The Coconut Tree is a multi-million-pound restaurant chain started from scratch by Sri Lankans Mithra Fernando, Rashinthe Rodrigo, Dhanushka Fernando, Praveen Thangiah and Shamil Fernando in Cheltenham, UK, in 2016. What began as a hobby and a passion for marrying Sri Lankan culinary flare and British pub culture has now grown into a thriving business looking at global expansion; and a grand return home to Sri Lanka.

We sat down with Mithra Fernando to discuss this incredible immigrant success story and the journey ahead. The following are excerpts from this interview:

What is The Coconut Tree story?

Moving on through life, a group of us, family and friends, settled in Cheltenham at different times. Looking for a place to stay and put down some roots, one of us found a rundown pub with an apartment upstairs, so there was a crazy idea to buy a place to live and maybe run the pub downstairs after our day jobs. That turned into a successful hobby, and we began cooking some Sri Lankan food for ourselves, which we incidentally shared with customers, and they loved it. And so came the idea of opening a restaurant focusing on Sri Lankan cuisine.

Fortunately, our day jobs were at a high-end hospitality and food business, and I have a background in finance, so with support from our work as well, we managed to set up our venture. Soon, we were No.1 on Trip Advisor and became really busy. Eight months on, we thought, why not open another? And 12 months since we began, we opened our second restaurant in Oxford, and it’s been on from there. Presently, we’re operating nine locations across the UK.

In terms of food, we highlight the Sri Lankan experience; and we’ve combined some of the finest ingredients to create a delectable menu of island Cocktails, inspired by the vivid flavours of Sri Lanka. There’s something for everyone: premium spirits, iconic sharing party pieces to low sugar, low and no alcohol.

What is your role and vision for the business?

I’m presently the Finance Director, given my background in finance, but my role and influence expand far beyond that. I oversee HR, IT, business development, new business, legal, tax and marketing. Perhaps the area in which I’m least involved is the actual food. Basically, I handle the backend, and the others are more front-of-the-house. My vision for the business is a sustained strategic expansion across the UK and other parts of the world, including Sri Lanka.

You specialize in Sri Lankan food in the UK, so what makes you want to come to Sri Lanka?

It is a grand return home for us on our way to the world. See, a British brand selling Sri Lankan food trying to set up in Germany, for instance, will not have much authenticity. Plus, we want to bring back what we learnt to Sri Lanka and use our success to create value in Sri Lanka.

As it is, we work with local producers in Sri Lanka, from brands like Ma’s Kitchen to various small suppliers for our spices and other ingredients, giving them direct access to the UK and a stream of export revenue. We want to be able to further expand opportunities for local producers. In fact, we’re probably the largest servers of Lion Beer and Ceylon Arrack in the UK, along with some other brands and local favourites, both in the beverage and food departments.

We also want to bring our signature The Coconut Tree experience to Sri Lanka; exceptionally authentic Sri Lankan food, complemented by the classic British drinking culture and our range of Sri Lankan-inspired beverages.

As a foreign restaurant business, how will you create value and authenticity by setting up in Sri Lanka, and what is the operating model you will use here?

With The Coconut Tree, we’ve created a 10-million-pound business with a team of 300 people, literally out of nothing and in a very short period. We want to bring that expertise to Sri Lanka and share our love for Sri Lankan food with Sri Lankans, and also base a significant portion of our business out of Sri Lanka. That will allow us to create value in many ways, for example creating new opportunities for local suppliers and communities, building brand Sri Lanka, and providing a unique Sri Lankan food experience for Sri Lankans and visitors to Sri Lanka.

Presently, we are working on a franchising model of operation and preparing the legal framework for this. This model will create huge opportunities for Sri Lankans who would like to invest in us as well because they will be able to enjoy a foreign currency revenue stream (GBP), which is a great investment proposition amidst the present economy. It will also help us to fast-track our ambitions of global expansion.