• Harpo Gooneratne on 20 years of hospitality, consistency, and community

For anyone familiar with Colombo’s dining scene, Harpo Gooneratne needs little introduction. 

A fixture in the city’s hospitality industry for four decades, he is the man behind some of its most recognisable home-grown brands, from the Commons Coffee House to The Bayleaf, Harpo’s Pizza, and the Colombo Fort Café. Known for his consistency, innovation, and hands-on approach, Harpo has built a reputation as one of Sri Lanka’s most enduring hospitality entrepreneurs.

When Harpo first opened the doors to the Commons Coffee House in 2004, he couldn’t have known it would grow into one of Colombo’s most enduring home-grown hospitality brands. This month, the Commons celebrates 20 years in business, marking two decades of great coffee, good food, and a community space that has become part of the city’s daily rhythm.

“It has been around for 20 years; we have seen good times and bad times,” Harpo shared with The Sunday Morning Brunch of this milestone. 

“It’s still a hip hangout. The menu is the same at its core; we haven’t changed it, just added to it. We have started doing breads and such things in-house, which we will retail in a few weeks. We’re also making our own pastas and sauces, and will be going business-to-business in a bigger way soon.”

A true Colombo institution

The Commons story is tied to the evolution of Colombo’s café culture. At a time when international coffee chains had yet to arrive, the Commons offered something fresh: a home-grown brand with a relaxed, unpretentious vibe. 

“It’s a household name now. People are comfortable here, there’s no fuss. People work here, write whole books here, meet up, and get together,” Harpo reflected. “There’s usually a big crowd after a Lionel Wendt performance. We open for breakfast and close at midnight. We do catering and the Roti Cart too. That’s been a success. And of course, the staff – some of them have been with me from day one.”

The Commons was Harpo’s first independent venture. From there came The Bayleaf, Harpo’s Pizza, the Colombo Fort Café, and Shoulders by Harpos, to name a few of the many brands Harpo has sired over the years. 

His retail arm took shape during Covid-19, when the brand began producing pastas, sauces, and frozen pizzas for sale. The move into retail proved successful, particularly in India, and Harpo is now looking to expand that footprint across the subcontinent in the coming years.

Reflecting on what has kept the Harpo’s brand going strong for two decades, Harpo said: “Our business is all about innovation. There’s never a shortage of ideas or a dull moment in hospitality. We’re always coming up with something new and meeting new people. It has been 20 years on the trot.”

For Harpo, the 20th anniversary celebrations are as much about his team as they are about the brand. “My celebrations are more staff-based,” he explained. “We did a flood donation drive recently and a day out with all the staff, giving certificates to people who have been with us for many years. HR is doing a lot to mark 20 years. 

“In any business, it’s the staff who are the backbone and make it a success. You celebrate with them. Of course, you celebrate with your customers too. They come back because of your staff, and that’s the success of the Commons.”

One of the things Harpo values most is customer loyalty. “My customer base is really good because I still see people I saw 20 years ago,” he said. “Of course, they might try other places, but they also come back. What I’ve heard most is that I’ve been consistent with what I do, and that’s why they come back. I count that as a success. 

“Customers are the backbone of the business. Previously, they would call me with their requests; now they call the staff directly. That consistency is what has allowed that to happen.”

The anniversary also coincides with a generational shift. Harpo’s daughter, Asherah, has joined the business in recent years, working primarily on PR and social media. 

In fact, part of the Common’s 20th anniversary celebrations is the campaign ‘Commons Coffee House has raised generations,’ in recognition of the fact that being one of Colombo’s oldest and most prominent coffee shops, it has literally seen generations of people come through its doors over the last 20 years. 

“The new generation has already come in,” Harpo explained of the internal generational growth of Harpo’s. “We have got a young team, helped by my daughter. I see a smooth transition coming up. Asherah studied hospitality and tourism management when she was younger, and she has taken to it like a duck to water. 

“She’s able to juggle a young family and take this role within Harpo’s. I’m happy that the next generation is looking at it positively, that they enjoy working with me and the staff who have been with me for years. A lot of them have known her since we started and seen her grow up.”

