Technology's latest innovation is in a vital but often overlooked field: grilled cheese sandwiches.
That's right-Silicon Valley has produced a contraption that keeps a grilled cheese hot and crisp even in the time it takes for delivery.
Called the Smart Box, the delivery device comes from the team at The Melt, which is a chain of grilled cheese restaurants started by Flip Video founder Jonathan Kaplan, Re/code reported.
The founder wanted to get in on delivery profits, and Kaplan and The Melt's team of engineers were determined not to be limited by the normally fleeting lifespan of a good grilled cheese sandwich.
"Catering is 20 to 25 percent of the fast casual space--think Chipotle and Panero--but it's a real challenge for us," Kaplan told Re/code. "No one wants a soggy grilled cheese. No one."
The Melt is growing from 22 locations to 44 in 2015, and Kaplan says the Smart Box has been key in the chain's expansion.
Co-founded by a former chief of retail operations at Apple, The Melt has a major Silicon Valley background and unsurprisingly, got a little help from Google and Apple talent for the Smart Box.
"Our customers want delivery," Kaplan said. "It took us a little over a year--five or six engineers--software and hardware guys from Apple, Google, Cisco."
Gizmodo tested Melt grilled cheese sandwiches delivered by Smart Box and said they passed muster.
"The bread was crispy. The bread was crispy? The bread was crispy! The cheese wasn't quite as tongue-scaldingly hot as it would have been had we just made these ourselves, but it was enjoyably warm," Gizmodo's Jordan Kushins described.
Ranging from The Classic of simple cheddar on white to The Bird, which has grilled chicken and baby spinach, the sandwiches stayed warm in a chamber that works like a convection oven to control temperature, moisture and air flow.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
