By Eric Wahlgren

Restaurateur Shannon Foust reckoned luring older folks looking for a quiet meal into the same restaurant as a beer-chugging sports crowd would be tough. But in America's cutthroat restaurant business, failing to attract a wide range of customers can be deadly. Foust's approach? Give them different hangouts in the same restaurant. At Damon's Grill, a bar separates a classic dining room from a rowdier "clubhouse" restaurant.

"The peanut butter and chocolate came together, and we had a Reese's cup," says Foust, chief executive of Damon International, based in Columbus, Ohio. The chain is counting on adding 10 to 12 outlets to its existing 117 this year as customers appear to have plenty of appetite for this two-eateries-in-one concept.

JAZZING IT UP.  Damon's Grill is tame, of course, compared to dining destinations elsewhere, particularly in the nation's "eatertainment" capitol -- Las Vegas. Among the Vegas options: At Star Trek-themed Quark's Bar & Restaurant diners can munch on "hamborgers" and "final frontier" desserts while seated in a giant "star field." Too nerdy? The Crazy Armadillo Cantina nearby boasts bottle-juggling bartenders and "Shooter Girls" shimmying on tabletops.

Restaurants across the country are increasingly jazzing up the dining "experience," adding all types of entertainment and services to pump up customer volume. Food, of course, is still getting a lot of attention. At some chains menus seem to be getting as thick as glossy magazines because they keep adding items to contend with the growing list of finicky eaters out there: vegans, low-carb dieters, fat-free purists, and ethnic-food junkies, to tick off a few.

Eateries are also freshening up their decors, as many Americans find themselves spending more time in restaurants than around their own dining table at home. But a lot of the razzle-dazzle is coming in the form of eatertainment. "If you can't serve good food in the restaurant business, you're out," says Foust. "But it's those other things you do that can help you do well."

THE OTHER MOUSE HOUSE.  Coloring books to keep the kids busy? Lame! Try Ghost Squad terrorist-fighting video games or Ferrari simulators -- just some of the extracurricular offerings at Dave & Busters (DAB ), a Dallas-based restaurant chain whose stock seems to be on a roll again after foundering two years ago.

Dishing up entertainment in addition to the main course is hardly an industry innovation. Theme-based outfits like Orlando-based music memorabilia chain Hard Rock Café, and kid-friendly Chuck E. Cheese's (CEC ), headquartered in Irving, Tex., have been melding restaurant and amusement park for decades. "But the level and frequency with which chains are doing this has risen," says Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm in Chicago.

The reason? More people are dining out than ever before. Americans spent 33% more eating at restaurants -- about $2,211 per person on average in 2003 (the most recent government figures available) -- than they did a decade ago. That's partly because unlike in the past, the whole family often goes out.

EXTENDED-FAMILY DINING.  Restaurants now have to appeal to not just mom and dad but also junior and granny, too. "As more people spend more food dollars outside the home, restaurants are trying to do as much as they can to grab those dollars," says Eric Wold, an analyst with Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. in Austin, Tex.

Damon's Grill is a perfect example. The clubhouse has been designed to be inviting to as big a mix of eaters as possible. At least one of the joint's four big-screen TVs is usually tuned to a sporting event. But often CNN and cartoons are showing on other screens too, Foust says. Thanks to individual tabletop speakers, diners get to pick what they watch.

And if that's not enough stimulation, the room is wired to let folks challenge other tables in interactive trivia. "There's no question that it's a point of differentiation," says Foust.

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