Adding an entertainment dimension to a restaurant visit will make the entire experience one to remember, while also helping diners to bond with your brand, as Daniel Hettwer, founder and CEO of Hidden Worlds Entertainment Inc, explains.

Guests want a complete experience and an increasing number of restaurants are ready to provide it. From table-side food prep, live music and aerial performers to audio-visual content and even dark-ride seats providing an active journey through several rooms, the entertainment dimension to dining is scaling new heights.

Enhancing the dining experience

Eatrenalin began doing just that in November 2022 when it opened in Germany, near the Europa-Park Resort. Describing itself as a unique, multi-sensory fine dining experience offering new dimensions of dining, the gastronomic event concept is home to a wide spectrum of entertainment offerings aimed at elevating the overall guest experience.

Projection mapping and directional sound hold plenty of potential for creating exciting and unique worlds for guests to dive into. Several players have recognized the value these opportunities hold and are already catering to what represents a growing niche market, from Ultraviolet in Shanghai to Krasota in Dubai and Hidden Worlds in the United States. Here, dishes are accompanied by 360-degree projection-mapped scenes that add context to the menu and provide an element of storytelling.

Ensuring a perfect product fit

However, while technology can enhance the guest experience it should never be thought of as the core driver. Service, incredible food and an emotional story that captures guests’ attention and imagination are the key ingredients to an immersive dining experience. Technology is there to enhance, not supplement.

Moreover, extensive use of technology is rarely suitable for most industry players. Each restaurant should carefully integrate technology into its core offering to ensure a perfect product fit. For example, Alinea in Chicago does an excellent job of using a delightful soundtrack that complements, rather than overpowers, the restaurant’s outstanding food and service offerings.

Planet-positive menus

Another key trend in the industry is impact. We are slowly moving into the age of regeneration. From using ecosystem-positive ingredients and ancient grains to avoiding waste and single-use plastic, the industry seeks to ‘do more good’ rather than merely ‘less bad.’ Sustainability is the past, planet-positive dining is the future. This is expected by today’s consumers and presents opportunities for emotional engagement.

A carefully curated menu, with planetary and human health in mind, provides the perfect foundation to create a dining experience that is sure to last beyond the meal itself. One example is the world’s first ocean-positive menu, where guests help marine ecosystems with each bite. Developed by us, it features bivalves, as well as invasive and overpopulated species, such as lionfish and purple sea urchins, with the result that a problem is turned into a delicious meal.

Merging dining with learning

Doing the groundwork also creates a foundation for highly engaging narratives. Did you know, for instance, that most scallops are harvested using dredging, which results in severe damage to marine life and habitats? To avoid contributing to these consequences, our scallops are hand-harvested individually by divers. We find that diners are intrigued when we explain that this is why we are able to refer to the dish as diver scallops, with most having no idea of the origins of the reference.

Unfortunately, there is seemingly a reluctance to educate guests when they are visiting establishments. The reasons remain unclear, although one line of thought is that restaurateurs fear boring their guests or irritating them, all too aware that they are, after all, paying for a great night out and sitting in a restaurant, not a classroom.

Spotlight on storytelling

However, luckily, there are means to integrate learning into a fantastic guest experience and one of the most successful ways of doing this is through storytelling. It’s a fact that people love a good story.

Never forget that our species evolved through continuous learning and that we are biologically primed to seek out knowledge. Significantly, a good story can even create neurochemical responses from the recipient, which can lead to an increase in empathy, awareness and engagement. This is crucial, since we want education to generate consciousness and follow-up action. Stories drive feelings and feelings create significantly more action than facts.

If you need proof, think of the major brands and how they market their products and services. For example, rather than promoting the functional benefits of its sneakers and apparel, Nike has now, for over 30 years, told us to ‘Just Do It,’ relaying a message of encouragement and instilling belief. Taking the same approach will help restaurateurs not only drive consciousness and action but also help consumers to bond with their brand in an emotionally relevant way, driving long-term brand equity and profitability.