Dinner May Be Served

German festival promoter Folkert Koopmans is pursuing legal ways to prevent a Danish company from using his “Palazzo” trademark to run its own similarly styled gourmet dinner evenings, even though it’s doubtful either of its Copenhagen events will go ahead.

Christian Friis and his partner Helle Larsen have already withdrawn a license application to stage Palazzo evenings at the exclusive Copenhagen suburb of Charlottenlund Fort Nov. 1-20. A license for a second event at Bellahoej Nov. 25 to Jan. 1 is in doubt because the application is still under consideration.

Koopmans began his Palazzo evenings in cahoots with Michelin Three Star chef Harald Wohlfahrt in Hamburg in 2002.

Apart from running a series of them in German cities including Hannover, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Berlin, there’s also been Palazzo evenings in Amsterdam, Zurich, Prague and Vienna.

Palazzo Varieté Teater, the company behind the Danish Palazzos, is registered to trade at Rådhuspladsen 16, Copenhagen, the City Hall Square where many of what the Danish call “office hotels” take advantage of an impressive address.

Rådhuspladsen 16 is an office front that offers a business address, mail handling, access to conference and meeting rooms, and a broadband Internet connection.

For the last week, the Danish Palazzo booking line has been picked up by an answering machine that asks callers to leave their name and number.