Food and drink serving system for eating and drinking place

A food and drink serving system for an eating and drinking place includes reading units, arranged in customers' tables, respectively, for reading order identifying information of meal tickets of customers, transmitting means for transmitting cooking information including the order identifying information read by the reading unit and a seat number identifying information on the table in which the reading unit is arranged, and cooking information informing means for informing at least either of a cook and a cooking director of at least the order identifying information and the seat number identifying information of the cooking information transmitted by the transmitting means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a food and drink serving system for an eating and drinking place.

2. Prior Art

In eating and drinking places adopting a meal ticket system, a customer gets a meal ticket at a ticket counter or from a slot vending machine, first, and then takes an empty seat. Then, a waiter comes to the customer and confirms his/her order from the ticket and then carries or sends the contents and, if necessary, information on the customer's seat number (table number), to a cooking place. The waiter ordinarily receives the customers' order on a first-come-first-serve basis.

However, when customers come in flocks simultaneously, even when the waiter tries to take their orders on a first-come-first-served basis, he/she sometimes cannot help but receive an order from a customer who comes after, first, depending on the positional relation between the waiter and the customers' tables. In this case, a customer who comes first is kept waiting for giving his/her order to the waiter and thus waiting a long for his/her ordered food or drink, and sometimes feels dissatisfied.

For shortening the waiting time, it may be a conceivable way that the order is sent to the cooking place at a point in time when the meal ticket is issued, but this has a problem that it cannot be seen which seat the customer took.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In consideration of this problem, the present invention has been made. It is the object of the present invention to provide a food and drink serving system in an eating and drinking place capable of sending the customers' orders to the cooking place according to the seating order and serving the ordered food and drink to the customer in a shortest possible time, not to keep the customer wait for a long time.

To accomplish the object noted above, a food and drink serving system for an eating and drinking place according to the present invention comprises reading units, arranged in customers' tables, respectively, for reading order identifying information of meal tickets of customers, transmitting means for transmitting cooking information including the order identifying information read by the reading unit and a seat number identifying information on the table in which the reading unit is arranged, and cooking information informing means for informing at least either of a cook and a cooking director of at least the order identifying information and the seat number identifying information of the cooking information transmitted by the transmitting means.

The food and drink serving system for an eating and drinking place according to the present invention further includes a food and drink containing tableware or a carrier container which is provided with identifying information imparting means for imparting the seat number identifying information.

A food and drink serving system for an eating and drinking place according to the present invention comprises reading units, arranged in customers' tables, respectively, for reading order identifying information of meal tickets of customers, transmitting means for transmitting cooking information including the order identifying information read by the reading unit and a seat number identifying information on the table in which the reading unit is arranged, an automatic cooking unit for automatically cooking an ordered food and drink in accordance with the order identifying information of the cooking information transmitted by the transmitting means, and a seat number identifying information imparting means for imparting the seat number identifying information to an automatically-cooked-food-and-drink containing tableware or a carrier container in accordance with the seat number identifying information of the cooking information transmitted by the transmitting means.

In the food and drink serving system for an eating and drinking place according to the present invention, there is provided an automatic conveying means for putting the cooked food thereon and conveying it from a cooking place to the seat associated with the seat number identifying information.

It is preferable that the food and drink serving system for the eating and drinking place according to the present invention further includes an automatic conveying means which is provided with a guide means for announcing an arrival of the food and drink to the customer when the food is arrived at the seat associated with the seat number identifying information.

It is preferable that the food and drink serving system for the eating and drinking place according to the present invention includes an automatic meal ticket dispenser which is provided with a transmitting means for transmitting the order identifying information of the meal ticket the customer purchased to the cooking information informing means or an automatic cooking unit.

The food and drink serving system for the eating and drinking place according to the present invention thus constructed can provide the results that the orders can be sent to the cooking place according to the seating order and that the food and drink ordered by the customer can be served in a shortest possible time without keeping the customer wait.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.FIGS. 1-6show a food and drink serving system of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown inFIG. 1, the food and drink serving system comprises an automatic ticket dispenser1, meal ticket reading units2, a computing means3, an automatic cooking unit4, a conveying path5forming an automatic conveying means, carrier containers6, and a display panel7forming a cooking information notice means.

The automatic ticket dispenser1is structured as follows, though not shown. When a customer puts coin or paper money in the dispenser1from a coin slot or a paper money slot and then presses a button for choice of a wanted food and drink, the dispenser1delivers therefrom a ticket with the ordered item name printed on the front side thereof and the kind of the ordered item stored as magnetic data in a magnetic storage media on the back side of the ticket and also transmits the order identifying information and the ticket purchase time to the computing means3through a built-in transmitting means (not shown).

The conveying path5is arranged in loop to pass from the cooking place K where the automatic cooking unit4mentioned later is located to the cooking place K through all tables {circle around (1)}-{circle around (6)}. The conveying path5comprises a conveyor51that conveys the carrier container6for containing the food and drink F mentioned later, as shown inFIGS. 2-5.

