Leprino Foods Co

Leprino Foods Co, commonly known as Leprino Foods, is a privately held, family-owned American food manufacturing company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1950 by Mike Leprino Sr., the company has grown to become the world's largest producer of mozzarella cheese. It operates globally with over 5,000 employees and generates an estimated annual revenue ranging from approximately $3 billion to $3.6 billion.

Leprino Foods specializes in the production of high-quality dairy products. Its primary offerings include mozzarella, reduced-fat Monterey Jack, provolone, reduced-fat cheddar, and various cheese blends, primarily serving pizzeria and foodservice operators, frozen food manufacturers, and private-label cheese packagers. The company is a key supplier to major U.S. pizza chains such as Domino's, Pizza Hut, and Papa John's. Beyond cheese, Leprino Foods is a leading manufacturer and the largest U.S. exporter of dairy ingredients like whey protein, lactose, and micellar casein, used in products such as baby formula and baked goods. The company holds more than 50 patents on its mozzarella-making technology, including its "continuous extrusion" process and "quality locked" shredded mozzarella.

Based on available litigation data, Leprino Foods Co maintains a defensive patent-litigation posture. The company has one tracked case, appearing solely as a defendant. This case, Unified Patents v. Leprino Foods Co, is before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), indicating a challenge to the validity of a patent. This aligns with an operating company defending its intellectual property or operations against patent assertions rather than actively asserting its own patents.