PepsiCo Changes Tune, Now Defends Ex-Janitor's Flamin' Hot Cheetos Creation Claim

PepsiCo Inc. PEP has back-pedaled on its efforts to discredit the claim of creatorship for the Frito-Lay Flamin’ Hot Cheetos product made by a former janitor who rose through the ranks to become an executive.

What Happened Before: In a May 16 Los Angeles Times article, the company aggressively debunked claims made by Richard Montañez that he was the creative source of the popular spicy snack food.

Montañez stated he held a janitorial position when the company encouraged its workforce to offer ideas for new products. In his story, Montañez responded by adding a homemade mix of spices to the traditional Cheetos offering and made in-person pitches to executives at Frito-Lay and parent company PepsiCo.

Over time, Montañez was promoted through the PepsiCo ranks, ultimately becoming vice president of multicultural sales and community promotions before retiring in 2019. Since then, he has used his rags-to-riches tale for a second career as a motivational speaker, using the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos story as the foundation of his success. His life will soon become the subject of a new film directed by Eva Longoria and starring Jessie Garcia as Montañez.

However, PepsiCo denounced Montañez’s version, telling the Los Angeles Times, “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,” said Frito-Lay in a statement to the Times. “That doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate Richard, but the facts do not support the urban legend.”

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What Happened Now: According to a report in Variety, PepsiCo did an abrupt about-face, issuing a new statement that claimed the “information we shared with the media has been misconstrued by some,” resulting in “a strain on our valued friendship with Richard Montañez and the Latino community.”

“The sincere truth is, at PepsiCo, we believe in the strength and power of teams, and we attribute the launch and success of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and other products to several people who worked at PepsiCo, including Richard Montañez,” the statement said.

“Far from being an urban legend, Richard had a remarkable 40-plus-year career at PepsiCo and made an incredible impact on our business and employees and continues to serve as an inspiration today. His insights and ideas on how to better serve Hispanic consumers were invaluable and directly resulted in the success of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

“To be clear, we have no reason to doubt the stories he shares about taking the initiative to create new product ideas for the Cheetos brand, and pitching them to past PepsiCo leaders.”

Jeff Bercovici, deputy business editor at the Times, claimed that the company did not refute his newspaper’s coverage that questioned Montañez's claims of being the creative force behind Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

“The Times has been in contact with Frito-Lay since the article’s publication,” Bercovici said. “Frito-Lay has not raised any issues with our reporting or sought a correction or clarification.”

(Photo courtesy of Cheetos.)