The tables {circle around (1)}-{circle around (6)} arranged alongside the conveying path5are fixedly provided with the meal ticket reading units2, respectively. Each reading unit2is provided with a meal ticket inlet and outlet and a built-in seat number identifying signal transmitter. The seat number identifying signal transmitter is so structured that it always transmits signals, different in frequency for each table, within the range of about 3 meters around each table {circle around (1)}({circle around (2)}, {circle around (3)}, {circle around (4)}, {circle around (5)}, or {circle around (6)}).

When the meal ticket is dropped in the meal ticket slot of the reading unit2, the reading unit2reads the order identifying information, first, and then transmits it to the computing means3, together with the information on the seat number of the table {circle around (1)}({circle around (2)}, {circle around (3)}, {circle around (4)}, {circle around (5)}, or {circle around (6)}) on which the related reading unit2is placed. Thereafter, the ticket is withdrawn.

On the basis of the order identifying information sent from the automatic ticket dispenser1, the computing means3transmits cooking start signals on the food to be cooked to the automatic cooking unit4. Also, when the computing means3receives the order identifying information and the seat number information from the reading unit2, it transmits them to the display panel7.

The automatic cooking unit4comprises a noodle cooking part41, a spaghetti cooking part42, a steak cooking part43and a curry and rice cooking part44. The automatic cooking unit4is so structured that when receiving the cooking start signals from the computing means3, it can automatically cook on a first-ordered-first-cooked basis, as mentioned below.

Take the noodle cooking part41, for instance. Though not shown, when the order of noodle, such as udon (Japanese wheat noodle), soba (buckwheat noodle) and rãmen (Chinese noodle), is received, a porcelain bowl is taken out from piled porcelain bowls in the automatic cooking unit4, first, and then is set in a predetermined cooking position. Thereafter, the noodle cooked by heating such as the boiled noodle, relishes such as chopped leek and processed-bamboo shoots, ingredients such as fried beancurd, sliced fish sausage, tenpura (Japanese fried food), char siu, and soup are put and poured in sequence in the porcelain bowl according to the order. Then, the bowl of the noodle thus cooked is brought out from an outlet of the noodle cooking part.

Turning to the spaghetti cooking part42, though not shown, when the order is received, a dish is taken out from piled dishes in the automatic cooking unit4, first, and then is set in a predetermined cooking position. Then, boiled spaghetti is scalloped on a hot plate and then the spaghetti thus scalloped is dished up. Then, after a meat sauce or a like source is put on the spaghetti, the dished up spaghetti is brought out from the outlet.

Turning now to the steak cooking part43, though not shown, when the order is received, a dish is taken out from piled dishes in the automatic cooking unit4, first, and then is set in a predetermined cooking position. Then, a steak seasoned by salt and pepper is put on a heated hot plate and then another heated hot plate is pressed on the steak so that the steak is grilled from both upper and lower sides. The steak thus gripped is moved from the hot plate to the dish and thereafter the steak put in the dish is brought out from the outlet.

Turning further to curry and rice cooking part44, though not shown, when the order is received, a curry dish is taken out from piled curry dishes in the automatic cooking unit4, first, and then is set in a predetermined cooking position. Then, rice is put on the curry dish and further curry roux is poured thereon. The curry and rice put in the curry dish is brought out from the outlet.

The display panel7is placed at a proper position within the sight of a person who makes a tray service or a waiter in the cooking place. As shown inFIG. 6, all items served are vertically listed one for each row on the display panel7at the left side thereof, and a plurality of photoelectric display parts71are provided alongside of the items listed on the panel. When the order identifying information and the information on the seat number are transmitted to the display panel7from the computing means3, the seat number of the customer's table is photo-electrically displayed on the photoelectric display part at the leftmost side of the photoelectric display parts71at which light is not yet put in. Then, when the information on the seat number and the item conveyed are transmitted to the display panel7by pressing a target setting button62cof the carrier container6, as will be mentioned later, the seat number displayed on the related photoelectric display part71to that item is lighted out. Every time when the seat number display on the left side of the photoelectric display part71is lighted out, the seat number display on the right side thereof is shifted to the left side one by one.

The carrier container6has a box-like casing opening at the top, as shown inFIGS. 3-5. The casing is provided, at the outside thereof, with an operating portion62, a liquid crystal display part63, a speaker64formed as a guiding means and a lamp65formed as a guiding means and is capable of housing the food and drink F in the interior thereof. The carrier container6is provided with a lift66vertically movable with the food and drink on, a receiver (not shown) for receiving the identifying signals from the seat number identifying signal transmitter, and a sender (not shown).

The operating portion62includes a target seat setting dial62afor setting a targeted seat for the food and drink to be conveyed, a target food and drink setting dial62b, the target setting button62cand an operating button62dfor lifting operation of the lift66.

The target seat setting dial62ais a rotary dial that can provide the display of any targeted seat number on the liquid crystal display part63by revolving.

The target food and drink setting dial62bis also a rotary dial that can provide the display of any targeted food and drink on the liquid crystal display part63by revolving.

