In another 2021 statement that followed the Times piece, they appeared to flirt with the idea that a spicy Cheetos product could have been a case of parallel development: one product by the team in Texas and one championed by Montañez. That same year, Frito-Lay told NPR that the company holds no official position on who created Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. All I have is my history, what I did in my kitchen.” He added he felt “pushed out” of the test marketing process and that his lower-level position at the time meant Frito-Lay was unlikely to track his activity within the company. I’m not even going to try to dispute that lady, because I don’t know. I don’t know what the other parts of the country, the other divisions-I don’t know what they were doing. In 2021, he told Variety that “In that era, Frito-Lay had five divisions. Greenfeld also told NPR in 2021 that she recalled Montañez pitching different product ideas.īy the time Montañez retired in 2019, he was working as vice president of multicultural sales and community promotions for PepsiCo., Frito-Lay’s parent company. Montañez, who climbed the company ladder to become a Frito-Lay executive, did work on a line of snacks for the company in the early 1990s dubbed Sabrositas, which were aimed at the Los Angeles-area Latino market. But Frito-Lay pushed back against this, too, saying that the spicy recipe was provided by spice and seasoning brand McCormick back in December 1989 and remains largely what’s used in the snack today. Of executives the Times spoke to, only one-Al Carey-supported Montañez’s statements, insisting that any prior product was “reformulated” to reflect Montañez’s ideas. Greenfeld also claimed Montañez “played no role” in the product’s development. In a statement to the Times, Frito-Lay said: “We value Richard’s many contributions to our company, especially his insights into Hispanic consumers, but we do not credit the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or any Flamin’ Hot products to him.” In 2018, Greenfeld contacted Frito-Lay to express concern that Montañez was being credited as the inventor, which led the company to conduct an internal investigation in which they found no evidence Montañez had been part of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos development led by Greenfeld. Enrico’s secretary, Patti Rueff, did recall Montañez calling Enrico, but it would have been after Flamin’ Hot Cheetos were already being tested. The timeline is relevant, as Roger Enrico-whom Montañez said he pitched the product to-didn’t become CEO of Frito-Lay until early 1991, the year after the snacks had been test-marketed. The snacks were available nationally by 1992. The product was tested in 1990, along with similar flavors for Fritos and Lay’s potato chips. It was Frito-Lay employee Lynne Greenfeld, according to the Los Angeles Times, who took the idea through development and also gave it the Flamin’ Hot name. One Frito-Lay salesman, Fred Lindsay, urged the company to try and develop product to meet that demand. The idea was raised after Frito-Lay took note of the popularity of hot or spicy snacks in the northern U.S., particularly at mini-marts in Detroit and Chicago. In the late 2000s, Montañez began discussing how he developed the idea for hot Cheetos, booking speaking engagements and writing two books that shared his story, 2013’s A Boy, a Burrito, and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive and 2021’s Flamin’ Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Rise From Janitor to Top Executive.īut the Los Angeles Times story contradicted his claims, citing interviews with Frito-Lay employees and company records that indicate the spicy Cheetos were the work of employees (none of whom were Montañez) beginning in 1989 in Plano, Texas. The Flamin’ Hot Cheetos brand took off, becoming a zeitgeist snack. The idea, he said, was ultimately accepted following a presentation to over 100 company personnel as well as Roger Enrico, the CEO of Frito-Lay at the time. He sent samples to Frito-Lay executives, but didn’t hear back. With his wife, Judy, the two concocted a spicy seasoning. I thought, we don’t have anything for people who like spices.”Īccording to his account, Montañez got some plain, unflavored Cheetos from the factory. And I looked at our Lay’s, Ruffles, Fritos. “I saw people buying Chile peppers,” Montañez told NPR in 2021. According to a 2021 Los Angeles Times report, Montañez’s oft-shared story was that he was employed as a maintenance worker at a Frito-Lay plant in Rancho Cucamonga, California, in the late 1980s when he was inspired to add a hot chili pepper-style flavor to the company’s Cheetos snack.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |