Abstract:
The present invention comprises a system of labels located on wrapping and containers for individual food items. Each label contains an alphanumeric and/or graphic design that instantly brings to mind of restaurant personnel and to an unsophisticated customer (i.e., someone with no knowledge of the English language, children, or adults with limited education) the food item to be wrapped with the wrapping or container. In a preferred embodiment, a graphic device occupies a majority of the surface of the label, where the graphic device is a drawing or photograph of the food item to be wrapped or contained. For instance, a label for a double cheeseburger would include a picture with the food item disassembled sufficiently so that a viewer could instantly appreciate the presence of two hamburger patties and two slices of cheese with the typical bun in the presence of the wrapper in the background. In a preferred embodiment, all the labels comprise such a disassembled food product picture or drawing in the clear presence of the wrapper or box in which it is contained.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the preparation and assembly of orders for assembly line type restaurants typical of fast food services. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It is well known that fast food restaurants are significantly different from previous restaurant systems in floorplan layout, in segregation of operations, and in flow of work. The now-famous McDonald brothers invented the Speedee system of fast-food production. Prior the this system, restaurants were capable of making individual food items quickly with the superior skills of a single chef. These short order cooks are still in high demand outside of the fast food industry. The fast food method of food production eliminated the need for a highly skilled person with multiple abilities. The fast food industry requires many minimally trained persons capable of performing a single function over and over again in a segregated and specific area to facilitate quick receipt of inputs to the area (orders, food materials for the local operation, partly formed menu items, fully assembled menu items requiring wrapping, etc.) and equally quick transmission of outputs from the area (partly formed menu items, fully assembled menu items requiring wrapping, wrapped food items, wrapped food items placed in bags, boxes or trays for delivery to a customer, etc.). 
     In short, the fast food system generally conducts business to induce a customer to approach a counter or drive through portion where an order is placed, have the food order transmitted to a preparation and assembly area where the food is prepared and assembled, have completed food items wrapped individually, have the wrapped food items placed on a tray, in a bag or in a box, and then have the contained food items delivered to a customer in exchange for payment. With very specific exceptions, the layout of the fast food restaurant does not allow for substantial accumulation of partially or fully assembled menu items. Preparation and customer order pick up areas are minimized in favor of providing more floor space to other uses. Many fast food restaurants use a location between the customer pick up areas and the preparation areas for highly ordered storage of wrapped menu items that can be taken, one or more at a time, by persons assembling an order for a customer. However, space for gathering the wrapped menu items into a bag or box or onto a tray is very limited and there is tremendous pressure to conduct the assembly of an order and high speed to improve throughput and overall efficiency of the operation. 
     With the pressure to assemble at high speed comes the certainty that mistakes are made in collection of menu items for fast food orders. The overall speed and inability to concentrate on a single order by order assembly personnel typically is a disincentive for a customer to return to have an order corrected with the ordered item. If a drive through order contains the wrong items, a customer cannot typically take time to park, return to the indoor order counter, and get the attention of staff to correct the order. The effect of this disincentivizing of correction of fast food orders means that a customer is lost more easily by experiencing significant mistakes in orders. Alternately, customers become accustomed to being more aggressive and sometimes angry with staff over mistakes in orders, causing additional pressure on the already pressured personnel. 
     The prior art contains some efforts to address the issue of reducing mistakes made in assembly of fast food orders. U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,243 describes a box for a single or multiple food items, where food items to be contained in the box are identified to a bearer of the box by tabs removed, where each tab is specific to a food item within the box. In this way, an order assembly person is able to instantly view the tab indicators of the food order. This system suffers from a disability in that the time and motion required for pressing or activating tab indicators requires a thorough present understanding of specific order and the ability, under pressure, to perform the required activation. A further problem with this system is that personnel, under pressure, will fulfill the order&#39;s tab activation before the food items are actually placed in the box. In that circumstance, reduction in order mistakes is unlikely to be reduced over not using the patented system. Additionally, the prior art containers of the &#39;243 patent are made for use, when manufactured, with only a fixed number of specifically identified food items. Number of menu items, food item names, and the availability of reduced price purchase of a specific set of food items change often in a typical fast food restaurant. Limited time promotions offering specific food items or promotional toys may change weekly. A system providing for bags or boxes of a food order at a fast food restaurant must have the ability to adapt to these many changes related to food items without requiring disposal of outdated order packaging, as will occur with use of the boxes of the &#39;243 patent. Disposing of such outdated packaging increases solid waste output of an entire chain of fast food restaurants and can have a substantial effect on waste disposal. 
