Like entrepreneurial ventures, setting up many restaurants can offer huge financial gains, but requires time, dedication, energy, and the vision to succeed and the courage to fail. A serial restaurateur would work their way from one establishment to another, not merely sitting back and reaping the rewards of past successes, but banking on new ventures.
Being associated with music as Sri Lanka’s first DJ and hotel management at some of the big names of the day, opening his own restaurants was the natural next step for Harpo Gooneratne. It was his love for food and entertainment that made setting up restaurants and cafès a part of his life, and not a job.
After a decade of managing multiple eateries, Harpo has learned some valuable lessons that have made his restaurants what they are today.
The glamour of entrepreneurship is an illusion
The number one lesson, according to Harpo, is that a lot of people visit an establishment to see the owner or general manager walking around. “They like to know that they are being taken care of.”
If you’ve visited any of his restaurants, chances are that you’ve seen him walking around, talking to people or engrossed in a conversation with his staff. But running a restaurant, or six, is a lot more work than people imagine. “Looking from the outside, people think it’s easy to run a restaurant, because they see me greeting people and think I live flamboyantly, but at the back of the house, there is so much happening! From procurement to quality to freshness, there is so much to look at. So good luck to those who think they can get it right the first time!”
[pullquote]We are not a multinational, we do it our style. I wouldn’t have been successful if not for my chefs or my team. I always tell them that[/pullquote]
If talent is scarce, source your own
According to Harpo, the greatest challenge for the hospitality industry is human resources, and not having properly trained people can be detrimental to our country in the long run.
“At most restaurants, you see one person one day, and when you come the next day, he’s not there. He’s taken his money and vanished, because he is not interested or invested in the business. So it’s a difficult industry to be in, because you need to have properly trained people.” Restaurant goers often complain about the waiting staff ’s lack of knowledge about the menu, poor English and lack of basic culinary etiquette. This will be a significant issue for the tourism industry in the near future, says Harpo, with big names like Shangri-La and Hyatt setting up shop in Sri Lanka. “If we don’t have the rightly skilled people, who will work at these places? And if we cannot provide good service, how can we charge high rates?”
Harpo has already taken steps to meet this need. “I started a hotel school in Galle as a CSR project about three years ago, where we train young people from the area and help them find jobs.” The two to three month certificate course gives its students basic insight into how a restaurant functions, from service to kitchen operations. The school also offers diploma courses for those interested in furthering their culinary studies. Although most young people in the area join the school because of the guarantee of jobs, he hopes it will increase the standard of restaurant and hotel staff in Sri Lanka. “Some of them are also employed by me, but for most of them to come to Colombo is a culture shock, so they prefer to stay and work in the many villas and hotels in Hikkaduwa and Galle. I’m also in the process of looking at expanding the pizza brand and opening a hotel school in Jaffna. Jaffna will clean up soon, and I want to help young people in that area also to come into the industry.”
Don’t be afraid to test new markets – the biggest is not always the best
He began his culinary journey with The Commons, which was established in 1998 and management taken over by Harpo in 2005. The Bayleaf opened in August the same year. “Italian food was popular anywhere in the world except in Sri Lanka, which only had Il Ponte at Hilton during that time.” Rather than waiting for the next best thing, Harpo set up The Bayleaf at a prime location in Colombo. The restaurant is today known for the its authentic Italian pastas and, of course, pizza.
Next came Harpo’s Pizza. American restaurant chain and international franchise Pizza Hut was the monopoly when Harpo’s thin-crust pizza entered the market. Sri Lankans, used to the bready Pizza Hut product, were apprehensive at first to try Harpo’s thincrust, smaller-looking one. “I’ve had people tell me that they switched to Harpo’s Pizza after trying it. With respect to all other pizza players, our pizza is kind of good. We are not a multinational, and we do it in our style and they like it, so I see potential in that.” Satisfied with the current number of eateries, he won’t be opening any more big restaurants, but plans to expand Harpo’s Pizza as 20-25 standalone pizza parlours over the next few years.
