Method and system for attaching packaged food items

Abstract

A method and system for attaching packaged food items that includes a first food container having a top lid that defines a first face portion, a second food container having a second face portion, and a sealing member attached to at least one of the first face portion and the second face portion that sealably engages the first face portion to the second face portion.

Description

BACKGROUND

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to a method and system for attaching packaged food items.

[0003] 2. Background

[0004] In the highly competitive fast food restaurant industry, industry participants strive to achieve a competitive advantage in order to build market share. One approach to obtaining an advantage over other industry participants is by offering a diverse menu that includes a wide range of food items. New food items are a constant focus of industry research, and are introduced to a menu or offered as short or long-term promotions to enhance the culinary experience and customer satisfaction. In addition to the conventional fast food items, such as pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs, offered by fast food restaurants, a variety of new food selections, such as soups, chili, salads, pies, ice cream, potato chips, and the like have been introduced to supplement the conventional food items, with the goal of attracting new customers.

[0005] In order to accommodate the growing and changing food selections in the fast food industry, various food containers are employed by restaurants that are designed to efficiently and conveniently hold individual food items and maintain food temperature and freshness during transport. Some typical food containers include various sized cardboard and plastic containers for soups, salads, and ice cream, closed cardboard boxes for hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza, and open-ended cardboard containers for French fries. Many of these food containers and designed to securely hold relatively small individual food items that are, then, placed in a suitably sized carrying container, such as a bag, for easy transport from the restaurant. However, when the purchased food is relatively large, the container that holds the food may act as its own carrying container. For example, when the food item is a whole pizza, the pizza box acts as its own carrying container. In this example, when other food items, such as potato chips, bread sticks, etc., are purchased as a “side” item with the pizza, these items must be transported in a bag or bags that are carried separately from, or loosely on top of, the pizza box. As a result, relative to other fast food establishments, fast food orders that include pizza are more cumbersome to transport while on foot or driving in a vehicle by delivery personnel or the customer. In many instances, the difficulty of transporting these additional food items acts as a disincentive for their purchase.

[0006] Accordingly, there is a continued need to improve the manner in which large fast food items that are transported in large food containers may be conveniently attached to other packaged food items in order to increase food sales, gain market share in the industry, and/or provide convenience in transport from the fast food establishments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. In the drawings:

[0008] FIG. 1 is a view of a first food container of the present invention in the form of an opened pizza box;

[0009] FIG. 2 is a view of the second food container of the present invention in the form of a sealed bag of a packaged food item having a sealing member attached thereto;

[0010] FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the present invention wherein the first food container, in the form of a closed pizza box, has a sealing member attached thereto; and

[0011] FIG. 4 is a view of the first food container of FIG. 1 or 3 attached to the second food container.

SUMMARY

[0012] In one embodiment of the present invention, a system is provided for attaching packaged food items that includes a first food container having a top lid that defines a first face portion, a second food container having a second face portion, and a sealing member attached to at least one of the first face portion and the second face portion that sealably engages the first face portion to the second face portion.

[0013] In another embodiment of the present invention, a system for attaching packaged food items is provided that includes a food container having a top lid that defines an exterior face portion, the exterior face portion being a flat rectangular portion when the first food container is closed and placed on a horizontal surface, and a sealing member attached to the face portion. The sealing member is a double-sided adhesive member, wherein at least a portion of a first side of the adhesive member is attached to the face portion, and at least a portion of a second side of the adhesive member is covered by a detachable protective member.

[0014] The present invention also provides a system for attaching packaged food items that includes a food container in the form of a pillow-shaped bag, the food container having a face portion, and a sealing member attached to the face portion. The sealing member is a double-sided adhesive member, wherein at least a portion of a first side of the adhesive member is attached to the face portion, and at least a portion of a second side of the adhesive member is covered by a detachable protective member.

[0015] The present invention also provides a system for attaching packaged food items that includes a first food container having a top lid that defines a first exterior face portion, the exterior face portion being a flat rectangular portion when the first food container is placed on a horizontal surface, a second food container having a second face portion, the second face portion having a surface area sized to be smaller than the first face portion, and a sealing member. The sealing member is a double sided adhesive member, wherein at least a portion of a first side of the adhesive member is attached to at least one of the first face portion and the second face portion, and at least a portion of a second side of the adhesive member is covered by a detachable protective member.

[0016] The present invention also provides a method of attaching a first food container to a second food container. The method includes providing a first food container and a second food container, the first food container having a top lid that defines a first face portion, the second food container having a second face portion, at least one of the first face portion and the second face portion having at least a portion of a first side of a double sided sealing member attached thereto. A detachable protective member is removed from a second side of the double-sided sealing member, such that the first food container may be secured to the second food container via the sealing member.

