Pizza snack rolls (also called pizza rolls, pizza bites, pizza snacks, or pizza poppers) are a frozen food product consisting of bite-sized breaded pizza pockets with an interior of tomato sauce, imitation cheese,[1] and various pizza toppings. They are sold in a variety of flavors including cheese,[2]pepperoni, sausage, supreme, multiple imitation[3] cheeses, and mixed meats.[4] Other flavors included hamburger, cheeseburger, ham and cheese, and combination (pepperoni and sausage). Pizza snack rolls are designed to be quickly cooked in the oven or microwave. The name "pizza rolls" is a trademark of General Mills, current owner of the original product.[5]
Pizza rolls were created in the mid-1960s in Duluth, Minnesota, United States, by product developer and cook Beatrice Ojakangas.[6][7][8][9] She worked for food industry entrepreneur Jeno Paulucci, who specialized in canned and frozen Chinese food under the Chun King brand and was looking for new uses for his egg roll wrapping machine.[10][6] According to Ojakangas, she started with over 50 filling ideas, including a number of sandwich flavors such as peanut butter and jelly. Several concepts were pizza-flavored, and her taste test of the pizza flavors was well received.[6] Paulucci stated, "pizza rolls are nothing but egg rolls with pizza crust and filling."[6] For the commercial production, Paulucci used a co-extrusion process developed by Demaco using a Demaco extruder.[citation needed] Jeno's began using the Pizza Rolls trademark in 1967.[11] In 1985, Paulucci sold Jeno's to Pillsbury, which owned Totino's pizza.[12] In 1993, Jeno's Pizza Rolls were rebranded as Totino's Pizza Rolls.[13] Pillsbury was sold to General Mills in 2001. After a series of commercial spoofs on Saturday Night Live, Totino's pizza rolls saw a boost in popularity and sales in 2016.[14]
Pizza snack rolls are produced by a large number of brands, gourmet brands and store brands. Since the original name is trademark protected, various companies use different names for their product. There are non-GMO, organic and vegan versions offered by some companies.[15]
^Jeno's v. Commissioner (U.S. Dist. Ct. Minnesota July 22, 1985), Text.
^St. Anthony, Neal (March 10, 1986). "Doughboy is king of the freezer". Star Tribune. Minneapolis. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
