Forbes_USA_June_13_2017

“I would tell people, ‘Lester is the man that made me rich,’ ”
Leprino says. Notably, though, Leprino never gave Kielsmeier
any equity. While Leprino got rich, Kielsmeier—who came
to work every day right until his death at 95 in 2012—would
have to content himself with being very well paid.
FOR JAMES LEPRINO, THE PERKS of being a billionaire are relatively
muted. Yes, the company owns three private planes—a
Gulfstream G450, a Bombardier jet and a small 1980 commuter
plane—and his house in Denver’s affluent Indian Hills suburb
has 11 bedrooms, to go with an 8,000-square-foot vacation
home in Scottsdale, Arizona. But he’s more likely to pick up a
hammer than call a repairman: Leprino, who has been known
to operate a forklift at the factory, has also personally bulldozed
trees around his Colorado home. A devout Catholic, he goes to
church every Sunday and donates to charity anonymously. And
the immigrant’s son has no intention to retire, ever. “My success
is a fairy tale,” he says.
Leprino’s succession plan is simple: He’ll split ownership between
his two daughters, Terry, 57, and Gina, 55, who have been
on the board for years but won’t take day-to-day roles. “I don’t
want them to be living a corporate life resentfully,” Leprino says.
And for now he’ll continue to ensure that Leprino cheese is on as
was headed toward bankruptcy.
Schnatter sold the Camaro for
$2,800 and used the money to
settle some debts. “All I wanted
to do was make $50,000 a year,”
Schnatter recalls. “I thought
I could take a girl shopping.”
The rest went toward some
many American pizzas as possible—as well as Asian and European
ones (Leprino has a joint venture with the U.K.’s Glanbia Cheese).
America’s fifth-largest pizza chain, the take-and-bake Papa
Murphy’s, remains in his sights. Cofounder Robert Graham
says Leprino visited him at least three times to try to get the
company to sign on, selling the technology above all else. “It
didn’t perform well for our pizza, which is cooked in a home
oven,” Graham says. “Because of the moisture content, you
could see the sauce under the cheese. It evaporated.” Yet Leprino
executives continue to press.
And while Little Caesars uses other vendors—industry
insiders say Leprino isn’t exclusive with Little Caesars, in
part because the chain’s blend uses Muenster cheese, too—
Leprino president Mike Durkin predicts that Little Caesars
will eventually succumb. “Would we want more? Probably
the answer is yes, and it’ll come at some point,” he says.
Meanwhile, Leprino will pursue new markets. Leprino has invested
$600 million in a factory in Greeley, Colorado, that specializes
in “ribbon cheese”—bulky 2.5-pound blocks that are popular
among frozen-pizza companies. It’s also created an in-house
“innovation studio,” designed to ride the coattails of food trends.
One creation, Bacio (“kiss” in Italian), is catering to artisanal-pizza-makers
by offering mozzarella with a kiss of buffalo milk. It’s
Leprino Foods’ most expensive
cheese—and its fastest-growing.
used pizza equipment, which
Schnatter installed in the
tavern’s broom closet.
Mick’s eventually turned
around, and by 1985, the
first Papa John’s opened in
Jeffersonville, Indiana. From
the beginning, the company
touted its pies as “better
ingredients, better pizza,” and
it caught on. Within six years,
the 100th location opened, and
Papa John’s brought in Leprino
Foods to be its exclusive cheese
supplier. In 1993, Papa John’s
went public, and the stock
has since increased thirtyfold.
There are now more than 5,000
restaurants in 45 countries.
As for that Camaro, Papa
John’s offered a $250,000
reward to anyone who could
find Schnatter’s original ride.
“Everybody around me said I
was crazy. They thought the
car was squashed up at the
junkyard. I had a feeling it was
still around,” Schnatter says.
And the incentive worked—in
2009, the car came back to
Papa. —C.S.
Leprino is also rolling out
the company’s first direct-toconsumer
product, a whey
protein powder called Ascent,
which will have a dedicated
wing at the Greeley facility.
While Leprino still produces
whey protein as a by-product
of making cheese for its clients,
Ascent is filtered straight from
raw milk to protect key proteins
and vitamins that help aid muscle
recovery. Leprino hopes that
will be an edge in the $6.6 billion-and-growing
U.S. protein
market.
There is plenty of history to
remind Ascent’s team of their
roots. Ascent’s space sits atop
the original cheese factory’s
loading dock and warehouse.
“I remember the first day that
we had this set up,” says Mike
Arnold, who is overseeing
Ascent’s launch. “Jim Leprino
walked in here and was like,
‘Ah, this reminds me of the old
days.’ ” A new, fractured market,
primed to be dominated.
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JUNE 13, 2017 FORBES | 105