Dining out is getting more expensive all the time and consumers are feeling the pinch. On the bright side, they’re still willing to spend money for a good meal.
But these days your customers expect a little more out of the restaurant customer experience than just great food. Your customers want their money’s worth, and for a lot of diners, sometimes that means getting a meal that comes with a side of entertainment.
“Experiential dining gives people a reason to leave their homes at a time when they might be trying to save money,” explains Back of House marketing director Hilary Young. “People are more willing to open up their wallets when it feels like a special occasion, like they’re getting more than just a meal out of it..”
The buzzy word for this type of experience is “eatertainment” and it’s part of a larger push to provide value not just through food and service but through a singular restaurant customer experience. But does experiential dining make sense for your restaurant?
That really depends on how you do it. And we’ll get to that. But first, a quick definition and a little bit of history.
What Is Eatertainment?
Restaurant eatertainment concepts combine fun activities with food service to create interactive dining experiences. According to an article from Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), the last 10 years have seen an explosion in the popularity and number of eatertainment concepts and themed restaurants.
We’re all pretty familiar with the concept thanks to early innovators like Chuck E. Cheese, who began serving customers family-friendly arcade games and pizza parties way back in 1977. Dave & Busters launched in 1982 with a more adult spin — pairing its arcade with beer, wings, and pub attractions like billiards.
One year later, Medieval Times opened its first location in Kissimmee, Florida. It was the first time U.S. diners could get a platter of roasted chicken and a jousting match on one bill.
In the last decade, the most successful eatertainment concepts have merged sports and food service. Industry winners like Topgolf (golf) and Pinstripes (bowling and bocce) have found success by pairing a single, immersive entertainment experience — like pickleball or ax-throwing — with a more elevated dining experience.
If your restaurant doesn’t have the square footage for a bowling alley or a jousting pitch, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with you.
Why Experiential Dining Is Worth Considering for Your Restaurant
Eatertainment may sound gimmicky, but it’s actually becoming a serious driver of consumer traffic. According to a recent article from Forbes, younger consumers are increasingly drawn to restaurants that create an opportunity for “discovery.” In fact, says an article from NRN, 74% of consumers surveyed said they would return to a restaurant after having a unique experience.
What kinds of experiences? A recent consumer data report from Yelp revealed that, during a time of softening sales for the restaurant industry at large, the first quarter of 2025 saw robust traffic and sales for hibachi restaurants, cat cafes, pop-up restaurants, and, naturally, Medieval Times.
According to Yelp, a restaurant chain called Le Petit Chef draws in customers by playing 3-D animations over its dining tables. Yelp reports that the restaurant saw an absurd 509% growth in early 2025. We can’t promise you’ll necessarily see results like that. However, the good news is that you can embrace the experiential dining trend without investing in cats or 3-D animated dining tables.
4 Tips For Making Eatertainment Work In Your Restaurant
“It’s not necessarily about turning your little pub or Italian bistro into a themed restaurant. But when every restaurant is fighting for the attention — and business — of customers, it does help to put more thought into how to enhance the restaurant customer experience,” Hilary says. “The key is to do it in a way that makes sense for your restaurant.”
Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you think about the type of restaurant customer experience you want to provide.
1. You Don’t Have to Remodel Your Restaurant
The first step is to think about how experiential dining actually fits into your business. That means giving serious consideration to how an entertainment concept might work in both your physical space and how it might work alongside your everyday operation. You may find there are opportunities to create memorable customer experiences without expensive renovations or a disruptive rebranding.
“There are a lot of ways to meet this demand for an enhanced restaurant customer experience without dramatically altering your business model,” says Back of House operations expert Dan Durkin. “In fact, the real goal should be to choose experiences that make sense for the business you already have.”
“You can provide unique restaurant experiences without transforming your burger joint into a roller rink,” Dan observes. “Just adding a weekly trivia night or a monthly murder mystery show could go a long way toward attracting bigger crowds on slow nights and turning more visitors into regulars.”
2. Think About Where Your Guests Need To Be Entertained
The Cheesecake Factory is the perfect example of a restaurant that found a way to incorporate entertainment into the customer experience without dramatically altering its spaces or operational flow. But just as importantly, the popular chain found a way to address one of its own pain points using entertainment.
According to an article from Bar & Restaurant, the chain placed mobile trivia and video games in the waiting areas at select locations. Guests at these locations were able to pass the time waiting for tables or takeout orders while playing games. According to Bar & Restaurant, these locations saw a 12% increase in customer satisfaction scores and a 9% increase in repeat business.
“Instead of thinking about entertainment as an add-on,” Dan advises, “think of how it can be used as a solution to one of your pain points — whether that pain point is long wait times, slow weekday business, or difficulty turning new customers into repeat visitors.”
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3. Create Experiences That Are Consistent With Your Brand
A good experiential dining plan should reflect the image and identity you’ve worked so hard to cultivate for your restaurant. A mismatch between your eatertainment concept and your restaurant can alienate regulars and confuse new customers.
“That’s why it’s so important to provide experiences that actually match the vibe of your restaurant and your brand,” Hilary advises. “If you have an elegant 12-table BYOB, you probably aren’t hosting a karaoke theme night. But interactive pasta-making classes might be a hit with your crowd.”
“And while you’re at it,” Hilary adds, “offer experiences that are highly shareable on social media. With truly effective experiential dining, your customers will be some of the best and most trustworthy advocates for your brand.”
4. Focus on Food First and Foremost
Your menu matters. Even in themed restaurants where entertainment plays a central role in bringing people through the door, food and beverage programs still account for the lion’s share of revenue.
Former Punch Bowl Social CEO Robert Thompson is currently launching a new experiential dining pickle concept. According to Restaurant Business, he expects food and beverage to make up 80% of sales.
“I think one of the big things about an eatertainment experience is that food can’t be an afterthought,” Dan observed. “Naturally, the games and experiences are the major attraction. But it’s equally important to provide high quality food and service if you want people to come back to repeat that experience.”
The big takeaway is that it’s not all fun and games. You have to nail the food and drink part of your operation too. Otherwise, customers will find their fun elsewhere.
Stay in the Loop
“Embracing the eatertainment trend doesn't mean you have to totally overhaul your restaurant or change your identity,” Hilary explains. “In fact, it works a whole lot better when you create experiences that actually align with your identity, your operation, and most importantly, with what your customers actually want.”
Of course, if you want to know what today’s restaurant customers really want, you’ll need to stay in the loop. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter and stay up to date on all the top headlines, trends, and tech.