The target setting button62ccan be set so that when the button62cis pressed after the targeted seat number and the targeted food and drink are displayed on the liquid crystal display part63, the receiver loaded in the carrier container6can receive the seat number identifying signals transmitted from the seat number identifying signal transmitter displayed.

The speaker64is so structured as to aurally announce the arrival of the ordered food and drink to the customer by voice when the carrier container6put on the conveying path5comes into the 3 meter range of the targeted seat number displayed on the liquid crystal display part63and the receiver receives the seat number identifying signals from the targeted seat.

The lamp65is so structured as to visually announce the arrival of the ordered food and drink to the customer by flashing when the carrier container6put on the conveying path5comes into the 3 meter range of the targeted seat number displayed on the liquid crystal display part63and the receiver receives the seat number identifying signals from the targeted seat.

The food and drink serving system of the embodiment of the invention is structured as mentioned above. When a customer purchases a meal ticket from the automatic ticket dispenser1, the cooking start signals of the ticket are immediately sent to the automatic cooking unit4and the automatic cooking unit starts cooking. Then, when the customer takes a seat {circle around (1)}({circle around (2)}, {circle around (3)}, {circle around (4)}, {circle around (5)}, or {circle around (6)}) and the data of the ticket is read by the meal ticket reading unit2at that seat, the seat number of the customer {circle around (1)}({circle around (2)}, {circle around (3)}, {circle around (4)}, {circle around (5)}, or {circle around (6)}) is displayed on the display panel7at the display parts alongside of the items listed on the display panel7according to the order according to which the food and drink written on the ticket is read.

Then, when the cooked food and drink is brought out from the outlet of the automatic cooking unit4, the person who makes a tray service puts the cooked food on the lift of the carrier container6put in its raised position and then operates the operating button62dto lower the lift66, so as to house the cooked food in the interior of the casing.

Then, the seating number displayed on the display part of the display panel7alongside of the items listed on the display panel7at the leftmost side thereof and the item name are displayed on the liquid crystal display part63. Thereafter, the target setting button62cis pressed to set the target and then the carrier container5is put on the conveying path5.

When the carrier container6comes into the 3 meter range of the targeted seat {circle around (1)}({circle around (2)}, {circle around (3)}, {circle around (4)}, {circle around (5)}, or {circle around (6)}) and the receiver receives the seat number identifying signals from the seat number identifying signal transmitter built in the meal ticket reading unit2of the targeted seat {circle around (1)}({circle around (2)}, {circle around (3)}, {circle around (4)}, {circle around (5)}, or {circle around (6)}), the arrival of the ordered food and drink is announced to the customer by the speaker64and the lamp65. The customer takes out the carrier container6conveyed to his/her place from the conveying path, first. Then, he/she operates the operating button62dto move up the lift66and thus the ordered food and then takes out the food from the carrier container6and eats it.

As seen from the above, according to the food and drink serving system of the invention, at the same time as the customer purchases the meal ticket, the instruction to start cooking is sent to the automatic cooking unit4. Also, when the customer takes a seat and drops the ticket in the meal ticket reading unit2set in that table, the data of the ticket is read by the reading unit2and the contents of the order and the seat number of the customer is automatically sent to the cooking place. Thus, the food and drink ordered by the customer can be served in a shortest possible time and in a reliable manner without keeping the customer wait.

The food and drink serving system according to the invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated above. For example, this system is also applicable to the eating and drinking places such as a sushi shop, in addition to the eating and drinking places adopting the meal ticket system. Specifically, this food and drink serving system can suitably be used, for example, for a revolving food system in which the foods that can taste good eaten cold, such as sushi, are circulated along the conveying path so that the customer takes them at his/her own choice and the bill is paid on a basis of the number of plates, as well as for the meal ticket system in respect of the items that are required to be served within a few minutes after the cook, such as steak, udon (Japanese wheat noodle) and curry and rice.

In the embodiment above, the automatic cooking unit is used to cook the ordered food, but the cook or hasher may of course cook it when the instruction is sent to the display panel7.

Also, the automatic cooking unit may be made to start cooking at the same time as the customer makes the data of the ticket read by the reading unit, rather than at the same time as the customer purchases the ticket from the automatic ticket dispenser. In the latter case, namely, when the cooking is started at the same time as the customer purchases the ticket from the automatic ticket dispenser, there may arise the problem that when the tables are full occupancy and the customer must be kept for a while, the food cooked cannot be served until the customer takes the seat. In the former case, however, such a problem can be solved because the customer has already taken the seat.

The foods and drinks may be conveyed by other proper conveying means such as a conveying robot, instead of the conveying path.

Further, while in the embodiment above, the ticket is withdrawn after dropping it into the reading unit, modification may be made as follow. At the same time as the date of the ticket is read, the information on the seat number is recorded in the ticket and then the ticket is returned back to the customer for a while. At a point in time when the carrier container or the conveying robot arrives at the customer's seat, the ticket is made to be read again by the reading unit built in the carrier container or conveying robot, for the confirmation purpose. Only when the information on the food and the seat number in the ticket corresponds to that in the reading unit in the carrier container or conveying robot, the customer can take the conveyed food.