Provel was purportedly invented for St. Louis–style pizza in the 1940s by Costa Grocery (now Roma Grocery on
the Hill), in collaboration with
Hoffman Dairy of
Wisconsin (now part of
Lactalis), according to
St. Louis Post-Dispatch food writer Joe Bonwich. Provel was developed to meet demand for a
pizza cheese with a clean bite, melting well while breaking off nicely when cut or bitten. Neither Kraft Foods nor Roma Grocery has a definitive answer for the origin of the name, although one popular theory is that it is a
portmanteau of the words
provolone and
mozzarella, two of the cheeses for which it is substituted.
Trademark The Provel name trademark was first used in 1947 and held by the Churny Company, Inc. of
Glenview, Illinois. Churny later became a wholly owned
subsidiary of
Kraft Foods after it was closed in 2012. In 2021,
Lactalis acquired Hoffman Dairy from Kraft. As of 2024, Lactalis holds the Provel name trademark, but does not appear to be using this name: Hoffman's Pizza Cheese is simply known as "2/5 LB St. Louis Style Pizza Cheese" in the Lactalis Culinary catalogue.
Distribution Imo's Pizza acquired Costa's Grocery, which had the sole rights to sell Provel in St. Louis, Imo's continues to package and sell shredded Provel cheese to end customers, as of 2024. == See also ==