James Leprino
Indian Hills, Colorado
United States
Leprino Foods
5
cheese
$5,300,000,000
504
#504 Billionaires 2019
#179 Forbes 400 2018
James Leprino owns the world's largest mozzarella cheese maker with $3.5 billion in estimated annual sales.His Leprino Foods exclusively sells to cheese to Domino's, Papa John's and Pizza Hut.The company also makes cheese by-products like whey protein, lactose, and sweet whey powder used in baby formula and yogurt. It started in 1950 with his father, an Italian immigrant, who had a Denver corner store that sold specialties like fresh mozzarella balls.Today, Leprino Foods has more than 50 patents. Those innovations are essentially how Leprino created the "pizza cheese" that Americans eat today.
When Leprino Foods became the exclusive cheese supplier to Domino's in 1996, the contract was more of a handshake than a legal document at just one page long. Leprino Foods controls as much as 85% of the market for pizza cheese today.
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