Amsterdam Central Station café 1e Klas declared bankrupt; Closes after 40-year run

Restaurant 1e Klas at Amsterdam Central Station was declared bankrupt earlier this week, the restaurant confirmed on its website. The restaurant is closed while the bankruptcy administrator figures out how to proceed. Dozens of workers were let go, but those owed back pay will still be compensated.

The bankruptcy was declared by the Oost-Brabant district court on Tuesday. The restaurant was still open on Wednesday morning, but closed in the afternoon, AT5 reported. She was then tasked with informing the workers, about 40 employees in total, of their dismissal and further steps.

“Unfortunately, we need to announce that we are forced to close our doors immediately. We want to thank everyone who has visited us over the years, who shared laughter, and created wonderful memories,” 1e Klas said on Instagram.

The restaurant, which has been operating in the space at Amsterdam Central Station since the late 1980s, had already been evicted by the NS, though it appealed against the eviction. The company owed the national railway around 800,000 euros in back rent for the space it leased on Platform 2.

Owners of the restaurant had been arguing with the NS about the check-in gates which people have to use when entering many portions of the train station. Once these were modified to make it harder for people to walk in and out without a valid ticket, customers had to navigate one of two routes to find the restaurant on dates when they were not traveling by train.

From 2017, passengers who wanted to enter the restaurant had to first check-out from the public transport system. The NS had gates placed at the doorway of 1e Klas for convenience, but then moved them a few meters further away in 2020 saying the gates failed too frequently. The restaurant argued this decision cut off a significant portion of their foot traffic, with passengers able to choose from more convenient options.

Further, NS passenger figures have yet to meet levels achieved before the coronavirus pandemic. Some 213,000 people traveled through Amsterdam Centraal per day in 2019. Five years later, the daily average remained at just over 171,000 train passengers, according to official data from the NS.

An NS spokesperson told AT5 that it was not involved in the bankruptcy. “It is unfortunate that it turned out this way,” the spokesperson said. The rail company previously announced that it was looking for a new operator for the space and intended to preserve the historic restaurant.

“At this stage, the priority is to inventory and sell the existing assets, arrange for the transfer of wage payment obligations to employees through the UWV (Employee Insurance Agency), and compile a list of creditors and their potential privileges,” the restaurant said on its website.

The court imposed a two-month cooling-off period while the bankruptcy administrator investigates how to continue. During that time, the benefits agency UWV will continue to pay the employees’ salaries, after which those who have not found new work will be entitled to unemployment benefits.