Systems and methods of preparing food products

Abstract

A food preparation and delivery system can include a plurality of cooking units such as ovens, each containing one or more prepared, but partially or completely uncooked, food items. The food items in the cooking units are for delivery to each of a corresponding plurality of consumer delivery destinations. The cooking units are loaded into a cargo compartment of a delivery vehicle for delivery to the plurality of consumer delivery destinations. The cooking conditions within the cooking unit are controlled such the each food item is cooked prior to arrival at the consumer destination location. In at least some embodiments, the estimated delivery time for each consumer destination location can be dynamically updated and the cooking conditions within the cooking unit adjusted.

1 . A portable cooking and delivery system, comprising:
 a vehicle having a cargo compartment;   a number of ovens, each oven having a respective heating element and at least one wall that forms an interior which is thermally insulated from an exterior thereof and which is thermally insulated from the respective interior of each other ones of the ovens, each oven operable to heat contents thereof; and   a number of ejectors, each ejector moveable between a retracted configuration and an extended configuration, wherein the ejector is selectively positionable based on a dimension of the contents of a respective oven to bias the contents of the respective oven against movement within the oven during transit of the vehicle.   
     
     
         2 . The portable cooking and delivery system of  claim 1  wherein each ejector is further operable to mechanically transfer the contents of the respective oven to respective packaging without the contents being touched by a human during the transfer of the contents from the respective oven to the respective packaging. 
     
     
         3 . The portable cooking and delivery system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a packaging rack sized and dimensioned to be received in the cargo compartment of the vehicle, the packaging rack having a number of compartments sized and dimensioned to each hold packaging, wherein each ejector is further operable to mechanically transfer the contents of the respective oven to respective packaging held by the packaging rack without the contents being touched by a human during the transfer of the contents from the respective oven to the respective packaging.   
     
     
         4 . The portable cooking and delivery system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at least one controller, the at least one controller communicatively coupled to at least one ejector and operable to cause the ejector to move the contents of the oven out of the oven without the contents being touched by a human, in response to reaching a defined cooking time for a set of temperatures at which the respective oven was operated during at least part of a transit of the vehicle based on an estimated transit time to a delivery destination for the contents of the respective oven.   
     
     
         5 . The portable cooking and delivery system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at least one controller, the at least one controller communicatively coupled to at least one ejector and operable to cause the ejector to move the contents of the oven out of the oven without the contents being touched by a human, in response to reaching a defined cooking time for a set of temperatures at which the respective oven was operated during at least part of a transit of the vehicle based on an automatically determined estimated transit time to a delivery destination for the contents of the respective oven.   
     
     
         6 . The portable cooking and delivery system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at least one controller, the at least one controller communicatively coupled to at least one ejector and operable to cause the ejector to move the contents of the oven out of the oven without the contents being touched by a human, in response to reaching a defined cooking time for a set of temperatures at which the respective oven was operated during at least part of a transit of the vehicle based on a number of automatically determined estimated transit time to a delivery destination for the contents of the respective oven, the estimated transit time which are dynamically updated during the transit of the vehicle.   
     
     
         7 . A method of portable cooking and delivery, comprising:
 loading a food item in an oven, the oven carried by a vehicle when in transit; and   biasing the food item in the oven against movement within the oven during transit of the vehicle.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein biasing the food item in the oven against movement during transit of the vehicle includes moving an ejector into a biased position to physically bias the food item within the oven. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 generating a signal by at least one controller communicatively coupled to the ejector that causes the ejector to move to bias the food item against movement within the oven.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the ejector is moveable between a retracted configuration and an extended configuration, and further comprising mechanically transferring the food item from the oven to packaging without the food item being touched by a human during the transferring of the food item from the oven to the packaging. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein mechanically transferring the food item from the oven to packaging without the food item being touched by a human includes mechanically transferring the food item from the oven to packaging held by a packaging rack without the food item being touched by a human during the transferring of the food item from the oven to the packaging. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 generating a signal by at least one controller communicatively coupled to the ejector that causes the ejector to move a respective food item out of the oven without the respective food item being touched by a human in response to reaching a defined cooking time for a set of temperatures at which the respective oven was operated during at least part of a transit of the vehicle.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7  wherein loading a food item in an oven occurs before the vehicle is in transit. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising;
 loading the oven in the vehicle after loading the food item in the oven.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising;
 loading the oven in a rack.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising;
 loading the rack with the oven in the vehicle.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising;
 loading the rack with the oven in the vehicle after loading the food item in the oven.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising;
 unloading the food item from oven on reaching the destination.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 10  wherein for each of the number of ovens carried by a vehicle, automatically controlling, via at least one controller, at least one of a temperature or a cooking time to cook the respective food items in the respective ovens while the vehicle travels to each of a number of destinations. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein automatically controlling, at least one of a temperature or a cooking time to cook the respective food items in the respective ovens while the vehicle travels to each of a number of destinations includes, for at least one of ovens carried by the vehicle, automatically controlling, via at least one controller, at least one of a temperature or a cooking time based at least in part on a respective estimated transit time to a respective destination for the respective food item. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19  wherein automatically controlling, at least one of a temperature or a cooking time to cook the respective food items in the respective ovens while the vehicle travels to each of a number of destinations includes for each of a plurality of ovens carried by the vehicle, automatically controlling, via at least one controller, at least one of a temperature or a cooking time based at least in part on a respective dynamically estimated transit time to a respective destination for the respective food item. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19  wherein automatically controlling, at least one of a temperature or a cooking time to cook the respective food items in the respective ovens while the vehicle travels to each of a number of destinations includes for each of a plurality of ovens carried by the vehicle, automatically controlling, via at least one controller, at least one of a temperature or a cooking time based at least in part on a respective dynamically estimated transit time to a respective destination for the respective food item while the vehicle travels to each of at least two destinations which are different from and spaced apart from one another.