Which fast-food chain created stuffed-crust pizza in 1995?

Pizza Hut created stuffed-crust pizza in 1995.

The product placed cheese inside the outer rim of the pizza rather than leaving the crust as a plain baked edge. Pizza Hut promoted the innovation as a way to make the crust part of the main eating experience, and it quickly became one of the chain’s most recognizable menu ideas.

Stuffed crust was introduced during a period when large pizza chains were competing heavily through specialty products. The idea was not simply a new topping; it changed the structure of the pizza by enclosing cheese within the dough before baking. Its success encouraged other restaurants and frozen-food manufacturers to develop their own filled-crust variations.

The launch is sometimes confused with the invention of the pan pizza, another major Pizza Hut product. Pan pizza appeared much earlier and refers to the method of baking dough in a pan. Stuffed crust instead describes the cheese-filled perimeter.