An interactive frozen confectionery vending machine with a freezer enclosure, a delivery and toppings dispensing enclosure and a control system enclosure. A programmable control system allows a customer to select a frozen confectionery cup stored within the freezer enclosure and to select a hard and soft topping that are automatically dispensed into the cup and the cup is delivered to the waiting customer through a customer access door that closes after the transaction is completed. A centrally located gear motor rotates an arm that terminates in a cup. The cup receives a topping from a canister and then rotates to drop the topping into the frozen confectionery cup. A soft topping is pumped via flexible liquid topping delivery tubes into a dispensing arm located above the frozen confectionery cup. A standard payment system and touch screen allow the customer to pay for and select frozen confectionery and toppings.

Equipment for processing food creams, which comprises a tub (11) housed in a removable manner inside a containment structure (2) and comprising a side wall (15), which is provided at the top with an access aperture (20) for loading the cream and is closed at the bottom by a bottom wall (17) provided with an exit aperture (22), through which the cream is dispensed outside the tub (11); cooling means (21) operatively associated with the tub (11) to absorb heat from the cream; an obturator (23) operatively connected to the bottom wall (17) of the tub (11) and movable between a closed position, in which it occludes the exit aperture (22) of the bottom wall (17), and an open position, in which it leaves the opening of the exit aperture (22) free in order to allow the cream to come out of the tub (11); a mixing body (30), rotatably housed inside the tub (11) and provided with a thrust surface (31) tilted and facing towards the bottom wall (17) of the tub (11); moving means (32) mechanically connected to the mixing body (30) and operable, when the obturator (23) is in the open position, to make the mixing body (30) rotate in a first direction of rotation (R1) in which the thrust surface (31) pushes the cream to descend through the exit aperture (22) of the bottom wall (17) of the tub (11).

Systems and methods of producing a frozen food product include mixing ingredients with a liquefied gas, e.g. liquid nitrogen. The texture and quality of the food product may be determined by sensing temperature or viscosity, and controlling the rate at which the liquefied gas flows into the mixture, i.e. dosing. This functionality may be achieved using one or more scoops, the position of which may be controlled by actuators. The dosing may be controlled by a program that receives input from one or more sensors, and the program may be responsive to input of the type or amount of ingredients being mixed. In addition, the dosing may be controlled by a human being through a user interface, e.g. by pushing a ‘dose’ button.

An ice cream squeezing device of the invention includes a robot; a storage space accommodating a plurality of packages receiving ice cream; and a squeezing module squeezing a package of ice cream transferred by the robot from the storage space to the squeezing module to move the ice cream out of the package.

A method for making ice cream including a basic flavor in which an additional flavor of a different type is inserted includes the following steps: preparing a container for processing the basic ice cream product; cooling and stirring a basic preparation inside processing container to make a basic ice cream product; preparing a hermetically sealed capsule containing an additional flavor; opening the capsule; simultaneously transferring a portion of the basic ice cream from the processing container to the serving container and the additional flavor from the open capsule to the serving container, wherein the simultaneous transferring step comprises a step of delivering the additional flavor into a first predetermined spatial region and a step of delivering the basic ice cream into a second spatial region which contains the first spatial region, so that the additional flavor is fed into the basic ice cream in the serving container.

A single-use dispensing container (10) designed for being inserted into a device (20) where chilled and/or frozen products are prepared in a processing container (30), the dispensing container (10) comprising a plurality of ingredient compartments (10a) each comprising at least one ingredient for the preparation of the chilled or frozen product, wherein the dispensing container (10) comprises identification means providing the device (20) with information of the parameters for dispensing, cooling, texturizing and mixing the ingredients of the plurality of ingredient compartments (10a), such that the ingredients from the plurality of ingredient compartments (10a) are dispensed directly into the processing container (30), the dispensing of the ingredients being done either sequentially or simultaneously for the plurality of ingredient compartments (10a), as a function of the chilled or frozen product targeted.

A system for manufacturing and packaging one or more frozen confection products said system comprising one or more production machines, wherein the one or more production machines comprises chemical applying unit configured to apply one or more anti-moisture chemicals on a hollow wafer. The processing unit is configured to insert the hollow wafer inside the first half of an equally divided mould. The second half of the equally divided two part mould is coupled with the first half to form a closed mould. One or more funnels configured to inject at least two portions of one or more frozen confection material into the closed mould, wherein one portion of the at least two portions of the one or more frozen confection material are injected in the hollow wafer. The closed mould injected with the at least two portions of the one or more frozen confection material to form the one or more frozen confection product. The packaging section is configured to extract the one or more frozen confection products from the closed mould, wherein the one or more frozen confection products comprise at least two portions of the one or more frozen confection material filled inside the hollow wafer. A method for preparing a frozen confection product is also disclosed.

An improved interactive frozen confectionery vending machine with two alternate freezer enclosures storing a variety of ice creams in cups is presented. The vending machine further comprises a toppings dispensing and a control system enclosures. A programmable control system enables a customer to select one ice cream cup at a time of a flavor of his or her choide and customize the selected ice cream with a choice of automatically dispensed hard or soft toppings via a gear motor operated arm and flexible liquid topping delivery tubes. A Wi-Fi enabled payment system and an ice cream and topping selection are implemented via a touch screen. The vending machine interior is accessible by pre-authorized personnel only.

There is described a dispensing apparatus for dispensing a food product from a container. The dispensing apparatus comprises a support for supporting a container of product when the container is loaded into the apparatus, an actuator for effecting movement of the support in a first direction during a product dispensing stroke of the apparatus and in a second direction during a return stroke of the apparatus; and a retainer for retaining a spent container of product so that a spent container is removed from the support during the return stroke.

The present disclosure relates to a method for preparing an ice cream cone, formed by a cone-shaped wafer and a layer of chocolate arranged on the inner face and upper edge of said wafer, with ice cream inside the ice cream cone. Another object of the invention is the ice cream cone obtained from said process.