Mister Donut launched the Pon de Ring in 2003.
The product became one of the chain’s signature Japanese doughnuts. Its name and design are distinctive: the ring is built from eight connected dough balls, making it easy to pull apart and share. The chewy texture helped popularize the broader mochi-doughnut style.
Pon de Ring is often described as a mochi doughnut, but it is not simply traditional mochi in doughnut form. Mister Donut’s version commonly uses tapioca flour, while some American recipes use glutinous rice flour. The name also reflects the product’s connection to Brazilian pão de queijo, a chewy tapioca-flour cheese bread.
Mochi-doughnut history can be confusing because an earlier poi-mochi variation appeared in Hawaii in 1992. That Hawaiian development predates Mister Donut’s product, but 2003 is the launch year associated with the famous Pon de Ring itself.