À la carte

For other uses, see À la carte (disambiguation).

For the custom car, see Ala Kart (custom car).

À la carte /ɑːləˈkɑːrt/ is a French language loan phrase meaning "according to the menu", and used

• in reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, i.e., the usual operation of restaurants. This is in contrast to a table d'hôte, at which a menu with limited or no choice is served at a fixed price.
• to order an item from the menu on its own, e.g., a steak without the potatoes and vegetables is steak à la carte
• to describe a retail pricing model in which goods or services traditionally bundled together are separated out, putatively giving the consumer greater choice at lower cost. Examples include airline pricing where in-flight drinks or snacks are not complimentary, on-line music purchasing where individual tracks can be bought instead of entire albums, or pay television where individual channels can be ordered rather than a bundle of channels.

The phrase was adopted into English in 1826, predating by a decade the common use of the French language loanword "menu".

See also

• Omakase
• Table d'hôte, the opposite of À la carte
• List of French words and phrases used by English speakers
• Pro rata, a method of billing or other calculation based on proportional usage

External links

• À la carte pricing strategy

•  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Richard Bailey, Eating Words, Michigan Today, 13 May 2008.
• Menu, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Houghton Mifflin