[0017] It should be understood that this invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed in this Summary, but it is intended to cover modifications that are within the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] It is to be understood that certain descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate only those elements and limitations that are relevant to a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating, for purposes of clarity, other elements. Those of ordinary skill in the art, upon considering the present description of the invention, will recognize that other elements and/or limitations may be desirable in order to implement the present invention. However, because such other elements and/or limitations may be readily ascertained by one of ordinary skill upon considering the present description of the invention, and are not necessary for a complete understanding of the present invention, a discussion of such elements and limitations is not provided herein. For example, as discussed herein, the attachment system of the present invention may be employed, for example, with various packaged food items. The variety of possible packaged food items are understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, and, accordingly, are not described in detail herein.

[0019] Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention will be generally described wherein the first food container is a pizza box and the second food container is a sealed bag of un-popped microwave popcorn that may be attached to the pizza box. It will be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in forms and applied to end uses that are not specifically and expressly described herein. For example, the first food container may be a conventional warming bag that contains one or more pizza boxes for transport by delivery personnel.

[0020] Also, for ease of description, the invention and devices to which it may be attached may be described herein in a normal operating position, and terms such as top, upper, lower, front, back, horizontal, proximal, distal, etc., may be used with reference to the normal operating position of the referenced device or element. It will be understood, however, that the apparatus of the invention may be manufactured, stored, transported, used, and sold in orientations other than those described.

[0021] FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a first food container 10 of the present invention having a top lid 12 that may be opened for receiving a food item, such as a pizza 2. Top lid 12 typically includes folded top panels 13 that may be inserted into or over sidewalls 16 to enclose the food item therein. Although first food container 10 may be any shape and size, in the closed position, top lid 12, top panels 13, sidewalls 16, and base 18 typically form a generally rectangular-shaped cardboard box container. Top lid 12 of the first food container 10 defines an exterior face portion 14 (best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4) that may be a flat rectangular portion when first food container 10 is placed on a horizontal surface. Typically, first food container 10 is sized to be slightly larger than the food contained therein. For example, when first food container 10 is a pizza box, food container 10 is sized such that the length, width, and height of the box accommodates the diameter and thickness of the pizza, as illustrated. Following the placement of the food within food container 10, top lid 12 may be closed to contain the food to be transported.

[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a second food container 20 employed in the method and system of the present invention. Although second food container 20 may contain any packaged food item, second food container 20 may be in the form of a pillow-shaped bag of un-popped microwave popcorn. In this embodiment, second food container 20 may be a hermetically sealed container that includes a film wrap 24 thereabout to preserve the popcorn enclosed therein. As is conventionally known in the art, film 24 may be any material that hermetically seals the food for proper storage, such as cellophane, until the microwave bag is removed from the film 24 for heating and consumption. The second food container 20 includes a face portion 22. Face portion 22 of second food container 20 may, but need not, have a smaller surface area than the face portion 14 of first food container 10. It is contemplated that second food container 20 may be any suitable shape and size, such as a rectangular pillow-shaped bag, as illustrated.

[0023] As illustrated in FIG. 2, in one embodiment of the present invention, face portion 22 of second food container 20 is fitted with a sealing member 30 for attaching second food container 20 to the face portion 14 of first food container 10. Sealing member 30 may, but need not, be centrally located on the face portion 22 of the second food container 20, as shown. When second food container 20 is an un-popped bag of microwave popcorn, sealing member 30 may be attached to removable film 24. Although sealing member 30 may be any mechanical attachment means that provides sealable engagement between first food container 10 and second food container 20, in one embodiment, sealing member 30 may be an adhesive strip. The adhesive strip may be an elongated member having a generally rectangular configuration. The adhesive strip may be a double-sided adhesive member so that at least a portion of a first side of the adhesive strip is secured to second face portion 22 of second food container 20. The sealing member 30 may include a protective member 32, such as a Mylar strip, positioned over a second side of the adhesive strip to preserve the adhesive characteristics of sealing member 30 until such time as the user intends to secure second food container 20 to the first food container 10. Sealing member 30 may, but need not be, a double-sided adhesive strip as discussed herein, but may be any adhesive or securing member, such as, for example, a hook and loop fastening mechanism (i.e., “Velcro”), that suitably secures face portion 14 of first food container 10 to face portion 22 of second food container 20.

[0024] Referring to FIG. 3, in another embodiment of the present invention, sealing member 30 may be connected to the exterior face portion 14 of top lid 12 of first food container 10, as shown. In this embodiment, where sealing member 30 is an adhesive strip, the first side of sealing member 30 may be attached to face portion 14 of top lid 12. Sealing member 30 may, but need not, be centrally located on face portion 14 of first food container 10, as illustrated. Protective member 32, as discussed above, may be employed over the second side of the sealing member 30, as illustrated. After removal of at least a portion of protective member 32, face portion 22 of the second food container 20 may be secured to the second side of sealing member 30 when face portion 22 comes into close association with face portion 14 of first container 10.

[0025] Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when sealing member 30 is a double-sided adhesive strip, one side of the adhesive strip may, initially, be attached to either face portion 14 of first food container 10 or face portion 22 of second food container 20 prior to its attachment to the other food container.

