Food business closing plant in California after 115 years to set up in Texas after being forced out

 The world's largest producer of mozzarella is closing one of its dairy plants in California due to the state's sky high operating costs.

Leprino Foods, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, supplies cheese for fast-food pizza restaurants, including Domino's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's.

For the last 115 years, the plant has operated in Lemoore, a small town deep within California's rural Central Valley. 

But now more than a century of history is coming to a close, with an estimated 300 people set to lose their jobs when the plan shutters early next year.

To give people time to find new employment, Leprino announced the closure in November of last year.

'This decision is influenced by several factors, including the facility's age, anticipated capital requirements to make improvements to the facility and add or replace equipment and systems, high operating costs in California, the long-term milk supply outlook, and the increased capacity due to the opening of our Lubbock, Texas facility,' according to a statement from the company at the time.

One major factor likely driving the move is that California has a high corporate tax rate, while Texas's equivalent franchise tax is much less burdensome.

Additionally, California imposes higher payroll tax obligations on companies for things like unemployment insurance and disability insurance.

Another advantage Texas has is cheap land. Agricultural land in Texas is six times cheaper per acre on average than in California, based on data from the USDA and the Texas Farm Bureau. 

The 850,000-square-foot Lubbock facility Leprino Foods opened in January 2025 currently supports a staff of 300 full-time workers, the same as the Lemoore plant.

Though by next year, the Texas location is expected to have doubled the size of its workforce, Forbes reported over the summer.

The Lubbock plant is capable of processing over 500,000 gallons of milk per day, turning it into mozzarella, sweet whey and sweet cream. 

That amount of milk would fill an Olympic-size swimming pool three quarters of the way.

The Lemoore plant has been in operation since 1910, though Leprino didn't acquire it until the 1980s.

'This choice in no way reflects the hard work of our approximately 300 Lemoore East employees, who contribute to Leprino's success every day,' Leprino's statement continued. 

'Our dedication to serving customers and honoring our commitments remains unwavering. This change will not affect the quality, service or reliability our customers expect of us and our products.' 

A former Leprino employee, Dave Costa, said the Lemoore plant was 'one of the highest paying factory jobs in the valley.' 

'It’s going to be a great loss to the City of Lemoore,' Costa told KSEE/KGPE last November. 

Leprino has grown substantially from its origins in the 1950s as a small Italian grocery store that made its own ricotta and mozzarella. 

James Leprino, the late founder of the company, started it with $615 in savings and ended up amassing a net worth of $3.1 billion by 2017.