Design Strategies for Culinary Heritage Restaurants from a Cultural Sustainability Perspective: Focusing on Generation Z Consumers

Culinary heritage is essential to cultural heritage and contributes to cultural sustainability. Recently, the growth of cultural tourism in China has led to a rise in culinary heritage restaurants that appeal to Generation Z consumers. Research on their dining experiences and restaurant design is crucial for promoting culinary heritage and supporting cultural sustainability. This research adopts a cultural sustainability perspective and targets the Generation Z consumer group, integrating culinary heritage restaurants into the study of cultural sustainability. A mixed-method approach was utilized to examine the factors influencing consumption in heritage restaurants, leading to the proposal of a design strategy for these establishments to build a theoretical design model. Using Wuhan, Hubei, as a case study, semi-structured interviews were conducted to analyze the key factors influencing Generation Z consumers’ choices of culinary heritage restaurants. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model, consisting of four criteria levels and seventeen factor levels, was developed to calculate the relative weights of the various indices. The results indicate that regional factors (B4) have the most significant impact on Generation Z’s decision-making among the criteria levels. Among the factor levels, the local culture presentation in restaurants (C15) carries the highest weight. Finally, the study analyzes the significant influencing factors from a cultural sustainability perspective. It proposes design strategies for culinary heritage restaurants in four aspects: food design, online platform design, dining experience design, and brand design. A theoretical model for the design of culinary heritage restaurants, integrating social, regional, interactive, and individual factors, is constructed to provide an important reference for the design of other local culinary heritage restaurants and the sustainable development and dissemination of culinary heritage culture.