A cooler for maintaining food, beverage containers and/or consumable liquids in a thermally managed state. The cooler generally includes a housing having one or more cavities, a cover to selectively close or open the cavities and a plurality of tie down notches within the exterior portion of the housing to receive an elongated fastener for tying down the cooler. The cooler may include a first cavity that receives a food container and a second cavity that receives beverage containers. The first cavity may also store a liquid, such as water, that is dispensed from a spigot connected to the housing. A first cover and a second cover selectively close and open the cavities. The first cover includes a first access opening that removably receives the food container so the first cover doesn't have to be opened to retrieve the food container and its contents.

An in-flight service cart (1) for use on an aircraft for maintaining a payload such as foodstuffs and the like within a selected temperature range, said in-flight service cart (1) including: a housing (3) having a storage volume; and at least one thermally insulated container (5) removably mounted within the housing (3), said container having an outer casing (7), a thermally conductive inner casing (11), thermal insulation (9) located between the outer casing (7) and the inner casing (11), said thermal insulation including at least one vacuum insulation panel (9a-e), a payload volume for storing foodstuffs, an opening (29,47) providing access to the payload volume, a closure member (13) for closing the opening (29,47), at least one thermal energy storage unit (15) located within the inner casing (11), said thermal energy storage unit(s) (15) including a phase change material that is arranged to change phase at a temperature greater than or equal to 10 C.; wherein the inner casing (11) and closure member (13) define the payload volume for storing the foodstuffs, and the thermal energy storage unit(s) (15) is positioned in thermal contact with the inner casing (11), the arrangement being such that the inner casing (11) provides a thermally conductive pathway for conducting heat entering the container (5) to the thermal energy storage unit (15). A thermally insulated container (5) for an in-flight service cart (1) is also provided.

An accessory-mounting system having an elongated rail and a rail clamp. The elongated rail has a first channel and a second channel. The rail clamp includes a first lever and a second lever that are pivotally joined such that the rail clamp has a scissor-like configuration. Each of the first lever and the second lever has a tongue for selectively engaging one of the first and second channels of the elongated rail. In addition, the first lever of the rail clamp comprises a first set of spaced apart fingers and the second lever of the rail clamp comprises a second set of spaced apart fingers. The first set of spaced apart fingers and the second set of spaced apart fingers are interlaced. The rail clamp may be joined to the elongated rail at one of a plurality of discrete locations.

An insulated cart for temperature controlled storage and transport includes a housing that defines an internal space. The housing is insulated. A plurality of trays is couplable to the housing and is selectively positionable in the internal space. The trays are positioned in the housing such that the internal space is configured to store items on the trays. An opening is positioned in a front of the housing and is configured to insert items through the opening to stow on the trays. A cover is hingedly coupled to the housing proximate to the opening. The opening is positioned in the housing such that the opening is configured to insert items, such as prepared foods, through the opening to stow on the trays. The cover is positioned to reversibly close the opening.

A cooler for maintaining food, beverage containers and/or consumable liquids in a thermally managed state. The cooler generally includes a housing having one or more cavities, a cover to selectively close or open the cavities and a plurality of tie down notches within the exterior portion of the housing to receive an elongated fastener for tying down the cooler. The cooler may include a first cavity that receives a food container and a second cavity that receives beverage containers. The first cavity may also store a liquid, such as water, that is dispensed from a spigot connected to the housing. A first cover and a second cover selectively close and open the cavities. The first cover includes a first access opening that removably receives the food container so the first cover doesn't have to be opened to retrieve the food container and its contents.

A cart assembly includes a cart and a container assembly that is removably supported on the cart. The container assembly may simply rest on a platform of the cart, or may be removable secured to the cart. The container assembly includes a crate and a liner that is removably received within and supported by walls defining an interior cargo space of the crate. The liner itself includes walls containing a phase change material. The walls may be defined by panels having interior spaces in which components encasing the phase change material are contained. The liners are collapsed and stored in a freezer until needed. The liners are then placed within the crates and food items requiring refrigeration are placed within the lined cargo spaced of the crates. The crates are then staged awaiting customer pickup or packed in a vehicle for customer delivery all without further refrigeration.

An apparatus and methods for a convertible service and recycling cart for food and beverage service and waste sorting, compaction and storage are disclosed. An example cart apparatus includes a base, a first sidewall and a second sidewall each coupled to the base and a top support coupled to the first sidewall and the second sidewall. At least one opening is defined in the top support and a lid is removably coupled to the top support. The apparatus also includes at least one container that is configured to be removably coupled to the at least one opening in the top support.

A portable insulated cooler having a seat and a hinged mount that secures a set of wheels to the cooler provides easy cooled transport of food and beverages, along with a cooling agent such as ice. The hinged mount secures an axle, to which the wheels are mounted, underneath the cooler in a first position for transport, and is releasable so that in a second position, the wheels rest alongside the cooler, permitting the bottom of the cooler to completely rest on the ground. A seat is rotatably affixed to the top of the cooler, providing a long-term and movable sitting location, and may be releasable from the top of the cooler for easy stowage and transport. A bottom portion of a swivel mounting the seat to the cooler may be formed on the top of the cooler as a raised circular projection with an undercut reducing the cooler height.

Described in detail herein are systems, methods for storing a physical object in a temperature-controlled storage unit disposed on a shopping cart. One or more physical objects can be stored and held within the interior volume via an interior volume of the storage unit operatively coupled to the shopping cart. The temperature of the interior volume of the storage unit can be controlled via a temperature controlling device operatively coupled to the storage unit. Sensors disposed within the interior volume of the storage unit can detect a the temperature of the interior volume. The sensors can encode the temperature into electrical signals and transmit the electrical signals from the plurality of sensors to a computing system. The computing system can determine whether the temperature is within a specified threshold and control the temperature-controlling device to adjust the first temperature to a third temperature.

Trailer hitch attachable coolers are disclosed. Methods of making trailer hitch attachable coolers, and methods of using trailer hitch attachable coolers are also disclosed.