Award-winning May's Chocolate House put up for sale in Burnham

A popular Burnham chocolate shop is up for sale after its current owners have announced their retirement.

Husband and wife Igan and Wafa Hayati, have been proud owners of May’s Chocolate House since 2015 and are shutting up shop to spend more time with family.  

Now they are looking for a buyer for the high street shop, someone who enjoys selling confectionery and also someone who thrives on bringing the community together.

“We’ve been here for nine years and our family circumstances have changed,” said Igan.

“My mother-in-law lives in America so my wife has to go and see her and our daughter got married and she lives in Vienna and we’d like to visit her.

“I have other things to do as well. It’s the right time to move on and pass the shop on to someone else.”

Luckily, May’s Chocolate House survived the pandemic and the recent cost of living challenges, not just because consumers enjoy chocolates and sweets but because Igan and Wafa have transformed the shop and café into a community hub.

“During the pandemic we used the shop as a food bank which was really nice and we were happy to do that. It was never empty,” said Igan.

In 2021 May’s Chocolate Shop won two awards for its community efforts during the pandemic, one from the Burnham Resilience group and another from Burnham Beeches Rotary.

That good, community spirited work continues this side of the pandemic with Igan and Wafa regularly welcoming 12 asylum seeking families in for support, learning and connection.

“It’s like a social thing for them and we offer them drinks and our friend Emma teaches – not formal English-speaking lessons – but things that will help them understand the area and culture like ‘what is Guy Fawkes night all about?’ and other things that they may be not familiar with.”

Igan said he and Waga will miss the friends and customers made over the years and he hopes that potential buyers will continue to run the social element of the shop and keep it as ‘ hub for a lot of people.’

“The ideal buyer will be somebody local that appreciates it - and a community minded person. It could be turned into a profitable business; we ran it almost like a charity at the end.

Over £30,000 has been invested in May’s Chocolate Shop since it opened and the price for taking it over could start there but Igan said he is open to negotiations. What is more important for the longstanding owners is for ‘the right person’ to take over.

“We will teach them everything and connect them with distributors,” Igan said.

“It’s all very good quality Belgian chocolate.”

But it’s not just chocolate that the crowds come in for.

“A lot of people like the sweets in jars because it reminds them of their childhood,” he added.

“Also you get parents who come here because their child interacts with us and says ‘can I have this please?’

“In other shops they just get their sweets without any interaction but here we ask them how much change they think they’re going to get and we count together.”

Igan also believes that May’s has the potential to increase product lines and online purchasing.

“We have a website which is dismantled for ordering (because we never took that on) but that’s another business if someone wants that.

“You could sell other gifts. Burnham high street used to be famous for gift shops but sadly they closed one by one but there’s plenty of space here to sell other gifts as well as chocolates.

“We also sell local honey, a friend of mine keeps bees and the money goes to the food bank.

“It needs somebody with time and energy to do all this and if there’s a bit of focus on the community I am sure a lot of people would be happy to help and support the business.”

www.mayschocolatehouse.co.uk/contact/