's most important, that you need to provide a great service to that family.

If I was interviewing your dad right now, what would he say about you and how you've been running the business?

Oh, man.

What do you think?

You. I think about that every day. You know, I. I hope. I hope, I hope he'd be proud. I think he. I think he would be. Absolutely would be. I. You know, it was interesting before I. So I worked for my dad before I purchased the business, of course, and in some ways, it was easier to be motivated when I was working for him instead of for myself, because I think no matter how old you get, that inherent desire of a child to make their mom or dad proud is still in there. And so hopefully I've made him proud. I've certainly tried to, but there are things that I'll never. I think there are things that maybe are strengths of mine that weren't of his, and there are things that I'll never be able to do as well as him. And, yeah, hopefully I can do my best.

Everybody drives different, don't they?

That's right.

That's right. Hey, this has been a blast getting to know you and listening to your story. Thank you so much for sharing. I'm pretty sure Sarah had a few tears today.

Hard not to. You do incredible things for our community and you do it so selflessly.

Well, thank you. We're certainly fortunate that people continue to trust us, so it's an honor for us.

Sounds good. Hey, so if you like this episode and you want to hear more, subscribe to our tribe, we'd love to have you join us. Get some of these in your inbox and stay involved. We appreciate you being here today, Bryce, and thanks, everybody for listening.

Thank you.

Guiding conversations with community leaders.

Ben, let me ask you a question. How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast?

This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us. So I think there's many opportunities at hand. Whether you want to again be on the show or reach out to us. Let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it. We'd love to hear from you. Reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection.