Food service cup dispensers, systems, and methods

Abstract

Systems for providing on-demand cup printing and dispensing for food service are provided herein. A cup dispenser includes a cup source configured to hold a stack of cups and one or more cup-moving elements configured to cause a cup from the stack of cups to move through the cup dispenser. The cup dispenser includes a motor configured to operate the one or more cup-moving elements to cause the cup to move through the cup dispenser along a path. The cup dispenser also includes a printer configured to print at least one of order information or personalization information on the cup that is based on the food service order associated with the cup. The cup dispenser further includes a dispensing slot that provides the cup, which includes the at least one of order information or personalization information printed thereon.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 712,465, filed Jul. 31, 2018, entitled “Personalized Food Service Material Printing Systems”, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 597,516, filed Dec. 12, 2017, entitled “Personalized Food Service Material Printing Systems”; each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]Example embodiments of the present invention generally relate to printing and dispensing systems for food service and, more particularly to on-demand cup printing and dispensing systems for food service.BACKGROUND[0003]Customer experience for food service can often feel impersonal. A customer may provide a food order and a food service person may then package up the food order for the customer. The packaging is pre-printed and supplied to the food service store often months in advance, such that the customer is presented with generic food packaging for...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0004]Some embodiments of the present invention provide on-demand food service material printing for food service. Such systems may provide many advantages, including for example personalization of food service material and/or real-time promotion availability for stores. Once a customer places a request for food service, the system can determine order information about the customer's order and/or personalization information about the customer or store. Such information may be gathered based on any information available including, for example, user profiles, past order history, store promotions, social media, a user's device, among many other things. Using that information, the system may determine information to print on one or more food

Problems solved by technology

Customer experience for food service can often feel impersonal.

Further, any promotions or messages that a food service business may want to present to the customer on a food service material

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