[0026] FIG. 4 illustrates the combined form of first food container 10 attached to second food container 20. As discussed above, first food container 10, in its closed position, includes an external face portion 14 that may be a flat rectangular portion. The second food container 20 includes a face portion 22. A sealing member 30, such as a double-sided adhesive member, may be attached to either face portion 14 or face portion 22. In one embodiment, the user may remove at least a portion of the detachable protective member 32 from a second side of the double-sided adhesive member to detachably secure first food container 10 to second food container 20. The attachment may be either permanent or temporary so long as the sealing member does not inhibit the accessibility of the food contents inside first food container 10 or second food container 20. For example, in an embodiment comprising a pizza box as first food container 10 and an un-popped bag of microwave popcorn as second food container 20, the bag of un-popped popcorn, but not necessarily film 24, should be detachable from the pizza box.

[0027] It is contemplated that more than one sealing member 30 may be attached to one or both of first food container 10 and second food container 20. For example, in embodiments where first food container 10 and second food container 20 each include a sealing member 30, sealing members 30 may be aligned to engage each other to secure the first food container 10 to the second food container 20, may be intentionally misaligned to provide multiple contact points between the first food container 10 and the second food container 20, or may be a combination of alignment and intentional misaligned sealing members 30. In embodiments where only one of either first food container 10 and second food container 20 includes multiple sealing members 30, each sealing member 30 may provide a contact point between the food containers.

[0028] The present invention provides a convenient system and method of connecting packaged food items, such as a sealed bag of un-popped microwave popcorn, to large food items that are transported in their own carrying container, such as pizza box. The attachment system reduces the possibility that food orders may be separated or misplaced by the fast food employee and reduces the inconvenience that is associated with transporting these items while on foot or driving in a vehicle. Because the difficulty of transporting these additional food items acts as a disincentive for their purchase, the convenience associated with the present invention encourages the sale or promotion of additional food items at fast food restaurants.

[0029] It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications that are within the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A system for attaching packaged food items, comprising:

a first food container having a top lid that defines a first face portion;

a second food container having a second face portion; and

a sealing member attached to at least one of the first face portion and the second face portion that sealably engages the first face portion to the second face portion.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first face portion is a flat rectangular member when the first food container is closed and placed on a horizontal surface.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first food container is a rectangular-shaped cardboard box container.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first food container is a pizza box.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the second food container is a sealed bag.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second food container is a pillow-shaped bag of un-popped microwave popcorn, hermetically sealed in a film wrap.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the sealing member is a double sided adhesive member, at least a portion of a first side of the sealing member being attached to the second face portion of the second food container.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least a portion of a second side of the double sided adhesive member is covered by a detachable protective member.

9. A system for attaching packaged food items, comprising:

a food container having a top lid that defines an exterior face portion, the exterior face portion being a flat rectangular portion when the first food container is closed and placed on a horizontal surface; and

a sealing member attached to the face portion, the sealing member being a double-sided adhesive member, at least a portion of a first side of the adhesive member is attached to the face portion, and at least a portion of a second side of the adhesive member is covered by a detachable protective member.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first closed food container is a rectangular-shaped cardboard box container.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first closed food container is a pizza box.

12. A system for attaching packaged food items, comprising:

a food container in the form of a pillow-shaped bag, the food container having a face portion; and

a sealing member attached to the face portion, the sealing member being a double-sided adhesive member, at least a portion of a first side of the adhesive member is attached to the face portion, and at least a portion of a second side of the adhesive member is covered by a detachable protective member.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the food container is a hermetically sealed container of un-popped microwave popcorn.

14. A system for attaching packaged food items, comprising:

a first food container having a top lid that defines a first exterior face portion, the exterior face portion being a flat rectangular portion when the first food container is placed on a horizontal surface:

a second food container having a second face portion, the second face portion having a surface area sized to be smaller than the first face portion; and

a sealing member, the sealing member being a double sided adhesive member, at least a portion of a first side of the adhesive member is attached to at least one of the first face portion and the second face portion, and at least a portion of a second side of the adhesive member is covered by a detachable protective member.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first food container is a pizza box.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the second food container is a sealed bag.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first side of the sealing member is attached to the second food container.

18. A method of attaching a first food container to a second food container, comprising;

providing a first food container and a second food container, the first food container having a top lid that defines a first face portion, the second food container having a second face portion, at least one of the first face portion and the second face portion having at least a portion of a first side of a double sided sealing member attached thereto;

removing a detachable protective member from a second side of the double sided sealing member; and

securing the first food container to the second food container via the sealing member.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first food container is a box for containing a first food item, the first face portion being a flat rectangular portion, and the second food container being a sealed bag.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first closed food container is a pizza box, and the second food container is a bag of un-popped microwave popcorn, sealed in a film wrap.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein at least a portion of a first side of the sealing member is attached to the film of the second food container and wherein at least a portion of a second side of the double sided adhesive member is covered by a detachable protective member.