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 method of operation in a food preparation and delivery system, the method comprising:
 receiving a number of orders for food items from each of a plurality of customers; and   for each of a number of the customers, providing images of at least one of the producing or cooking of a specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the customer based on the orders for food items received from the respective one of the customers.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 capturing images of the producing of the food items; and   providing a selectable link selection of which provides access to the captured images of the producing of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 capturing images of the cooking of the food items in a respective one of a number of ovens carried by each of a plurality of vehicle; and   providing a selectable link selection of which provides access to the captured images of the cooking of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 capturing images of the producing of the food items;   capturing images of the cooking of the food items in a respective one of a number of ovens carried by each of a plurality of vehicles and   providing a selectable link selection of which provides access to the captured images of the producing and the cooking of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising;
 loading a plurality of ovens in a rack.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising;
 loading the rack with the ovens in a vehicle.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising;
 loading the rack with the ovens in a vehicle after loading the food items in the ovens.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 producing each of the food items in a facility; and   loading each of the food items in a respective one of a plurality of ovens for transit to destinations via one or more of vehicles.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 loading each of the food items in a respective one of a plurality of ovens for transit to destinations via one or more of vehicles.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein loading the food items in the ovens occurs before the vehicle is in transit. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising;
 loading the ovens in the vehicle after loading the food items in the ovens.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising;
 unloading the respective food item from respective ovens into respective packaging on reaching the destination.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 automatically mechanically transferring, by at least one transfer mechanism, the food items from a respective one of the ovens to a respective package without the food items being touched by a human during the transferring.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 tracking a location of at least one of the vehicles or the food items; and   for each of a number of customers, providing a selectable link selection of which provides access to the location of the vehicle carrying the food item to be delivered to the respective customer or the location of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 tracking a location of at least one of the vehicles or the food items; and   for each of a number of customers, providing an indication of a dynamically adjusted estimated delivery time for delivery of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein providing an indication of a dynamically adjusted estimated delivery time for delivery of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer includes providing the indication with a representation of a confidence interval. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 detecting at least one operational condition of at least one of the ovens;   wirelessly transmitting the detected at least one operation condition to a fixed site remote from vehicle which carries the oven; and   wirelessly receiving updated cooking information from the fixed remote site.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein detecting at least one operational condition of at least one of the ovens includes detecting at least one of a temperature in an interior of the oven, a temperature of the food item in the oven, a respective temperature at a plurality of locations inside the oven, or a moisture content inside the oven. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 adjusting routing of at least one of the plurality of vehicles based dynamically adjusted estimated transit times to load balance between the vehicles.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 in response to reaching each destination, presenting a visual identification via at least one light source to a delivery person of at least one oven which contains the food item intended for delivery at the respective destination.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising:
 in response to reaching at least one destination, presenting a set of information associated with the destination via at least one user interface to a delivery person.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein presenting a set of information associated with the destination via at least one user interface to a delivery person includes presenting a set of information that identifies a customer name, customer specific preferences, customer birth date, or a most recent previous order. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication as to which food item of the set of at least two food items a customer identifies as likely to be delivered first out of the set of at least two food items;   determining which of the food items of the at least two food items is actually delivered first;   awarding the customer if the customer correctly identified the food item that is actually delivered first of the set of food items.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising:
 providing the set of food items to the customer for identification, the set including at least one instance of a food item to be delivered to the customer.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  wherein providing the set of food items to the customer for identification includes providing the set including at least one instance of a food item to be delivered to a random selected customer. 
     
     
         26 . A system, comprising:
 at least one processor;   at least one nontransitory processor-readable medium that stores at least one of processor executable instructions or data, which when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:   receive a number of orders for food items from each of a plurality of customers; and   for each of a number of the customers, provide images of at least one of the producing or cooking of a specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the customer based on the orders for food items received from the respective one of the customers.   
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 at least one camera positioned to capture images of production of the food items.   
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 26  wherein, execution of the processor-executable processor, further causes the at least one processor to:
 provide a selectable link selection of which provides access to captured images of a production of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer. 
 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 at least one camera positioned to capture images of a cooking of the food items in a respective one of a number of ovens carried by each of a plurality of vehicle.   
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 26  wherein, execution of the processor-executable processor, further causes the at least one processor to:
 provide a selectable link selection of which provides access to images of a cooking of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer. 
 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 at least one camera positioned to capture images of production of the food items. and   at least one camera positioned to capture images of a cooking of the food items in a respective one of a number of ovens carried by each of a plurality of vehicle.   
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31  wherein, execution of the processor-executable processor, further causes the at least one processor to:
 provide a selectable link selection of which provides access to captured images of a production of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer; and 
 provide a selectable link selection of which provides access to images of a cooking of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer. 
 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 26  wherein, execution of the processor-executable processor, further causes the at least one processor to:
 provide a selectable link selection of which provides access to captured images of a production of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer; and 
 provide a selectable link selection of which provides access to images of a cooking of the specific instance of the food item to be delivered to the respective customer. 
 
     
     
         34 . A portable cooking and delivery system, comprising:
 a number of ovens to be carried by a vehicle, 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; and   at least one controller that causes a presentation of a user interface that presents information that indicates, in addition to an name of an individual associated with the order or the destination address, at least one piece of personal information associated with at least one of the individual or the destination address.   
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34  wherein the at least one controller causes the user interface to present information that indicates, in addition to an a name of the individual associated with the order or the destination address and the at least one piece of personal information, at least a portion of an order history for the destination address. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 34  wherein the at least one controller is responsive to a location of the vehicle, and on reaching each destination causes the user interface to present information related to the at least one of the individual or the destination address. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 34  wherein the at least one controller is responsive to a location of the vehicle, and on reaching each destination causes the user interface to present information that indicates, in addition to an a name of the individual associated with the order or the destination address, at least a portion of an order history for the destination address. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 34  wherein on reaching each destination the at least one processor causes the user interface to present information that indicates, in addition to a name of the individual associated with the order or the destination address, at least a portion of an order history for individual, independent of the destination address. 
     
     
         39 . A system, comprising:
 at least one processor;   at least one nontransitory processor-readable medium that stores at least one of processor executable instructions or data, which when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:   receive a number of orders for food items from each of a plurality of customers;   receive a number of predictions indicative of when one delivery will be made with respect to at least one other delivery,   receive information indicative at least of when deliveries are actually made; and   cause issuance of rewards for correct predictions.   
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 39  wherein the number of predictions are indicative of a prediction by a respective customer of when the respective customer will receive an order relative to at least one other customer; and the at least one processor causes issuance of a discount in response to the prediction by the respective customer being correct. 
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 39  wherein the at least one processor causes provision of location information to a customer for at least some of the vehicles only after receipt of a prediction by the customer. 
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 39  wherein the at least one processor causes provision of location information to a customer for at least some of the vehicles without providing any indication of order ranking for the respective vehicle. 
     
     
         43 . The system of  claim 39  wherein the at least one processor causes provision of an estimated time to deliver for an order with a representation of confidence in the estimated time to delivery.