\n\t\t\t\t\t\tLeprino Foods, the world\u2019s largest mozzarella maker, is closing one of its dairy processing plants in California\u2019s Central Valley. The company that supplies cheese to Domino\u2019s, Pizza Hut and Papa John\u2019s is planning to shutter its East Plant at 490 F St. in Lemoore in early 2026, resulting in the loss of over 300 jobs. Leprino announced the news in late 2024 to give employees time to find new jobs. \u201cThis decision is influenced by several factors, including the facility\u2019s 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,\u201d read Leprino\u2019s statement to KMPH-TV in 2024. SFGATE could not reach Leprino for comment before the time of publication.The company opened a massive new factory in Lubbock, Texas, in January, where Leprino processes over 500,000 gallons of milk per day to turn into mozzarella, sweet whey and sweet cream. Leprino manufactures and sells more than 1 billion pounds of cheese annually, according to Forbes.The East Plant has operated in Lemoore since 1910, although Leprino didn\u2019t take over until the 1980s. The Denver-based company got its start in the 1950s as a small Italian grocery store that made its own ricotta and mozzarella cheese by hand.\u201cThis choice in no way reflects the hard work of our approximately 300 Lemoore East employees, who contribute to Leprino\u2019s success every day,\u201d continued Leprino\u2019s statement. \u201c… 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.\u201dThe company also has a West Plant in Lemoore on Belle Haven Drive that is expected to remain open. The company filed one WARN notice on Oct. 23, laying off 268 employees, and a second WARN notice on Dec. 15 that notified 100 employees of the plant\u2019s permanent closure at the end of the year\u201cThis is the highest paying job in the valley \u2014 one of the highest paying factory jobs in the valley, and it\u2019s going to be a great loss to the City of Lemoore,\u201d former Leprino employee Dave Costa told KSEE\/KGPE. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Leprino Foods, the world\u2019s largest mozzarella maker, is closing one of its dairy processing plants<\/a> in California\u2019s Central Valley<\/a>. The company that supplies cheese to Domino\u2019s, Pizza Hut and Papa John\u2019s is planning to shutter its East Plant at 490 F St. in Lemoore in early 2026, resulting in the loss of over 300 jobs. Leprino announced the news in late 2024<\/a> to give employees time to find new jobs. <\/p>\n \u201cThis decision is influenced by several factors, including the facility\u2019s 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,\u201d read Leprino\u2019s statement to KMPH-TV<\/a> in 2024. SFGATE could not reach Leprino for comment before the time of publication.<\/p>\n The company opened a massive new factory in Lubbock, Texas, in January, where Leprino processes over 500,000 gallons<\/a> of milk per day to turn into mozzarella, sweet whey and sweet cream. Leprino manufactures and sells more than 1 billion pounds of cheese annually, according to Forbes<\/a>.<\/p>\n The East Plant has operated in Lemoore since 1910, although Leprino didn\u2019t take over until the 1980s<\/a>. The Denver-based company got its start in the 1950s as a small Italian grocery store that made its own ricotta and mozzarella cheese by hand.<\/p>\n \u201cThis choice in no way reflects the hard work of our approximately 300 Lemoore East employees, who contribute to Leprino\u2019s success every day,\u201d continued Leprino\u2019s statement. \u201c… 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The company also has a West Plant in Lemoore on Belle Haven Drive that is expected to remain open. The company filed one WARN notice on Oct. 23, laying off 268 employees, and a second WARN notice on Dec. 15 that notified 100 employees of the plant\u2019s permanent closure at the end of the year<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the highest paying job in the valley \u2014 one of the highest paying factory jobs in the valley, and it\u2019s going to be a great loss to the City of Lemoore,\u201d former Leprino employee Dave Costa told KSEE\/KGPE<\/a>. <\/p>\n See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leprino Foods, the world\u2019s largest mozzarella maker, is closing one of its dairy processing plants in California\u2019s Central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,2356,178455,14851,35772,3426,275,178456,178457,15058,6292,178458,178454,178453,95024,97934,16329,178459],"class_list":["post-361849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-plant","tag-central-valley","tag-cheese","tag-company","tag-day","tag-east-plant","tag-employee-time","tag-facility","tag-job","tag-large-mozzarella-producer","tag-lemoore","tag-leprino-foods","tag-lubbock","tag-mozzarella","tag-statement","tag-sweet-whey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}