Leprino Foods to Close California Mozzarella Plant, Move to Texas After 115 Years
Company says shift to Lubbock facility will address rising California costs; about 300 Lemoore jobs affected as Texas expansion proceeds.
Leprino Foods is closing its dairy processing plant in Lemoore, California, after 115 years of operation, and moving production to its newer facility in Lubbock, Texas. The closure, announced in November of last year, is set to take effect early next year and will cost about 300 jobs in Lemoore.
The Lemoore plant began operating in 1910 and remained under Leprino’s ownership since the 1980s. The Lubbock facility, which opened in January 2025, currently employs about 300 people—the same as the Lemoore plant—and is designed to handle higher volumes. The Texas plant can process more than 500,000 gallons of milk per day, turning it into mozzarella, sweet whey and sweet cream, with output that would fill three-quarters of an Olympic-size swimming pool on a daily basis.
The company cited several factors influencing the decision, including the facility’s age, the anticipated capital requirements to upgrade equipment and systems, high operating costs in California, the long-term milk-supply outlook and the increased capacity created by the Lubbock operation. It added that the move is not a reflection on the dedication of its Lemoore employees or the quality and reliability of its products.
California’s higher corporate taxes and payroll obligations, such as unemployment insurance and disability insurance, are cited as part of the calculus, while Texas has a comparatively lighter franchise tax. Agricultural land in Texas is also cheaper per acre than in California, with data from the USDA and the Texas Farm Bureau showing Texas land costs about six times lower on average.
The Lubbock plant opened in January 2025 as Leprino expanded to capitalize on lower operating costs and broader growth. It currently supports about 300 full-time workers, and Forbes has reported over the summer that the Texas site could double its workforce by next year. The Lubbock facility’s daily output supports mozzarella, sweet whey and sweet cream production on a scale that exceeds the original California operation.
Local reaction in Lemoore has centered on the impact to jobs and the city’s tax base. A former Leprino employee, Dave Costa, said the Lemoore plant was one of the highest paying factory jobs in the valley, and described the closure as a significant loss for the community.
Leprino Foods traces its growth to the 1950s, when it began as a small Italian grocery store making its own ricotta and mozzarella. The late founder James Leprino started the company with $615 in savings and built a business that had a net worth of about $3.1 billion by 2017.
The decision to relocate mozzarella production underscores broader cost dynamics in U.S. manufacturing, where pizza chains rely on a handful of suppliers and producers seek to optimize costs while maintaining product quality and supply commitments.
Leprino notes that the change will not affect customer service or product quality. The Lemoore plant is expected to wind down in early 2026, while the Lubbock operation continues to scale to meet demand from major pizza brands including Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Papa John’s.