     There is a need for a fast food order assembly system where there is little opportunity for avoiding or making mistakes in steps which reduce the risk of mistakes in orders, while providing the customer with an expectation that an easily visible means will allow them to check the accuracy of the contents of their tray, bag or box as to food or menu items therein. 
     In addition, the steps of modern surgical procedure include a somewhat related concept of confirmation. While conducted by some of the most highly trained persons of our society, complex surgical procedures may include the use of so many instruments that errors sometimes occur in their removal from the surgical site after they have been used. A typical solution is to provide nursing or support personnel whose major role is to account for all instruments at all times. However, similar to the situation in a fast food restaurant, some procedures are fast paced and pressure is high. Different from the fast food restaurant, many times all persons are focused on saving a life instead of accounting for instruments. In such a situation, it is possible to lose track of instruments as they are being used. There is also a need for a better way of keeping track of surgical instruments as they are being used. 
     Current surgical practice has become widely distributed due to improvements in procedures and reduced cost and size of equipment to perform those procedures. Very important surgeries can be performed at small, outpatient surgical centers or doctors&#39; offices. Distribution of surgical care is occurring at the same time as stricter procedures for accounting for all chargeable use of equipment, implanted devices and disposable materials used in each surgical procedure. Both government administered programs and private health insurers are requiring clear evidence of each billable item for which they are liable for payment. However, in all medical provider venues, nursing and support personnel are a substantial expense and their involvement in making sure every billable item of a surgery has been properly entered in a written log may be reduced in favor of more critical aspects of patient care. As such, a typical surgical procedure may conclude with disposables used and removed for disposal before staff have determined every disposable used. Some effort can be made to review inventory before and after a procedure to have a general idea of disposables (such as gauze, scalpels, sutures, syringes, catheters, breathing tubes or masks, valves, gowns, gloves, caps, etc.) used in the procedure, but many times only a best estimate of disposables used in a surgical procedure can be made and submitted for payment. Best estimates are often not acceptable to actually obtain payment for these disposables used in a surgical procedure. There is a need for a system by which surgical procedure disposables used in a specific procedure may be accurately accounted for at all stages of the procedure. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a system of order assurance for fast food restaurant operations. An object of the invention is to minimize changes to existing packaging for individual food items and for take out containers for those food items while providing restaurant personnel and an order-receiving customer immediate appreciation as to the contents of the take out containers. A further object of the invention is to minimize solid waste in application of the system, a major concern for the fast food industry. A further object of the invention is to reduce costs by virtually eliminating food losses to the restaurant, in that a customer will appreciate at a pick up area of the restaurant any mistake in their order, allowing restaurant staff to replace the incorrect food item in inventory for another customer. Where a customer leaves the pick up area and returns requires a restaurant to dispose of the mistaken food item due to safety concerns. 
