A system and method are provided for making strips of edible material. Edible material is contained in a hopper having a discharge opening including a first side and a second side. A discharge shaping roller is positioned so that its surface is adjacent to the first side and said second side. Similarly, a cooling roller is also positioned so that its surface is adjacent to the first side and the second side. Edible material passes between the first side, the second side, the cooling roller, and the discharge roller to from a strip of edible material that is deposited on the cooling roller. The cooling roller then cools the strip of edible material and it is separated from the cooling roller by a blade. Once the strip is separated from the cooling roller it is deposited on a base of edible material such as a cookie or wafer.

A donut icer or icing system is disclosed herein. The icing system is surprisingly more efficient than known methods of applying frosting to baked or fried goods, specifically, donuts. The increase in efficiency over known methods is accomplished generally through use of a plurality of conveyor belts, an icing bath, and a flip shaft assembly that allows frosted goods or donuts to flip icing side up before discharge from the system.

A printer and corresponding method of printing an image on a surface of a plurality of food products by providing a system having a printer with an extendable and retractable receiving arm and a rotating food product delivery tray for continuously and automatically providing delivery of unprinted food products which are retracted into the printer, printed on, and returned by the receiving arm to the rotatable delivery tray and the tray further moves to deliver subsequent food products for printing.

An automated food preparation system includes a sauce-dispensing system with sauce reservoirs, a scanning head, and tubes. Each of the sauce reservoirs is configured to contain a respective sauce. The scanning head includes openings each coupled with a respective sauce reservoir via a respective tube. A conveyance system transports a foodstuff between first and sauce positions. The scanning head is movable to dispense a selected sauce onto one or more regions of the foodstuff. A motor assembly is mounted to a mounting structure. The motor assembly is drivingly coupled to the scanning head and rotates the scanning head relative to the mounting structure. The scanning head includes a plate and a cylindrical shroud fixed relative to the plate. The openings extend through the plate. The plate is disposed within a cavity defined by the cylindrical shroud. The motor assembly rotates the plate and the cylindrical shroud about a longitudinal axis.

An automated food preparation apparatus configured to provide a completed provision, such as a bagel, optionally toasted, and optionally with a spread. The automated food preparation system includes a food placement and pickup station, a cutting station assembly, a toasting station assembly and a spread applying station assembly. The provision is directed between the station assemblies through a grasping, locating and moving system. The system includes a plurality of food engaging forks that are configured to releasably grasp the food preparation, and, in turn, to locate and move the food preparation therethrough.

A system for depositing foodstuff material in the fluid state on a foodstuff product, the system including: a product conveying line; at least one foodstuff material dispensing unit including includes a plurality of rows of nozzles; and a dispensing control unit, in which the dispensing unit includes a valve device associated to each individual nozzle to control foodstuff material flow through the nozzle, the valve device including: an open/close member, a solenoid; and a magnetic element operatively connected to the open/close member and mobile between a first position in which it closes the respective nozzle, preventing dispensing of the foodstuff material therethrough, and a second position in which a passage is opened through the nozzle for dispensing the foodstuff material.

The present invention provides an article inverting and displacing apparatus and a machine for making sandwiches comprising the apparatus, wherein the apparatus comprises an engagement member (12) adapted to engage a lateral edge portion of a sandwich element; a drive unit (14) configured to drive the engagement member (12) to lift and turn the sandwich element engaged thereby about is opposite lateral edge to invert it; and a control unit configured to control the drive unit (14); wherein the control unit is configured to control the drive unit (14) to drive the engagement member (12) so that the opposite lateral edge of the sandwich element is caused to be raised to approximately at or above the level or height of the engaged lateral edge portion during the inverting step, and, optionally subsequently the sandwich element is caused to lie in a generally horizontal plane. The present invention also provides a process of automatically inverting and displacing articles.

A station for covering a bread roll half of a bread roll with a sauce in a preparation line of a fast food restaurant, comprising: a table by which a user standing at a front side can cover a bread roll half with sauce, a container comprising the sauce and arranged over the table at a working distance from the front side and from which an outlet nozzle oriented towards the table protrudes at a vertical distance from the table, so that the bread roll half which is to be covered with sauce can be placed on the table below the outlet nozzle, and a pressure actuator that can be actuated by the user and which is designed to dispense the sauce from the container onto the bread roll half when actuated by the user.

Device for providing dough products with a topping material, comprising a dough product conveyor, for transporting the dough products, a topping conveyor, for conveying the topping towards a dispensing location above the dough product conveyor, a collector for superfluous topping material from the dough product conveyor and a topping material sensor for measuring the distribution of the topping material in width direction of the topping conveyor, a controller, for controlling, based at least on the signal from the topping sensor(s), the movements of a rake.

A printer and corresponding method of printing an image on a surface of a plurality of food products by providing a system having a printer with an extendable and retractable receiving arm and a rotating food product delivery tray for continuously and automatically providing delivery of unprinted food products which are retracted into the printer, printed on, and returned by the receiving arm to the rotatable delivery tray and the tray further moves to deliver subsequent food products for printing.