self service is an English expression that means “own service” or "self-service", in the free translation into Portuguese.
O self service is a service system, mainly adopted in restaurants, where the customer has the possibility to serve their own dish, according to the options made available by the establishment.
The services self service they are opposite to the traditional à la carte, which present a list of dishes and drinks previously defined in the menu, with the respective prices of each product.
Find out more about the meaning of à la carte.
At the restaurant self service, the value of the plate is measured by the weight of the food, that is, the more food the customer puts on the plate, the greater will be its weight and, consequently, the value of the meal.
For this reason, popularly in Brazil, restaurants self service they are also known as “the kilo restaurant”.
Currently, it's not just restaurants that offer services self service, as well as laundries, supermarkets, ATMs, gas stations, etc. Any type of service in which the client himself performs the service, in part or in full, can be classified as
self service.See also the meaning of room service.
