Patent ID: 7953632

Claim:
Apparatus for managing food products in a quick serve restaurant, the quick serve restaurant having stations which receive food products, at least some of the stations having food product hold timers which determine the period of hold time a food product is located at a respective station, the food product hold timers generating food product hold signals indicative of the hold time that a food product is located at a respective station, the apparatus comprising: at least one control unit, the at least one control unit having a microcontroller and a display operatively coupled to the microcontroller, the at least one control unit being operatively coupled to the food product hold timers of the quick serve restaurant and receiving food product hold signals therefrom, the microcontroller of the at least one control unit determining food product quantity and quality parameters at least partially in response to the food product hold signals and generating food product condition signals and instruction signals in response to the food product quantity and quality parameters, the display receiving the food product condition signals and instruction signals and displaying visible indications corresponding to the food product condition signals and instruction signals; wherein the quick serve restaurant includes a terminal which generates food product sales information signals indicative of at least one of the dollar amount of food product sold by the quick serve restaurant and the number of items of food product sold by the quick serve restaurant; wherein the at least one control unit is operatively coupled to the terminal of the quick serve restaurant and receives the food product sales information signal; wherein the at least one control unit further includes a real time clock, the real time clock generating a real time clock signal, the microcontroller being operatively coupled to the real time clock and receiving the real time clock signal, the microcontroller determining an incremental period of time and a time incremental number of food product sold by the quick serve restaurant in response to the food product sales information signal and the real time clock signal; and wherein the microcontroller of the at least one control unit determines by a ratiometric calculation the quantity of food product which must be prepared by the quick serve restaurant for a predetermined period of time.