     The present invention comprises a system of labels located on wrapping and containers for individual food items. Each label contains an alphanumeric and/or graphic design that instantly brings to mind of restaurant personnel and to an unsophisticated customer (i.e., someone with no knowledge of the English language, children, or adults with limited education) the food item to be wrapped with the wrapping or container. In a preferred embodiment, a graphic device occupies a majority of the surface of the label, where the graphic device is a drawing or photograph of the food item to be wrapped or contained. For instance, a label for a double cheeseburger would include a picture with the food item disassembled sufficiently so that a viewer could instantly appreciate the presence of two hamburger patties and two slices of cheese with the typical bun in the presence of the wrapper in the background. In a preferred embodiment, all the labels comprise such a disassembled food product picture or drawing in the clear presence of the wrapper or box in which it is contained. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, a pull off portion of the label is formed of opaque material such as colored or white paper and a remaining portion of the label is formed of clear material. Alternately, the pull off portion of the label may be clear excepting an imprinted portion for the text or graphic device indicating the food item. In this embodiment, the wrapper or food item will bear the logo, trademark or other most prominent advertising indicia of the restaurant in significant size. Most wrappers and containers for individual food items at fast food are specially printed so that this advertising indicia is easily visible to a customer after their food item is wrapped, typically so that the indicia faces upward when the wrapped food item is placed on a horizontal or slightly inclined surface (such as a counter or downward angled trough for that particular food item). In this embodiment, it is preferred that the remaining portion of the label be adhesively placed over this indicia area on the wrapping or container so that the pull off portion of the label partly obscures the advertising indicia. In this way, a pull off portion that is not removed by an order assembly personnel will obviously improperly remain part of the wrapper or container when the wrapped food item is deposited into a take out bag or box for a specific customer order. 
     The invention system requires that order assembly personnel, at the order assembly stage for a specific order, remove the pull off portion of the label and adhesively attach the label to a label bearing portion of the customer&#39;s take out bag or box. Both the order assembly personnel and the customer can instantly appreciate the contents of the order bag or box. There may be segregated label bearing portions of the bag or box where types of food (separated by divisions such as “sandwiches” and “side orders”) so that a customer can more quickly focus on food items, such as more expensive main course items, can be reviewed as being within the bag or box. 
     It is preferred that the label bearing portions be located so that presentation of the order bag or box to a customer generally require the customer to view the attached labels. If a mistake is made in the order, a customer can quickly, and with minimal disturbance to the customer relationship, get the order fulfilled correctly. If the customer leaves and returns after discovering an error in the contents of the take out bag or box, the customer is less likely to be aggressive or angry where it would have been so easy for them to have quickly checked the contents of the take out bag or box. 
     The only significant cost of the invention system for a fast food operation is the addition of the labels to wrappers or containers for individual food items. A change in imprinting the take out bags and boxes is minimized, in that there is already typically open space on such bags and boxes that is available for attachment of the pull off portion of the labels. In another embodiment of the invention, order assembly personnel are able to lift a wrapped or packaged food item from a resting position at an intermediate product accumulation or storage area, deposit the food item in the invention take out bag or box, remove the pull off part of the label and attach that label to the take out bag or box in the appropriate place with little loss of time or motion over the prior art motions required for order assembly. 
     The invention system also includes use of an attachment portion and pull off portion of a label on packaging for surgical instruments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a prior art tab indicia box for order fulfillment in a fast food operation. 
         FIG. 2  is a generalized top view of food preparation and order fulfillment areas of a fast food restaurant. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a take out bag and three wrapped or contained menu items prior to being placed in the bag. 
         FIG. 4  are four representative text and icon images which may be used on a pull off portion of the invention labels. 
         FIGS. 5 ,  6  and  7  are, respectively, top views of a single sheet of food item wrapping paper, an open top paper bag (typically used for French fries), and an expandable box for items such as apple pies according to the invention, showing an advertising indicia location and a label placement location. 
         FIGS. 8 and 9  are, respectively, side and front views of the bag of  FIG. 3  showing potential label bearing portions. 
         FIG. 10  is at top view of an exemplary label of the invention showing an advertising indicia in broken lines. 
         FIG. 11  is a pull off portion of the label of  FIG. 10  flexed for lifting by order assembly personnel. 
         FIG. 12  is the bag of  FIG. 9  showing labels attached for the three food items shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 13  is a top view of a surgical device in a clear bag bearing the invention label. 
         FIG. 14  is a top view of an invention label for use in surgical procedures. 
         FIG. 15  is a bottom perspective view of a medical disposable bearing an invention label. 
         FIG. 16  is a block diagram representing a process for inputting to a computer or computer network information relating to use of the medical disposable of  FIG. 15 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is now discussed with reference to the figures. 
