Food serving system

Claim 1

A warming unit and serving tray combination comprising: a warming unit having a generally planar bottom surface accommodating resting of said unit on a counter top, a flat and electrically insulative but heat conductive top surface parallel to and spaced above said bottom surface, means affixed to the underside of said top surface for warming said top surface, and means, including means for securing said top surface in position with respect to said bottom surface, for defining a peripheral margin of uniform predetermined vertical cross-sectional contour and extending around the entire periphery of said top surface; a non-metallic serving tray having a generally planar upper surface corresponding in extent to said top surface of said warming unit and having a peripheral and downwardly depending skirt means the bottom margin of which has a contour matable with the outer edge portion of said predetermined contour on all sides of said periphery and means matable with respect to said peripheral margin for nesting said serving tray directly on said top surface of said warming unit; means defining a plurality of openings in said upper surface of said serving tray; and a plurality of food containers individually seatable in respective different ones of said openings.