Godiva Chocolate Head Makes Sweet Deal In Water Mill

This may not have been the biggest real estate deal in the Hamptons reported last week, but it is surely the sweetest: a home in Water Mill was purchased by Irma and Mohamed Elsarky, the latter the head of the high-end chocolate maker Godiva.

For a tasty $3.6 million, the Elsarkys purchased a 7,700-square-foot house on 2.16 acres on Tanager Lane and is in, by a remarkable coincidence, a neighborhood known as Tanager Hill. The manse, built in 2008, contains 6 bedrooms and the roomy property features a pool and maturing landscaping. Presumably, the dwelling has plenty of pantry space for the sumptuous samples of chocolates the CEO brings home.

Next year will mark the 45th anniversary of Godiva opening its first boutique shop in the United States, on Fifth Avenue in 1972. It was 90 years ago this year that Joseph Draps established the company, in Brussels. A company profile offers that Mr. Draps chose the name because of “the legendary story and personality of Lady Godiva.” Today, it has 45 stand-alone boutiques and 9,300 “sales points” around the world, with Godiva’s 60 products including biscuits, coffee, and cakes in addition to various chocolates.

Mr. Elsarky’s career was initially with Kellogg, and then with the investment firm Lion Capital. He began at Godiva in 2010 and by earlier this year the Australian was in charge of strategic and operational functions for the company in all markets except the United States and Canada. Among his tasks was to enable Godiva’s expansion into South Korea, India, and Saudi Arabia. The busy Mr. Elsarky will be retaining that role as he settles in to being the CEO of Godiva as well as the company’s international president.