Food products having handheld holders, food holders, and methods of serving foods

Abstract

A chilled food product comprising a generally flat holder, a foldable food supported on the holder which food comprises a generally flat dough-based material supporting at least one edible filling or topping, and a removal wrap containing the holder and the food. The holder comprises a base, first and second sides adjacent the base, and a pair of lines of weakness between the base and the first and second sides, respectively, wherein the lines of weakness facilitate folding of the sides of the holder and the foldable food into a folded food product after cooking the unwrapped chilled product. The cooked folded food can be handheld in a comfortable manner via the holder. The holder also can incorporate means to aid increasing the exposure or repositioning of the cooked folded food while contained in the holder for eating convenience. Holders having flaps or slots to improve access to held foods also are provided. A method of serving packaged chilled food products incorporating the holder also is provided.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] This invention relates to food products, food holders, and more particularly to food products having food holders to facilitate their consumption. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Sandwich products, such as pita bread sandwiches (e.g., gyro sandwiches), are popular handheld foods, which do not require eating utensils. Preassembled frozen sandwiches are often sold at retail locations and can be cooked or warmed up by customers on-site using a rapid heating oven, such as a microwave oven, provided at the same location. These retail locations include convenience stores having stand-up food preparation capabilities in which frozen foods can be sold, cooked onsite, and then eaten on-site or off-site by customers. Freezing the sandwiches increases the product's shelf life and helps preserve the freshness of the product until defrosted and cooked. Heating the sandwiches not only defrosts the food items but also makes them more savory for the customer. [0003]...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006] The holder is adapted to be reconfigured from an initial flat orientation into a folded orientation. The initial flat holder orientation is advantageous as a support surface upon which an open sandwich may be assembled thereon and as a support during freezing, packaging, storage and cooking. The folded holder orientation is advantageous as it concomitantly effects folding of the cooked food item and acts as a container allowing the cooked food item to be handheld in a comfortable and convenient manner during consumption. The need for a consumer to directly contact a hot food is eliminated, and transfer or drippage of food filling or topping material(s) to consumer's hand or clothes is reduced. Also, the chilled (e.g., frozen or refrigerated) food products comprising the flat holder and open food item assemblies of embodiments herein have a convenient shape for packaging and stacking during handling, storage and retail display of the chilled food products.

[0007] In other embodiments, a holder is provided which can be used in the chilled food product, in which the holder has an integral flap portion and / or slot allowing a consumer to manually push or slide the folded food item towards the opposite end of the holder to increase the exposure of the food item while still held in the holder for added eating convenience. The holder also can have perforated fold lines which also can be manually torn, allowing a part or parts of the holder to be manually bent away from the folded food item, or manually removed from the holder, to increase the exposure of the folded food item contained in the remaining portion of the holder for added eating convenience.

Problems solved by technology

Frozen folded sandwich products often do not have a uniform thickness, and thus can be difficult to efficiently store in shipping boxes or in retail freezers provided on-site at retail locations as their shapes are not conducive to vertical stacking.

Also, a consumer may find it uncomfortable to directly grasp a heated sandwich.

These problems may be aggravated if a consumer wants to transport and eat the cooked sandwich outside the retail location where it was purchased and cooked.

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