       FIG. 1  is a prior art tab indicia box for order fulfillment in a fast food operation as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,243. 
       FIG. 2  is a generalized top view of food preparation area  11  and order fulfillment area  12  of a fast food restaurant  10 . Preparation areas comprises multiple food preparation stations  13 , only some of which produce a fully assembled and wrapped food product to drive through product waiting area  15  by paths  14  or to counter product waiting area  17  by paths  15 . Product waiting areas  16  and  17  are shown with relatively large surfaces but in fact comprise limited working space, with the rest reserved for wrapped food items awaiting potential or placed orders. Order assembly personnel gather wrapped food items from waiting areas  16  and  17  and respectively deliver bagged or boxed orders to drive through pick up area  18  by path  20  or to counter pick up area  19  by path  21 . Order fulfillment area  12  is an area of operations for order taking and delivery staff to the drive through window and take out counter. areas  16  and  17  are shown with relatively large surfaces but in fact comprise limited working space, with the rest reserved for wrapped food items awaiting potential or placed orders. Order assembly personnel gather wrapped food items from waiting areas  16  and  17  and respectively deliver bagged or boxed orders to drive through pick up area  17  by path  20  or to counter pick up area  19  by path  21 . Order fulfillment area  12  is an area of operations for order taking and delivery staff to the drive through window and take out counter. 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a take out bag  26  and three wrapped or contained menu items  36 ,  37 , and  38  supported on an order assembly counter  22 . This scene is typical of a fast food order prior to packing in a bag  26  or a take out box. It is clear that a fast paced assembly of the order would be to merely scoop each item  36 ,  37  and  38  into the top opening  30 , roll the top edge  29  down to about level  31  to close bag  26  and hand the packed order bag to a customer. Orders are typically displayed on a computer screen substantially above the level of counter  22 , requiring an undue degree of switching an assembly personnel&#39;s view from up to down, inducing a certain degree of error from fatigue. Alternately, orders may be printed on rather faint or small type size on a slip of paper to be delivered to the customer as their receipt. Once again, fatigue from careful checking of small and/or faint print induces a certain level of mistakes in order fulfillment. The invention system provides not only personnel, but perhaps more importantly, the customer, in the process of order fulfillment. As such, bag  26  comprises outside surface area on front and back sides  27  (where LOGO AND ADVERTISING  32  are placed as an essential part of the continuing business) and left and right sides  28 , whereupon labels from label areas  23 ,  24 , and  25  (for, respectively, items  36 ,  37 , and  38 ) are to be removed and placed on bag  26  in easily viewable label areas. Label area  34  may be, as an example, located on side  28  so that a fold on side  28  does not interfere with placement or retention of adhesively applied labels. Label area  34  is especially advantageous for placement of labels from items  36 - 38  because the labels do not interfere visually with a presentation of the LOGO AND ADVERTISING  32  on a major surface of bag  26 . 
     Alternately, labels may be placed upon label surfaces  33  or  35  depending upon a restaurant owner&#39;s preference for locating the labels closer to or farthest from LOGO AND ADVERTISING  32 . A reason to locate the labels close to the LOGO AND ADVERTISING  32  might be a present program of giving of promotional items or toys with certain meals or food items, where a packaging of such promotional items would also bear a removable label which would be removed and placed in a label area of bag  26  to indicate one of a selection of promotional items were contained in bag  26 . The anticipation that an indication of the promotional item would be present in the form of a label adjacent to food item labels would induce a customer to immediately view those food item labels and coincidentally confirm their order. 
       FIG. 4  shows exemplary label text and icons  39  (for a bacon burger),  39 A (for a double cheeseburger with essential elements separated with a wrapping sheet in its background),  40  (for a large French fries), and  41  (for an apple pie). These are exemplary of text and icons which immediately bring to mind an ordered fast food item. Text and icons  39 ,  39 A,  40 , and  41  may be imprinted on a pull off portion of the labels which are attached to food item packaging which must be used in every instance for wrapping or containing individual food items. 