Park Street Mews achieved a ‘one street, three venues’ concept, which is now a popular venue for events in Colombo. In the premises is also Curve, a tapas bar. Tapas is Spanish cuisine meaning a wide variety of appetizers or snacks. (A ‘tapa’ is a small portion of any kind of Spanish cuisine.) Harpo didn’t have to look too far for inspiration. “In Singapore and Malaysia, people do tapas after work or a tapas lunch. There aren’t any standalone tapas bars in Sri Lanka. So I’m introducing this here, and it’s working well.”
Colombo Fort Café is Harpo’s latest independent restaurant. Located at the Old Dutch Hospital complex, the café promotes bistro-type dining with European and Mediterranean cuisines.
Plan for the next generation
Harpo says he would have never got this far if not for God, his family and his staff.
“We currently have a workforce of about 150 people in all the restaurants, and it’s like one big family that works together. Most of them have worked with me since inception, and they know my ups and downs. Dharshini has been my PR manager since I worked at Ramada and my chefs have been with me for over 10 years.”
His daughter, graduate of a hotel school in Malaysia, is also now a part of his workforce. “She looks after my social media marketing and helps with PR. I think it’s time [children] also come into the business. I’m happy that she is with the company, and she gets on really well with everyone and is enjoying it. But I don’t treat her like my daughter; I treat her like any person in the company. That’s what is important.”
Find a structure that works for you
The number of restaurants managed by an individual or one company does not exceed three in Sri Lanka. Harpo, who manages six, follows a structured system, where the director of operations at each establishment, in addition to the head of finance, reports directly to him. This, in addition to the fact that he visits each location every day, allows him to be on top of things at the restaurants.
Learning from experience, he has also narrowed in on a simple method, which he says ensures the smooth running of all his restaurants. “You need to guarantee a smooth entry and exit. When you enter a restaurant, you first meet the security guard who greets you. Next, you are seated by the steward. You enjoy your food, and the exit point is when you wash your hands before leaving the restaurant. What people look for in any dining experience is good food, good service, nice ambience and clean toilets. Even though a customer has a great meal, if the exit is bad, the entire thing goes wrong. It’s a simple operation, but you need to be on the ball looking at all these aspects.”
In addition, location is key to any successful restaurant. Harpo does not own any properties (they are on long-term leases), as “property values are huge in the areas where [they] operate”, but occupies some of Colombo’s prime real estate.
[pullquote]There is always something going on at our properties, and customers have something to look forward to. That’s how you remain relevant[/pullquote]
“At Gregory’s Road, we are where all the embassies are, and The Commons is smack bang in front of Ladies’ College and in a prime residential area. Dutch Hospital is at the heart of Fort and Park Street Mews is surrounded by offices. So it’s important to understand traffic and people movement, and what you are surrounded with when you set up a restaurant.”
Be prepared for ups and downs. There is never an in-between
“It’s not an easy industry to be in; it’s a love or hate kind of job, there is no in between. But saying all that, it’s an interesting industry and there is never a dull moment.” Harpo believes you can judge if a restaurant will be a success or a failure within the first six months of operation. But before you make the initial investment, it maybe wiser to look into what exactly your customers require or are looking for like a more casual setting versus a wining and dining restaurant. Additionally, “how you price yourself can also show where you will stand in the market”.
However, the end goal of any business is to be successful, and the best measure of this is revenue. “At the end of the day, for a business to be successful, you need to have good revenue numbers and be able to sustain it. Sustainability is key to building a successful business. But of course revenue is not the only factor. There is the whole team working behind it. From the chefs and managers, to the security and the cleaners, all those elements drive revenue.”
Maintaining six restaurants is not an easy task in an ever-changing environment. With new restaurants opening ever day, staying relevant is important. Out of the 12 months of the year, three to five months will inevitably be ‘low cycles’, but that should not mean less enthusiasm, he says.
“If you look at business trends, you have high and low seasons. Our restaurants have a promotion every month. So there is always something going on at our properties, and customers have something to look forward to. That’s how you remain relevant.”