![]() ![]() Times subscribers first access to our best journalism. Subscribers get early access to this story A junior employee with a freshly minted MBA named Lynne Greenfeld got the assignment to develop the brand - she came up with the Flamin’ Hot name and shepherded the line into existence. The new product was designed to compete with spicy snacks sold in the inner-city mini-marts of the Midwest. “That doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate Richard,” the statement continued, “but the facts do not support the urban legend.”įlamin’ Hots were created by a team of hotshot snack food professionals starting in 1989, in the corporate offices of Frito-Lay’s headquarters in Plano, Texas. “We have interviewed multiple personnel who were involved in the test market, and all of them indicate that Richard was not involved in any capacity in the test market. “None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin’ Hot test market,” Frito-Lay wrote in a statement to The Times, in response to questions about an internal investigation whose existence has not been previously disclosed. There’s just one problem: Montañez didn’t invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, according to interviews with more than a dozen former Frito-Lay employees, the archival record and Frito-Lay itself. Both the book and the movie were sold after bidding wars - Montañez’s story is undeniably hot. His second memoir, “Flamin’ Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man’s Rise from Janitor to Top Executive,” is out in June from an imprint of Penguin Random House.Ī biopic based on his life, to be directed by Eva Longoria and produced by Christian super-producer DeVon Franklin for Searchlight Pictures, is set to begin filming this summer. Montañez has built a lucrative second career out of telling and selling this story, appearing at events for Target, Walmart, Harvard and USC, among others, and commanding fees of $10,000 to $50,000 per appearance. Clear revenue numbers are hard to come by, but nearly every major Frito-Lay line, from Smartfood popcorn to Funyuns, now has a Flamin’ Hot variety on the market. Schools have banned the snack altogether over concerns about its popularity with children. With their spicy kick and neon-red flavor dust, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos have inspired viral rap videos, Instagram-worthy menu items and streetwear designs. ![]() Invited to make a presentation to company executives, the marketing novice checked out a book on marketing from the local library and bought his first-ever tie for $3.įlamin’ Hot Cheetos became Frito-Lay’s top-selling snack, Inc.com reports, and Montanez is now executive vice president of multicultural sales and community activation for PepsiCo’s North American divisions.Montañez is a charismatic speaker, and his tale of a Mexican American underdog whose ingenuity conquered the corporate world is a rags-to-riches fable baked into the origin of a wildly popular snack. They were so good, he passed the idea on to the corporate office. When a batch of regular Cheetos failed to get the requisite dusting of cheese powder due to a malfunctioning assembly line machine, Montanez took the plain crisps home and sprinkled them with chili powder, creating his own version of a Mexican street snack called elote. According to Inc.com, they were invented by Richard Montanez, a Mexican janitor who worked at the Frito-Lay Rancho Cucamonga plant in California. If the origin of Mazur’s Cheeto-topped pie sounds like a happy accident, you should hear the story of how Flamin’ Hot Cheetos came to be. And Ameci Pizza Kitchen, a California chain, rolled out its own variation in 2016. That pie, which debuted in October as a Halloween special, features black dough made with activated charcoal and a blend of mozzarella and cheddar. Other versions have sprouted up on menus around the country, including the Spicy Spooky Cheeto Pizza at Mickey’s Deli in Hermosa Beach, California. To be fair, Lelulo’s doesn’t exactly have the Cheeto pizza market cornered. Weird pizza ideas: Pizza topped with ground beef, peanut butter and jalapeno jelly is a sticky treat
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