       FIGS. 5 ,  6  and  7  are, respectively, top views of a single sheet of food item wrapping paper  42 , an open top paper bag  45  (typically used for French fries), and an expandable box  46  (for items such as apple pies). Each wrapper or container bears a LOGO portion  43  in a section of the wrapper or container so that, after a food item is wrapped or contained, the LOGO is presented to the view of a customer when the wrapped or contained food item is placed upon a flat surface. Wrapping and packaging in the fast food industry has specifically evolved to incorporate this packaging feature so that promotion and advertising continues even after a purchase has been completed. In addition, label placement zone  44  is shown in broken lines as a preferred location for adhesive attachment of the invention labels. In locating the labels directly upon the LOGO of the company, personnel will find it more difficult to ignore the clearly present label on a wrapped or contained food item and make it more likely that the labels will be removed and applied to the bag or box in the order fulfillment process. Referring again to  FIG. 3 , it is seen quite clearly that a removable pull off portion of a label may be present on the wrapper or container in label areas  23 - 25 . 
       FIGS. 8 and 9  are, respectively, side and front views of the bag  26  of  FIG. 3  showing potential label bearing portions  33 ,  34 ,  47  and  48 . Portion  48  is defined at a bag edge so that pull off portions of the invention labels comprise adhesive on an underside of about half of the label, where the adhesive portion attaches the pull off portion to the area near the bag edge so that another half extends outward from the bag edge to make it more distinctive from the rest of the bag printing. 
       FIG. 10  is at top view of an exemplary label  44   a  of the invention showing an advertising indicia  43  in broken lines. Label  44   a  comprises an attachment portion  51  comprising a flat, flexible, sheet material coextensive with the outline of label  44   a  with adhesive on an underside so that attachment portion  51  can be attached to the flexible sheet material or containers used for wrapping or containing food items. A top part of attachment portion  51  comprises a removable surface coextensive with pull off portion  49 , which comprises an adhesive underside that causes it to remain attached to said removable surface until restaurant personnel lift front tab  50  for removing pull off portion  49  from the attachment portion. Pull off portion  49  comprises text/icon food item indicator  48  printed on a top surface. Restaurant personnel are to remove pull off portion  49 , which flexes as shown in  FIG. 11 , for placement on the order fulfillment bag or box, as shown in  FIG. 12 . 
       FIG. 12  shows the view of the bag in  FIG. 10  where pull off portions  49  have been applied for the three food items shown in  FIG. 3 , showing that only those food items are contained in the bag. Label bearing portion  47  shows a form of the invention pull off portion extending beyond the bag edge. This form of the invention pull off portion is more easily removed from the attachment portion of the label than a pull off portion with a fully adhesive backside. Notification  52  is a critical part of one embodiment of the invention, in that the customer is requested in bold text to inspect the attached pull off portions with their imprinted identification means to confirm immediately that the their order has been filled correctly. 
       FIG. 13  is a top view of an assembly  60  comprising a surgical device  62  in a clear bag  61  bearing the invention label  63 .  FIG. 14  is a top view of an invention label  63  comprising an attachment portion  64  for attaching the label  63  to a bag, box or other container for a surgical device. Label  63  might be attached directly to a surgical device. Pull off portion  65  is removable from attachment portion  64  and is adhesively attachable to a paper, board, tray, table, absorbent pad or other convenient surface for review by personnel to quickly determine instruments being used. Pull off portion  65  comprises graphic device  66  (which may indicate the instrument used), text  66  (which may state the specific instrument used), or bar code  67  (which may be used to identify the specific instrument contained in a container and removed therefrom for use in surgical procedures. The invention system intends that pull off portion  65  will be removed just prior to use of a device from its container and that all pull off portions (or all from similar instruments) will be attached to a convenient surface for review at any time by personnel. 
