Company that offered luxury dinners on trains will not get a restart after bankruptcy

Thousands of people who had a ticket for the bankrupt company Dinner Train will never be able to use the tickets for a luxury dinner on a train. Bankruptcy administrator Fred Froger confirmed on Tuesday that a restart of the company will not be possible. It is also likely, according to him, that customers will not get their money back.

Froger said that there is not enough left in the company for a takeover. "When you restart a company, you usually assume that you will continue the company's business situation, but Dinner Train is mainly a concept. There is not that much there. It is mainly a customer base of people with tickets that have not been delivered, but no business model."

Dinner Train also previously owned the trains in which the moving dinners were held. These were sold a few years ago, and Dinner Train rented the trains from that company, the curator explained.

Furthermore, there are only office supplies and crockery left to take over. Negotiations about these items are still ongoing with interested parties. He had reported earlier that four parties were interested in the idea or a part of the items.

It was reported last month that 3,400 people still had dinner tickets, which are worth 870,000 euros altogether. A majority of the debt is unused tickets. The first bankruptcy report written by the bankruptcy administrator stated that the company had a debt of at least 1.2 million euros. Suppliers and the Tax Authority are also owed money. "There is a significant debt in the companies. This will probably not be paid," Froger said.

The business, which offered luxury dinners in a moving train, was declared bankrupt in August. The bankruptcy administrator wrote in his report that the company was hit by financial problems because of the coronavirus pandemic and the energy crisis. The dinners on the trains could not proceed during the lockdowns.

Electricity became very expensive in 2022. This electricity was needed to get the trains to drive, while Dinner Train was not able to pass these costs on to customers as they had already paid for their tickets. The years after this saw many trains experience failure due to technical issues, which led to a sharp decrease in reservations.

Seven employers lost their jobs because of the bankruptcy, but Dinner Train often worked with independent contractors. The trade union FNV reported earlier that the company worked with around 50 independent contractors.