In supermarkets and retail shops in general, it is nowadays common to show and store various types of foods in containers of the so-called"cup" type, realised in a light plastic material and covered or not covered by heat-shrinking plastic films.

These cup-shaped containers, however, have some inconveniences that so far have not been satisfactorily solved: a) the cups, once stacked one above the other due to space problems, are prone both to squash the cups and the products below them, and to slide on the non-smooth surface of some products, and therefore to fall to the ground, often damaging the products contained therein; b) during shipments or production handlings, the empty cups are stacked one over the other, but always occupy a certain space, being already realised with lifted edges; c) it is impossible to punch onto the cups the manufacturer's trademark or other useful information about the product (price, expiry, bar code, etc.): it is always necessary to arrange for an adhesive label to be attached to the plastic film at the end of the packaging, further increasing preparation times and costs; d) for the end customers, the cups, once purchased, provide a problem to be transported, since they have no reliable grasping point ; and finally e) the foods contained in the cups look like mass- produced products and almost look as it they were themselves made of the plastic material of the container: this is an aesthetic problem that anyway affects the nature of the product itself, that instead is a food.

Object of the present invention is solving the above prior-art problems, by providing an improved container, made of cardboard or similar material, of a reduced cost and easy to be assembled during packaging. For easy of reference, the advantages of the container of the invention will be pointed out referring to the respective defects of the prior art and using the same reference letters for the affected sections. The benefits obtained by the container of the present invention are therefore the following: a) the support elements and the abutment supports with which the container is equipped on one hand allow stacking many containers and on the other hand prevent the containers themselves from sliding once being stacked or abutted on slanted or slippery surfaces; b) the containers of the invention are transported and shipped in a plane form, that is, composed of a sheet of cardboard or the like, and therefore require up to 50% less storage space with respect to common cups ; c) it is possible to punch onto the container all information that before had to be put on lables to be sticked ; moreover the container is realised in different colours according to needs ; d) the container of the invention can be easily transported due to a grip handle with which it can be equipped and also due to its special shape and arrangement ; and e) in the container of the invention, the products look as if they were prepared or cooked immediately before being packaged and the whole appears very pleasing from the aesthetic and quality point of view for the consumer.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained by a container for foods as claimed in Claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are claimed in the dependent Claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, given as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the container according to the present invention ; - Figure 2 is a top view of a variation of the container of the invention in an open position before its assembling ; - Figure 3 is a front perspective view of the already-assembled container of Fig. 2; Figure 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 with the container equipped with an handle and filled with foods; -Figure 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 with the container filled with foods and sealed with the heat-shrinking film; and Figure 6 is a perspective view of two stacked containers of the invention.

With reference to the Figures, two variations of the container 1 of the invention are shown (one in Fig. 1 and the other one in Fig. 2 to 6): the container 1 is adapted to contain various types of foods 2 (as a non-limiting example, fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, bread, bakery, fishes, poultry and the like).

In its most general form, such container 1 first of all comprises a bottom 3 with a plurality of containing sides 5,7,9,11, whose purpose is realising the containment walls on the whole perimeter of the bottom 3. Therefore, the sides 5, 7,9,11 are always of a number that is equal to the number of sides of the bottom 3 to which they are connected for closing the perimeter (obviously, in case of a circular bottom 3, there will be a single side on the circumference outline of the bottom 3). In order to guarantee a better visibility of the food product 2 contained therein, the sides 5,7,9,11 have an height that is less than the height of the foods 2 themselves to be contained.

The container of the invention 1 further comprises a plurality of straight support elements 13,15,17,19, whose number is also equal to the number of the sides 5,7,9,11; the straight support elements 13,15,17,19 are placed in respective points where the sides 5,7,9,11 meet each other (in case of a circular bottom 3, there will be a single support element on the whole circumference of the container 1). The straight support elements 13,15,17,19 perform the three functions of reinforcing the container 1 in its angles, of preventing the foods 2 from going out of the container 1, and of allowing to stack a plurality of containers 1 one above the other (as can be better seen in Fig. 6).

In particular, each of the sides 5,7,9,11 is equipped with longitudinal reinforcement elements 5', 7', 9', 11'integral therewith: such longitudinal reinforcement elements 5', 7', 9', 11' are obviously adapted to reinforce the respective sides 5,7,9,11 with which they are integral, and to provide a further barrier for preventing the foods 2 from going out of the container 1, and cooperate in general in order to improve the aesthetic appearance of the container 1 itself, since they provide it with a semblance of sturdiness and stability. As can be well seen in Fig. 2, each one of the elements 5', 7', 9', 11'is equipped with at least one tongue 6 (in order to simplify the drawing, Fig. 2 shows a single tongue, reference 6, but it is possible to see in the Figure the two. tongues being present for each element 5', 7', 9', 11') adapted to be inserted, when assembling the container 1, into a corresponding slot 6'obtained in the bottom 3.

In the variation in Fig. 1, the container 1 of the invention is further equipped with a plurality of abutment supports 21,23,25 respectively connected next to each one of the straight support elements 13,15,17,19: these abutment supports 21,23,25 are adapted to provide further abutment points to the container 1 and to prevent the container 1 from sliding on an abutment plane on which it is placed.

As can be seen in the non-limiting example embodiment shown in the Figures, the bottom 3 of the container 1 is shaped as a quadrilateral and the container 1 is therefore equipped with four sides 5,7,9,11 and four respective straight support elements 13,15,17,19.

In order to make it easier to transport the container 1, it can further be equipped with at least one elongated handle 27 that can be inserted upon assembling the container 1 itself.

Finally, to complete the packaging of the products 2 once having placed them into the assembled container 1 (passing from the plane shape in Fig. 2 to the three-dimensional assembled shape of Fig. 3), the container 1 is wrapped into a heat- shrinking plastic film 8 that wraps both foods 2 and container 1. Such film has important features, that give a contribution to the optimum operation of the container 1 of the invention. Such characteristics can be summarised as follows: - the film perfectly adheres to the contained products 2 and thereby improves the aesthetic appearance for the end cunsumers, also due to its gloss and brightness that are other two intrinsic features thereof ; - in case of tampering with the film, and therefore with the contents of the container 1, this will immediately appear and will allow the operators and end customers to take the necessary measures to provide a remedy thereto.

Last, but not least, the fact of realising the container 1 of the invention in cardboard, plasticized cardboard or similar materials, allows punching onto the container 1 itself all pieces of information that are necessary (manufacturer's trademark, product type, expiry date, bar codes, etc.) and simutaneously choosing a colour for the container 1 that further improves its final aesthetic appearance.

Some preferred embodiment of the present invention have been previously shown and described: obviously, numerous variations and modifications, that are functionally equivalent to the previous one, and that fall within the scope of the invention as pointed out in the enclosed claims, will immediately appear to the skilled people in the art. For example, the container 1 can be used in different formats, sizes and shapes for the bottom 3 (for example triangular, circular, pentagonal, etc.) according to the applications and the type of foods 2 to be contained. Moreover, the container 1 of the invention can obviously be used outside of the strict foodstuff field, also for containing various other types of objects.