       FIG. 15  is a bottom perspective view of a medical disposable  70  bearing an invention label  75 . Disposable  70  represents a typical package of a sterile disposable device, such as a syringe, catheter, mask, etc. formed with a printed base card or sheet  74  with a bottom side comprising printing and product information and a top side. Extending upward or from edges of the top side of sheet  74  is typically a clear packaging cover  72  enclosing in a sterile environment a disposable device  73 . Device  73  is shown in broken lines to be a disposable syringe. In a surgical procedure, a non-sterile exterior surface of disposable  70  is handled by a staff person whose hands are not sterile but pulls back sheet  74  from cover  72 , exposing a sterile device  73  for withdrawal by a staff person with sterile gloves for use in a sterile surgical field. 
     The invention label  75  comprises a pull off portion as described above. An outside surface of label  75  bears a textual or graphic indication of the device  73  and, optionally, a bar code which is readable by a bar code reader. Text and bar code section  77  is shown in an enlarged view. 
     In practice, as staff withdraw from the edge of the sterile field bearing empty packaging of disposable  70 , that staff will remove the pull off portion of label  75  and adhesively attach it to a surface where a later cumulative accounting of medical disposables can be made. In a first embodiment after the surgical procedure, a staff person can transfer the information of the disposables  70  used in the procedure by examining the pull off portions of labels  70  which have been attached to a board, table surface, wall, clipboard or other such device. 
     In a second embodiment, each bar code of each label  75  is capable be read by a bar code scanner or reader and is associated with a unique alphanumeric code representing only the individual item  73  of a single disposables  70 . The process of used disposables accounting is shown in  FIG. 16 , where a pull off portion of label  75  is shown scanned by bar code scanner  78 , whereupon signals representing that bar code are transmitted to a computer or computer network  79  and stored there. A control program of the network  79  acts to identify as disposable items used in the surgery with the received unique alphanumeric codes to prepare an output which indicates the specifications of and number of disposable items used during a surgical procedure. 
     It would be preferable to prevent early removal of the pull off portion of label  75  so that staff was not inclined to do so in anticipation of the use of some disposables. If those disposables were not actually used but their labels&#39; presence on a billing board caused billing to occur for them, billing would occur for disposable items not used. In another embodiment of the invention, label  75  is located on an inside surface within the sealed, sterile space of disposable  70  of  FIG. 15 . Staff cannot remove a pull off portion of label  75  unless the sterile seal has been broken, in which case the disposable item inside could not be used in or charged to any other surgical procedure. 
     In an alternate embodiment, disposable medical sharps are identified as a special sub-class of all medical disposables  70  by way of bar code or other alphanumeric indication. As the pull off portion of labels  75  are removed during the surgical procedure, all labels removed from medical sharps packaging are segregated to a surface reserved for and indicated by title as being only for pull off portions of labels from medical sharps. Disposable medical sharps include scalpels, suture needles, and hypodermic needles and must be accounted for after every surgical procedure. In a further alternate embodiment, a medical sharps container box is capable being opened and latched closed and comprises inside surface area where pull off portions of labels  75  can be adhesively placed. These pull off portions are arranged so that sharp ends of the medical sharps can pierce a supported length of the pull off portion after its medical sharp has been used in the surgical procedure. At a final counting for medical sharps a pull off portion that is not visibly pierced by its medical sharp is clearly unaccounted for and gives an instantaneous indication that not all medical sharps have been found. 
     The invention accounting system for assuring that expendables or consumables used in the course of a surgical procedure are entered for billing purposes include medications and the like. Medications and intravenous solutions often bear non-removable bar coding indicating a general class or type of expendable. Sometimes a non-removable bar coding label will be applied to an exterior of the medication or intravenous solution, where loss or removal of such a prior art label could create a dangerous situation. In short, for such medications and intravenous fluids, the presence of removable labels is disfavored. In the invention system, medications and intravenous fluid containers bear an additional label, a removable one according to the invention, whose text, graphic and/or bar coding (or other coding) maps to an accounting entry in the computer system when the label has been removed and placed upon a consumables reading surface just prior to the consumable being used. 
     The above design options will sometimes present the skilled designer with considerable and wide ranges from which to choose appropriate apparatus and method modifications for the above examples. However, the objects of the present invention will still be obtained by that skilled designer applying such design options in an appropriate manner.