Method of packaging and transporting pizza for improved efficiency and crush-resistance

A method of packaging and transporting pizza for improved efficiency and crush-resistance, said method comprising the step of:

• providing a pre-folded non-wall-engaged rectangular pizza carton in opened disposition and comprising a set of components including a substantially rectangular bottom panel having a predetermined front-to-rear length, a rear wall, opposing left and right side wall structures comprising respective left and right side walls each having a bottom edge length approximately equal to the predetermined front-to-rear length of said bottom panel and having a free top edge and free-swinging front and rear corner flaps attached to respective front and rear ends of the side wall, each of the corner flaps being free of locking engagement, a front wall structure opposing said rear wall and comprising a front wall, an ancillary panel hingedly linked to a top edge of said front wall and having left and right free end edges, and a cover front flap engagement slot, and a cover comprising a cover panel hingedly attached to said rear wall and a plurality of cover flaps comprising support-bearing left and right cover side flaps hingedly attached to respective left and right sides of said cover panel and a hingedly movable cover front flap attached at a fold line to a front edge of said cover panel, wherein each component of the set of components of said non-wall-engaged rectangular pizza carton is disposed in a non-erected position.

A method of packaging and transporting a pizza for improved efficiency and crush-resistance, said method comprising the step of:

• transporting said pizza in a non-wall-engaged rectangular pizza carton having interior-disposed support-bearing cover side flaps and comprising:
• (a) a substantially rectangular bottom panel having a predetermined front-to-rear length,
• (b) a rear wall hingedly attached to said bottom panel,
• (c) opposing left and right side wall structures comprising respective left and right side walls hingedly attached to said bottom panel, respective left and right free-swinging front corner flaps hingedly attached to a front end of the side walls, and respective left and right free-swinging rear corner flaps hingedly attached to a rear end of the side walls, each of the side walls having a free top edge and a bottom edge length approximately equal to the predetermined front-to-rear length of said bottom panel, each of the corner flaps being free of locking engagement,
• (d) a front wall structure comprising a front wall hingedly attached to said bottom panel, an ancillary panel hingedly linked to a top edge of said front wall and having left and right free end edges, and a cover front flap engagement structure, and
• (e) a cover structure comprising a cover panel hingedly attached to said rear wall and a plurality of cover flaps comprising support-bearing left and right cover side flaps hingedly attached to respective left and right sides of said cover panel and a hingedly movable cover front flap attached at a fold line to a front edge of said cover panel, wherein said carton is disposed in a non-wall-engaged mode, said support-bearing left and right cover side flaps are disposed interior to said left and right side walls, and said hingedly movable cover front flap is disposed within said cover front flap engagement structure and substantially parallel to said front wall;
• whereby said method of packaging and transporting a pizza for improved efficiency and crush-resistance solves the problem of incurring one or more of the following four drawbacks commonly associated with packaging and transporting methods involving rectangular pizza cartons:
• (a) the box blank for the rectangular pizza carton is awkward and time-consuming to fold into the carton, (b) the ready-to-load format of the carton does not allow for unencumbered in-box pizza-cutting with a rocker knife and a pizza wheel due to the wall-engaged mode of the carton, (c) the ready-to-load format of the carton does not allow for unencumbered transfer of a pre-cut pizza into the carton due to the wall-engaged mode of the carton, and (d) the carton lacks left and right interior-disposed support-bearing cover side flaps and also left and right front corner flaps and left and right rear corner flaps and, thereby, the carton fails to provide a level of folding efficiency and crush-resistance closely comparable to the level of folding efficiency and crush-resistance of a wall-engaged rectangular pizza box.

A method of erecting a box blank into a carton, said box blank being cut and scored into a set of components comprising a substantially rectangular bottom panel having a predetermined front-to-rear length, a rear wall attached to said bottom panel, opposing left and right side wall structures comprising respective left and right side walls attached to said bottom panel and each having a bottom edge length approximately equal to the predetermined front-to-rear length of said bottom panel and having a free top edge and free-swinging front and rear corner flaps attached to respective front and rear ends of the side wall, a front wall structure opposing said rear wall and comprising a front wall attached to said bottom panel and an ancillary panel hingedly linked to a top edge of said front wall, and a cover comprising a cover panel attached to said rear wall and a plurality of cover flaps comprising left and right cover side flaps hingedly attached to respective left and right sides of said cover panel and a hingedly movable cover front flap attached to a front edge of said cover panel, said method comprising the step of:

• erecting said box blank into said carton by the sub-steps of:
• (a) folding said box blank into a partially-erected carton wherein (i) the rear wall and the left and right side walls are each disposed in an upright position, (ii) the cover panel overlies the free-swinging rear corner flaps, whereby the side walls are maintained in said upright position, (iii) at least a portion of each of the left and right cover side flaps is disposed interior to the left and right side walls, whereby the cover side flaps are maintained in a tucked-in position due to the upright position of the side walls, and (iv) the front wall structure is disposed in a non-erected position, and
• (b) subsequent to performing sub-step (a), folding said partially-erected carton into a fully-erected carton wherein (i) the left and right cover side flaps are disposed interior to the left and right side walls, (ii) the cover panel is in a substantially closed disposition, (iii) the front wall is in a substantially erected position, and (iv) the ancillary panel overlies the free-swinging front corner flaps and is disposed substantially parallel to the bottom panel.