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Purpose Although restauranteurs hope to incorporate offal or variety meat, in the menu as an attempt to reduce food waste, adopting these ingredients is still challenging due to customer rejections. This study aims to propose potential persuasive sales strategies based on customers’ different information sources to increase organ meat-based menu sales for restaurateurs. Design/methodology/approach In this research, a qualitative study was conducted to identify critical factors that show persuasive effects from external, interpersonal and experiential information sources. A total of 20 in-depth expert interviews with professional chefs and restauranteurs were conducted and key persuasive service tactics were analyzed. Findings From their experience of persuading customers to try unusual foods, insights about how to alleviate unfamiliar food aversion were obtained. The findings of this study showed that different persuasive sales tactics can be implemented to decrease customers’ aversion to offal and offcuts on menus. Research limitations/implications The context of offal is meaningful theoretically because it sheds light on the literature gaps related to persuasive sales strategies for food products with a negative social stigma. Practically, the findings of this study explicitly address that offal usage in restaurants can not only encourage the culinary uniqueness of a restaurant but also contribute to the reduction of food waste by foodservice operations. Originality/value This research answers the calls for more research on sustainable food sources in hospitality literature by proposing offal as a potential alternative protein source. The findings of this study can further be used to improve customer acceptance of other sustainable but unfamiliar food items.

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On-site foodservice management companies serve many people and have been dealing with severe food waste problems. Thus, many companies adopted clean technology to reduce food waste. This study aims to provide a meaningful understanding of the role of clean technology in food waste reduction goal setting and achievement in these companies. Through 16 expert interviews, this study found that clean technology adoption can make organizational food waste reduction goals more specific by its ability to measure and quantify: specified goals lower psychological distance (temporal, hypothetical, social). When objectives are understood at a concrete (vs. abstract) level, management can better develop detailed action plans and motivate employees to be part of them. However, employees may fear that clean technology can be used as a penalizing mechanism. Therefore, inner-organizational collaboration is critical to achieving sustainability goals and offsetting the double-sided nature of clean technology.