Domino’s finally offers stuffed crust

Domino’s Pizza has brought stuffed crust pizzas to its menu nearly 30 years after its competitor Pizza Hut debuted the same. The Parmesan Stuffed Crust is available in the chain’s $9.99 carryout deal.

The move aims to win back the 13 million Domino’s customers who buy stuffed crust from competitors Pizza Hut, Papa John’s and Little Caesars, Domino’s Chief Marketing Officer Kate Trumbull told CNBC.

According to Trumbull, a survey found that 73% of Domino’s customers thought it already offered stuffed crust.

Fun fact: Pizza Hut launched its stuffed crust offering with a commercial featuring Donald Trump in 1995. While Domino’s initially dismissed it as gimmicky, big pizza chains adopted the cheesy innovation as it boosted their sales.

Pizza Hut ended up making $300 million selling stuffed crust in its first year, and Papa John’s saw its 2020 sales jump 30% after launching its own version of the same.

Realizing it is losing out, Domino’s finally adopted the stuffing. It took 3 years to develop the menu and train 7,000 stores for 12 weeks on how to make the mozzarella stuffed crust.