Flamin’ Hot Cheetos origin controversy

[bcla]

Anyone follow this? There’s controversy over this, with a former janitor who became an exec at Frito-Lay claiming to have come up with the idea. Made for an interesting story about an immigrant of humble origins talking about how his wish for a spicy snack turned into a big success story. Only the story was researched and the official take is that a team at their development lab near Chicago came up with it.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-05-16/flamin-hot-cheetos-richard-montanez

He’s currently the subject of a movie in production and he gets paid speaking gigs. But that is obviously jeopardized if the story isn’t accurate.

 

[starry_solo]

Yup, I read this a few months ago, I was like, geez....

 

[kanerf]

Perhaps the Chicago team were recent immigrants.

 

[bcla]

Perhaps the Chicago team were recent immigrants.

With a name like Lynne Greenfield?

 

[NYCgrrl]

With a name like Lynne Greenfield?

Sure. Maybe from the. Caribbean or the UK. There are some other places too but you get the point.

 

[low-key]

You know how self serve pumps have it, so you could just set the gas coming in, with out you holding it, well I invented that and know one knows

 

[Kittyblue]

You know how self serve pumps have it, so you could just set the gas coming in, with out you holding it, well I invented that and know one knows

Oh so you're the guy that invented hands-free!

 

[low-key]

Oh so you're the guy that invented hands-free!

I just got the concept in my head, you perfected the great invention

 

[bcla]

Just noticed that the movie went straight to Disney+.

 

[BrianL]

Just noticed that the movie went straight to Disney+.

I watched it. It was pretty good. They obviously took a lot of liberties for dramatic lisence. It's not a documentary or anything. As to the controversey, it is true that Richard Montanez started as a janitor with no high-school diploma at Frito-Lay and worked his way up to machinist and eventually to vice-president. I think it likely that he championed the Flamin' Hot brand, though maybe not really invented it. Even the movie shows tha tthey already had the flavor in development and that they did use that mass-produced flavor in the final product.