Automated Food Patty Cooking and Assembly Apparatus

An automated food preparation apparatus, comprising:

• (a) a patty cooking module including a horizontal rotating griddle (104) with dividers (120) defining up to 12 separated cooking surfaces for batch cooking of up to 12 patties, a dispensing component (106) for placing food patties between the dividers, a flipper (108) positioned on an opposite side of the griddle from the dispensing station for flipping the patties, and a chute slide (110) for delivering cooked patties;
• (b) an assembly and wrapping module operatively coupled to the patty cooking module, including a lift/transfer mechanism (210) to position the cooked patty onto a bottom bun, a condiment station with a rotating carousel (220), tubular hoppers (240) for dispensing a top bun, a wrapping station (250), and mechanical advancing means to move the assembled product between stations;
• and
• (c) wherein the AI control module (136) implements variable rotational speeds for a first cooking stage of approximately 1.5 rotations in about 2 minutes and a second stage of approximately 1.0 rotation in about 2 minutes, with batch sizes reduced during off-peak periods, and the apparatus is configurable as a linear production line maintaining up to 180 2 oz. patties per hour throughput.