Insulated containers suitable for holding hot liquids, such as coffee, hot chocolate, soup and the like, are well known in the food and beverage packaging industry. Such containers are typically stacked or nested one within the other during shipment, storage and dispensing.
Many existing containers are “bottom stacked” meaning that, when multiple containers are stacked or nested, the lower peripheral footing of an inner container comes to rest on the bottom wall of an outer container. Therefore, a small gap may or may not exist between the sidewalls of the inner and outer containers. If insulation is added to the outer surface of the sidewall of the container, the bottom wall of the container typically must be raised so that the footing on the inner container comes to rest on the bottom wall of the outer container before the sidewalls of the containers become wedged together in an interference fit. If the bottom wall is not raised, it can result in multiple containers inadvertently sticking together when a user intends to grab only one container from the stack. However, raising the bottom wall (i.e., increasing the height of the peripheral footing) results in a more complex container construction and increases the chances of the container leaking. It also reduces the volumetric capacity of the container.
As such, a need exists for an insulated container that may be generally fully nested with other containers without becoming wedged in or stuck to the other containers.