Insert for a Food Holding Tray

Abstract

A removable insert for a food holding tray provides one or more compartments such that the compartments can become encapsulated environments, extending the time that a pre-cooked food item remains palatable to most people.

Description

The content of the Applicant's co-pending patent application Ser. No. 13/326,667 filed on Dec. 15, 2011, titled, “Apparatus for Preserving Cooked Food Palatability,” is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The content of the Applicant's co-pending patent application Ser. No. 13/326,607 filed Dec. 15, 2011, titled, “Method of Extending the Time During Which Pre-Cooked Foods Are Kept Palatable,” is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Many fast-food restaurants prepare food items before they are actually ordered and keep them warm until they are ordered by a customer. A pre-cooked, i.e. a pre-prepared, food product can thus be sold and served to the customer in significantly less time than it takes to prepare each food item after it is ordered.

A problem with pre-cooked foods is that they lose their taste or palatability over time. While taste or palatability is subjective, empirical data shows that most people will dislike the taste of a hamburger after it has been “held” or kept in a warming tray for more than about 15 minutes. Fast-food restaurant operators therefore keep pre-cooked foods warm and ready to serve for only a relatively short period of time, typically fifteen to twenty minutes. When that time has elapsed, the pre-cooked food product is disposed of. Extending the holding time of a pre-cooked food product is therefore contrary to the common and accepted practice of fast-food restaurant operators.

Many prior art fast-food restaurants store pre-cooked foods that include hamburger patties in relatively large, open-top trays, which can hold numerous patties. An apparatus that makes or enables prior art trays extend cooked food product palatability would be an improvement over the prior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional prior art food holding tray 12 that is provided with a fitted, removable insert;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the insert 10 shown in FIG. 1, removed from the food holding tray 12 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross section of the prior art food holding tray shown in FIG. 1, and holding the insert; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a sleeve configured to receive a prior art food holding tray having an insert, such as the one shown in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional prior art food holding tray 12, provided with a fitted, removable insert 10. The insert 10 effectively acts to fill and thereby reduce the open interior volume of the tray. It thus reduces the volume of air in the tray that can shorten pre-cooked food product palatability. Stated another way, when a large, open-volume, open-top prior art food holding tray 12 is provided with an insert 10, and a pre-cooked food product is held in a compartment in the insert instead of in the open tray, the insert 10 enables the food holding tray 12 and insert 10 combination to provide an “encapsulated environment” for the pre-cooked food product by reducing most of the air that would otherwise surround a pre-cooked food item.

An “encapsulated environment” is defined in the applicant's co-pending patent application Ser. No. 13/326,607, filed Dec. 15, 2011 and entitled “Method of Extending the Time During Which Pre-Cooked Foods Are Kept Palatable,” the entire contents of which are incorporated here and by reference. An encapsulated environment is also defined in the applicant's co-pending patent application Ser. No. 13/326,667 filed Dec. 15, 2011 and entitled “Apparatus for Preserving Cooked Food Palatability,” the contents of which are also incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

The food holding tray 12 has a substantially rectangular-shaped open top 14 through which the insert 10 can be placed into the food holding tray 12. The tray 12 also has an inside width 16, which is the distance between two, elongated, parallel and opposing sides 18 and 20. An inside length 22 for the tray 12 is considered to be the distance between two opposing ends 24 and 26 of the food holding tray. The ends 24, 26 hold the tray sides 18, 20 in a fixed, spaced-apart relationship to each other. In addition to having an open top 14, an inside width 16, and an inside length 22 the food holding tray 12 has an inside depth 28, which is considered to be the distance between the open top 14 and a bottom 32 of the food holding tray 12.

Prior art food holding trays 12 are sized, shaped and arranged to hold numerous pre-cooked food items, typically pre-cooked hamburger patties, in an environment that does not restrict air flow, even when the trays are placed in a food holding cabinet. A well-known problem with storing a pre-cooked food item in an open tray 12 is that the pre-cooked food item loses its palatability relatively quickly. When pre-cooked food item demand is high, as happens during certain times of a day, pre-cooked foods are kept in large trays for relatively short periods of time. On other hand, when demand is low, it is not possible for a prior art tray to provide a substantially closed compartment for individual patties. The insert 10 thus makes it possible for a prior art food holding tray 12 to be “re-purposed” to provide one or more encapsulated environments when pre-cooked food product demand is low.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an insert 10 and which is sized, shaped and arranged to fig inside a prior art food holding tray 12. The insert 10 has two elongated, parallel and opposing sides 34 and 36 which are held in a spaced-apart relationship by two opposing ends 38 and 40.

The insert 10 can be seen in FIG. 2 to be substantially rectangular. It has a width dimension 42 substantially less than its length dimension 44. The sides 34 and 36 each have a top edge, or surface, 46 as well as an opposing bottom edge or surface 48. The distance between the top 46 and bottom 48 of a side 36, 34 defines a wall height 50 for the sides 34, 36.

Four disc-shaped depressions 52, 54, 56 and 58 are formed into a substantially planar top surface 60. Different numbers of depressions can be formed depending on the width of the insert 10 as well as its length.

