May’s Naturals was born out of the same spirit that created The Lady May Restaurant and Lady May Tallow — a passion for tradition, quality, and products made the right way.
It all started at The Lady May Market, tucked inside our restaurant. Guests could taste the very same pickled vegetables, jellies, jams, beef tallow, dressings, and honey we made fresh for our menu — then grab a jar to take home. By the end of year two, we were having trouble keeping the market stocked. Every night we would stock it up only to walk in to empty shelves 2 days later. It was clear: people are drawn to goods made with time-honored methods and honest ingredients.
Three years later, we took the Market online. After our slow December we exploded to do 42,000 orders in our first full year, and soon boutique owners, shopkeepers and grocery store chains were reaching out to carry our products. That was the beginning of our wholesale and white label journey.
In six years, we grew from hand-packing goods overnight in our restaurant kitchen to partnering with a third-generation organic soap and cosmetics family, rooted in the same traditional practices we hold dear. Together, we scaled production without ever sacrificing quality. Recently, we opened a USDA-approved facility for beef tallow with unlimited capacity for large-scale private orders. At the same time, we’re renovating a downtown Ocean Springs “small batch” facility, where customers can watch their products being made and even take part in workshops on traditional cooking, preserving, candle making, skincare, and beekeeping.
“In the kitchen, our North Star was simple: whenever a tough question came up, we’d ask, ‘What would our grandmother do?’ The answer was always clear — do things the right way. That usually meant the slow way, with care, and always with the best ingredients you could find.”– Will Taylor
Behind it all are Will and Chris, who have opened 43 restaurants together over the past two decades, closed 4, and sold 15. Through pivots, lessons, and persistence, their brands now include Lady May Tallow, Tallow Man, The Lady May Restaurant, and May’s Naturals — serving more than 115,000 online orders and earning over 22,000 five-star reviews.
“We’ve made every mistake we could have made and forged on through, learning all the lessons we could along the way.” – Chris McDonald
Today, May’s Naturals exists to pour those lessons back into others. We help like-minded business owners launch and grow their own brands with premium, small-batch products they can be proud to put their name on.
