A NEW funeral home and crematorium is set to open at a site opposite McDonald's in Mackay's CBD.

Whitsunday Funerals and Crematorium will move into premises at the corner of Shakespeare and Juliet streets in about two weeks.

The company currently operates funeral homes in Proserpine and Bowen.

Manager Tiff Deakes said the location would be convenient for those attending funerals, and offered enough space to handle cremations in future.

"... there's no crematorium on site at this stage, but we do have a crematorium at one of our other premises, so we do handle that," she said.

"There definitely will be a crematorium here in future. Come the new year we'll have that in place on site."

Yesterday, a Mackay Regional Council spokesman said the planning department was yet to receive a development application for a crematorium on that site.

Ms Deakes said while the new premises would officially open after renovations were completed, the company already was providing services to Mackay people.

"We had done quite a few funerals in Mackay before we even made the move, but opening here was really about servicing the whole Whitsunday-Mackay community, meeting the need for a crematorium and looking after the whole region," Ms Deakes said.

"The business just keeps growing. We come to Mackay quite often already. It's a big place with lots of opportunity.

"We're family-owned and operated and regardless of whether it's Christmas lunch or something similar, a person will always answer the phone."

Ms Deakes described her work at Whitsunday Funerals as "wonderful", despite "the perception that it's a little bit taboo to speak about death".

"I meet people in their worst grief and discover every moment about how these people met. There's so many stories people have to share and you can form a bond with people very quickly," she said.

"My job is to make families and friends leave with a smile. It's about respecting the person who has passed and celebrating their life - that's what funerals are about, even if it is also a time about sorrow and grief.

"It's also a time of love and the expression of that from family and friends. Sometimes funerals mend or reconnect families, they may not have seen each other regularly and it solidifies how close family is.

"It's a wonderful experience to share. They will be in their darkest moments and someone will pass a comment and the room explodes with laughter. This is what I get to see that others don't. It's not morbid, it's an extremely rewarding job."

Ms Deakes said 'expression coffins' - "we can place a motorbike or guitar on their coffin if they loved riding or music, or make a coffin which can be signed" - jewellery crafted with ashes and environmentally friendly burials were just a few of the ways families personalised their loved ones' send-offs.

Whitsunday Funerals and Cremation is owned by Jeff and Judy Boyle.