The disc-shaped depressions 52, 54, 56, 58 are considered herein to be food holding compartments. Since their shape corresponds to the shape of a hamburger patty, which is known in advance, the shape of the depressions is considered herein to also be known in advance and therefore predetermined.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the food holding tray 12 shown in FIG. 1 with the insert 10 in place inside the food holding tray 12. In a first embodiment, the upright sides 34, 36 of the insert 10 have a nominal vertical height 50 equal to or slightly less than the inside depth of the food holding tray 12. In a second embodiment, the upright sides 34, 36 of the insert 10 have a nominal vertical height 50 equal to or slightly greater than the inside depth of the food holding tray 12.

FIG. 3 appears to show the openings of the food holding compartments 52, 54, 56 and 58 at the same level or just slightly below the top 14 of the tray in order to facilitate covering the compartments so they become encapsulated environments. In a first embodiment, i.e., with upright sides 34 equal to or less than the inside tray depth, more space between the openings of the depressions and a covering plane, such as a shelf of a holding cabinet, provides an increased space through which air can flow. In the second embodiment, a smaller space between the openings of the depressions and a covering plane will reduce the space through which air can flow. In both embodiments, the nominal height 50 of the sides of the insert 10 is considered to be equal to or substantially equal to the vertical separation distance between the top and bottom of the sides 34, 36.

As stated above, the insert 10 is sized, shaped and arranged to fit within a prior art food holding tray 12, which is itself sized, shaped and arranged to store numerous pre-cooked food items, typically hamburger patties. The dimensions of the tray 12 and the dimensions of the insert 10 are selected such that when the tray 12 with the insert 10 is placed into a heated shelf of a food holding cabinet, the food holding compartments 52, 54, 56 and 58 in the insert are covered by a shelf of the food holding cabinet, converting the open compartments into encapsulated environments.

In an alternate embodiment, a tray 12 with an insert 10 can be placed into a sleeve 70, which is sized, shaped and arranged such that when the prior art food holding tray 12 provided with an insert 10 is placed within the sleeve 70, the combination provides encapsulated environments embodied as the compartments covered by the sleeve. Stated another way, the sleeve 70 acts as a cover to the open compartments 52, 54, 56 and 58 when they are placed into the sleeve 70.

As best seen in FIG. 4, a sleeve 70 has two opposing vertical sidewalls 72 and 74, which have a height 76 substantially equal to the height 28 of the food holding tray 12. An opening 78 into the interior volume provided by the sleeve's sidewalls 72, 74 enables the food holding tray 12 and the insert 10 to be slid into and out of the sleeve 70. The sleeve 70 can be configured to be latched into or clipped into a shelf of a prior art food holding cabinet. The sleeve 70 can also be used with the tray 12/insert 10, without a food holding cabinet, i.e. the sleeve 70 can be placed on a surface outside of a food holding cabinet such as a table top or counter.

In the alternate embodiment, the height 28 of the tray 12 is just less than the height 76 of the sleeve. The space between the cover provided by the top surface 80 of the sleeve 70 and the top surface 50 of the insert 10 is preferably zero but less than about one-quarter of an inch. The top surface 80 of the sleeve thus provides a cover for the compartments 52, 54, 56 and 58 formed into the insert 10.

The foregoing description is for purposes of illustration only. The true scope of the invention is set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. A removable insert for a food holding tray, the food holding tray having an open top, an inside width between two opposing sides, an inside length between two opposing ends, and an inside depth between the open top and a bottom, the food holding tray being is sized, shaped and arranged to hold a number of pre-cooked food items, the insert comprising:

first and second opposing sides;

first and second opposing ends configured to hold the opposing sides in a first fixed, spaced-apart relationship to each other;

a surface extending between the first and second opposing sides;

a food product holding compartment formed into the insert surface, between the opposing sides and between the opposing ends, the holding compartment comprising a depression formed into the surface of the insert, the depression having a predetermined depth and shape, the predetermined depth corresponding a thickness of a food item to be held in the holding compartment, the predetermined shape corresponding to a shape of the food item to be held in the holding compartment;

wherein the insert is configured such that when placed into the food holding tray, the insert reduces the number of pre-cooked food items that can be held in the food holding tray, to a fixed and smaller number of pre-cooked food items.

2. The removable insert of claim 1, wherein the first and second sides of the insert each have a top and a bottom and a nominal height, substantially equal to a vertical separation distance between the top and bottom of the first and second sides, the nominal height being less than or equal to the inside depth of the food holding tray, wherein the surface of the insert is substantially planar and located substantially between the tops of the first and second sides, the food holding compartment formed into the insert surface having an open top and a closed bottom, the nominal height of the first and second sides being substantially equal to the inside depth of the food holding tray.

3. The removable insert of claim 1, wherein the first and second opposing sides are spaced apart from each other by a distance less than the inside width of the food holding tray.

4. The removable insert of claim 2, wherein the first and second opposing ends are spaced apart from each other by a distance less than the inside length of the food holding tray.

5. This removable insert of claim 2, further comprising a sleeve comprising first and second substantially upright sides and a horizontally-oriented cover supported by the first and second upright sides, the sleeve being configured to receive the food holding tray with the insert therein and to provide a cover to the food holding compartment in the insert.

6. The removable insert of claim 5, wherein the sleeve is configured to provide a space between the cover and the top surface of the insert that is less than about one-quarter of an inch.