A spicy debate may soon be resolved in court: Who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos?
A former PepsiCo executive is suing the company, claiming that he destroyed his career after questioning its claim that he invented a flavor for the popular snack Cheetos.
PepsiCo said Thursday it would not comment on the lawsuit, which was filed July 18 in California Superior Court.
According to the lawsuit, Richard Montañez began working as a cleaner at PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay plant in Ranchi, California, in 1977.
Montañez is the son of Mexican immigrants and grew up in a migrant worker camp.
One day, a machine broke in Montañez’s factory, leaving him with unflavored Cheetos.
Montañez said he took the bag home and sprinkled it with chili powder to recreate the taste of elote, a popular seasoned, roasted corn commonly eaten in Mexico.
In 1991, Montañez was convinced that spicy Cheetos would be a hit with the Latino community and requested a meeting with PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico.
According to the lawsuit, Enrico granted the meeting, liked the presentation and directed the company to develop spicy Cheetos.
Montañez said PepsiCo sent him to speak and aggressively promoted his story, but in the meantime, he claims, the company’s research and development department excluded him from discussions and testing.
PepsiCo introduced Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in 1992.
Montañez went on to develop spicy snacks such as Flamin’ Hot Popcorn and Lime & Chili Fritos, and was promoted to business development manager for Southern California in 2000, according to the company.
Montañez eventually became PepsiCo’s vice president of multicultural marketing and sales.
Montañez said he was in such high demand for speaking engagements that he left his job at PepsiCo in 2019 to become a full-time motivational speaker.
He published a memoir in 2021 and his life has been made into a movie. “Flamin’ Hot” in 2023.
But according to the lawsuit, PepsiCo went against Montanez in 2021 and cooperated with a Los Angeles Times story that alleged that others at the company were already working on the spicy snack when Montanez approached PepsiCo, and that it was PepsiCo, not Montanez, that came up with the name “Flamin’ Hot.”
Montañez said PepsiCo’s change of policy had hurt his speaking engagements and other potential opportunities, including a documentary about his life.
He is seeking damages for discrimination, fraud and defamation.