The man behind the brand

The 20th anniversary of the Commons also marks 40 years of Harpo’s own journey in hospitality, entertainment, and business. For over four decades, he has weathered everything from political unrest to pandemics, economic crises, and supply shortages. 

“From the Easter Sunday attacks to Covid to the ‘Aragalaya’ and shortages, we have seen the good and the bad,” he said. “It’s during the bad times that it matters. That’s when you consolidate and see that it’s your team that keeps you together, and you move forward because of that.”

Harpo’s career has taken him from managing entertainment acts to senior hotel management positions in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Japan. He has set up venues, launched events, worked with international performers, and built multiple hospitality brands. “There’s never a dull moment in hospitality. You don’t come to work knowing what you will encounter.”

His love for hospitality started young. “I always liked it, even as a kid,” Harpo said. “I used to watch my mum and dad at dances and listen to bands playing. I loved music. It became entertainment, and it just grew in me.”

The nickname ‘Harpo’ came from his father, who thought his curly hair as a toddler made him look like Harpo Marx, brother of the famous comedian and actor Groucho Marx. “My brother also called me that. Harpo became me.”

After school at S. Thomas’ College, Harpo studied at hotel school while also performing music. He joined the hotel industry in the early 1980s, working at the Galle Face Hotel, Hilton Colombo, and overseas at the Hilton Maldives and Hilton Osaka. 

He managed Millennium Park, worked with Hilton International and the World Trade Centre, and served as General Manager of Crescat. Along the way, he set up projects from VR arcades to entertainment shows, and was instrumental in bringing international acts to Sri Lanka.

In 2004, he decided to branch out on his own. “I had the opportunity to start managing and operating other people’s businesses, but I wanted to own something. If you have a resort, I manage your headache, but I never owned it. When the tsunami hit, I had the opportunity to manage this, and I took it. I had worked in the corporate world for many years, from Renaissance to Hilton, but I wanted my own company.”

That company became Harpo’s Cafés and Restaurants, starting with the Commons, and growing to include The Bayleaf, Harpo’s Pizza, the Colombo Fort Café, and more. Along the way, he introduced Colombo’s first mobile pizza truck, the Commons Rotti Cart, and retail pizza and pasta products – some of which are now sold internationally.

One of Harpo’s boldest moves came with the Colombo Fort Café, launched when the war had just ended. “It was a touristy area with all the hotels. It definitely took off,” he recalled. “There was a dip after Easter Sunday, Covid, and the ‘Aragalaya’ – everything the last six years has thrown at us. But it has taken off again now, with lots of tourists and travellers, as well as people walking around the fort. It has been a success and it’s getting bigger and better.”

Forty years on, Harpo still views his work with the same enthusiasm. “I don’t think of it as going to work,” he said. “I think of it as going to meet people, to experience everything coming together. That’s what I like to see.”

The road ahead

Harpo is looking beyond Colombo for the next phase of growth. “India is a stepping stone,” he said. “It’s our neighbour and one of the biggest economies in the world. I’m also thinking of moving to the north. I see a lot of potential there, with the diaspora coming in as well as people from South India. It’s an untouched market. We will be moving our footprint to Jaffna too and we will also be expanding in India.”

Even with these plans, Sri Lanka remains at the heart of his business. “Sri Lanka is home. We have always supported it, even in the mad times. We’re Sri Lankans, and we support Sri Lankan brands. A lot of our customers are similar in that way. I want to grow and give more employment, and we will be looking at the hotel school again, starting in a basic way, just to introduce hospitality and culinary skills to the new generation.”

While Harpo is quick to talk about innovation and growth, he is more reserved about his charitable work. “We don’t blow our trumpet about charity because charity is not meant to be talked about. It’s meant to be under the radar,” he said. Over the years, Harpo’s has supported various community initiatives, from flood relief to educational programmes, without seeking publicity.

And as the Commons turns 20, that ethos of creating spaces where people come together over food, drink, and conversation continues to define Harpo’s approach. From Colombo to India, from pastas to pizza trucks, from a single coffee house to a multi-brand hospitality business, the journey has been shaped by consistency, creativity, and the people who have been part of it from the start.