Eleven years on the fire still burns
We meet Harpo Gooneratne at one of his older restaurants, The Bayleaf. It’s early in the day so there are no customers but there’s construction outside and the old colonial building which houses the restaurant is a flurry of activity. The 10-year-old restaurant is being infused with new life and it’s all hands on deck. The grounds are being converted into a venue for events, a wine room is to be added to the sprawling colonial house, along with a pizzeria and a bar for the neighbourhood to congregate and relax in.
Harpo: It’s all about making people happy. Pic by Athula Devapriya
It’s been 11 years since Harpo Gooneratne opened his first establishment (The Commons Coffee House down Flower Road, in 2004) and his entrepreneurial fire is as vibrant as it was a decade ago. As Harpo’s Pizza celebrates its eighth anniversary, the Sunday Times stopped to have a chat with Harpo to discuss his home-grown brand of pizzas, his preoccupation with dates (he confesses that August 1 has been a lucky day for him, over the years), his early beginnings and what keeps him moored to the hospitality industry.
Harpo explains that his business mantra is to always do things differently and it is therefore no surprise that culinary plans for Harpo’s Pizza’s eighth anniversary are as supersized as its owner’s business vision – in the most literal sense possible. “I’m launching a 22-inch pizza,” explains Harpo nonchalantly. A member of the staff appears with a wooden tray to better show the scale of the enormous square shaped pizza which has 36 slices and comes in 26 flavours. The colossal pizza starts at Rs. 4, 830 (inclusive of delivery) and can be mixed and matched with different flavours and toppings. Slightly bigger than the brand’s current 19-inch pizza offerings, the 22-inch pizza would be an ideal option for laidback parties or dinners, where you need to feed a lot of people with little hassle.
Giant pizza: Harpo’s latest innovation proudly shown off by his staff
Harpo and his home-grown pizza brand– one of the earliest local pizza players in Colombo – have a lot to celebrate this year. The pizza brand opened its first stand-alone pizza and pasta parlour in Nugegoda, earlier this year and has plans for expansion.
Harpo has been mulling over expanding into niche areas and stepping out of the conventional (and slightly congested) Colombo grid. “There’s a whole new game out there,” he muses, explaining that the enthusiastic response to the Nugegoda Pizza and Pasta Parlour and requests from customers has spurred him to explore more locations. While Bay Leaf, Park Street Mews Restaurant, Curve, The Commons and Colombo Fort Café are all key additions on Harpo’s string of Hotels, Cafes & Restaurants, it is the pizza brand which will be gradually expanding. Negombo is on the cards in December while Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia has also been mentally bookmarked. Harpo explains that each establishment prides itself on having its own unique ambience and identity and the pizza parlours will be trendy, casual restaurants focusing on four key ingredients – traditional wood fired Italian pizza, fresh homemade pasta, people and music.
Christened Lalith Gooneratne (he stops mid-interview to ponder if ‘Lalith’s Pizzas’ would have sounded as nice as Harpo’s Pizzas. He decides that it doesn’t), Harpo was a nickname which was bestowed on him as a result of his shoulder length mop of curls and likeness to comedian Harpo Marx of the Marx brothers. The nickname stuck, eclipsing his birth name – Harpo laughingly jokes that he is always a little surprised when people call asking for Lalith. The choice to work in the hospitality industry was an easy one for Harpo – he liked being around people and connecting with them – and he recalls his early days as a teenager on the threshold of adulthood, studying while trying to make some pocket money through one of his key passions – music. Harpo would finish hotel school in the evening and take the bus to Aluthgama, his Walkman providing a soundtrack for his journey. Getting off at Aluthgama, he would have a quick shower, grab a few hoppers and then with his records in his haversack, cycle down to Neptune Hotel and Bentota Beach to DJ till the early hours of the morning.He would then pack up, take the 4 a.m. bus back to Colombo and groggily arrive in time to be in hotel school by 7 a.m.
He laughingly admits that his parents weren’t too thrilled about him moonlighting as a DJ but explains that his love for music and his early days as a DJ was what opened the doors for him in the industry and provided a gateway for numerous opportunities both locally and internationally. Notes Harpo as he reminisces on his hospitality career, “I always tell young DJs and young entrepreneurs – follow what you like. Do it well and be honest in what you do. Nobody thought that from a DJ I could have ended up as a General Manager of a property. It’s just that music took me so far, DJing took me so far because I connected with people well. I always made sure that whatever I did, the customer was looked after. That’s what it’s all about.”
Harpo’s career spans three decades in the hospitality industry and August 1 has always been a curiously significant day for his career – Harpo’s Pizza and the Bay Leaf were launched on August 1, and August 1 was incidentally the day when he started his DJ career at the Ramada Renaissance (now, Cinnamon Lakeside).
What is it about the hospitality industry that anchors him? “It keeps you on your toes,” says Harpo simply. “It’s not the easiest thing to be in the food business, you have to maintain consistency.” He explains that the team of people working with him on each property have been a vital element of his business and laughingly explains that his mission statement is to never have a dull moment. “It’s a superb thing to see people enjoy what you do. It is the greatest satisfaction […]Making people happy – what more can you ask for?” he smiles.