Which fast food chain introduced the 'Stuffed Crust' pizza?

Which fast food chain introduced the “Stuffed Crust” pizza? Pizza Hut introduced it.

Pizza Hut launched its stuffed-crust pizza in 1995, turning the normally discarded outer rim into part of the meal by wrapping dough around a cylinder of mozzarella cheese. The product debuted in the United States on March 25, 1995, and quickly became one of the chain’s most recognizable signature offerings.

The idea is often credited to Pizza Hut food scientist Patty Scheibmeir. Its advertising campaign also became widely remembered because Donald Trump appeared in a commercial promoting the new pizza. The launch was a major product innovation for a large pizza chain, even though filled pizza edges and stuffed pizza concepts had existed in other forms.

A common mix-up is confusing “introduced” with “invented.” The Mongiello family claimed that an earlier 1987 patent covered a stuffed pizza shell and sued Pizza Hut, but a court ruled in 1999 that Pizza Hut had not infringed the patent. Other chains later released their own versions, including Papa John’s in 2020 and Little Caesars in 2023.