Abstract: A beverage cup and cupholder system made in accordance with the principles of the present invention includes a beverage cup 10 and a cupholder 50. The beverage cup 10 includes a sleeve 13, a liner 19, and a base 20. The base 20 includes an O-ring 22, a plate 23, a heating element 27 and spring terminals 28a, 28b. The heating element preferably exhibits a variable PTC effect. The base further includes a contact ring 25 and a contact disk 29. The cupholder 50 is adapted to mate with the base 20 of the beverage cup 10. Preferably, the cupholder 50 has recessed land areas 57, 58 which lie below a plane of support 53 for the beverage cup 50. The recessed land areas 57, 58 are electrically isolated from each other. The cupholder includes spring contacts 52, 54 which are adapted to receive connections from an external source of electrical current. The spring contacts 52, 54 extend into the recessed land areas 57, 58. The beverage cup 10, when filled with a hot beverage, is placed into the cupholder 50.

Abstract: An automated self-service pizza process and system comprises a vending machine with self-contained cooking and processing equipment to rapidly prepare delicious pizza. The stand-alone unattended process and system visually displays pizzas with choices of different toppings for selection by a customer who can pay for the pizza by credit card, debit card, prepaid card, bank card, or by paper money or other cash. Pizza crust can be moved to an assembly area by a robot. In the assembly area, the selected toppings are automatically dispensed on the pizza crust. The pizza is then conveyed to an oven where it is cooked and discharged into a cardboard box or other suitable container. The type of pizza and customer's name can be printed on the box with an ink jet printer.