Salsa with a spicy kick or salsa with a medium or hot flavor. When the Flamin Hot line first entered test markets in the summer of 1990, Robert Beeby was leading Frito-Lay. Montaez did live out a less Hollywood version of his story, ascending from a plant worker to a director focused on marketing. In 2017, Cheetos opened up The Spotted Cheetah, a pop-up restaurant helmed by celeb chef Anne Burrell. I was on the cookie, Lecuona said, and Lynne Greenfeld was on the small-bag business., Wed go on a field marketing tour and bring home 50 different bags of chips that we had never seen in our lives theyd say were losing sales to this kind of product line right now, Lecuona said, and so Flamin Hot was actually, you could call it a flavor idea.. If Lil Xan had an ulcer or some other previously existing stomach issue, then yes, eating a ton of Flamin' Hot Cheetos or another super-spicy food could do some damage, but healthy people who are eating their favorite spicy snack food in moderation shouldn't have to worry about it. Anaya worked at a restaurant in Pueblo, Colorado, and is said to have created the dish when a group of military wives came into the restaurant and asked him to make them something to eat. Well, a few people, according to Frito-Lay, including a junior employee in the company Lynne Greenfield who was tasked with developing the new brand in 1989 and worked with a team to see it to fruition. The inventor of Flamin' Hot Cheetos says that he has a PhD in being Poor, Hungry, and Determined. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce to a simmer. The product went on to be a huge success, and today Montaez is the VP of multicultural sales and community activation at PepsiCo. Apparently, the puffy, melt-in-your-mouth texture of Cheetos tricks the brain into thinking that the food is low-calorie, a phenomenon called "vanishing caloric density." The man who claimed to have invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos is finding himself in hot water this week after a new investigative report from the Los Angeles Times claims that he had no part in creating the popular snack. That might explain why, even if your mouth is burning and your stomach is churning, you can't help but reach for another handful of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Siewczynski recalls the same story for Sabrositas. The food wasn't your usual "pour gas station nacho cheese into a bag of hot Cheetos," but rather an upscale look at how they can be incorporated into more sophisticated takes on comfort food dishes. In his new memoir, Montaez writes that he tapped into the local network of women hosting Tupperware parties to get Flamin Hot Cheetos out to customers in Southern California as a way to bolster the struggling test market. The Times interviewed more than a dozen former Frito-Lay employees and consulted archival records before publishing the report over the weekend. Siewczynskis recollection of the Sabrositas marketing campaign aligns with what Montaez describes in his memoir though Montaez attaches his story to Flamin Hot products, not the Sabrositas launch. The original crunchy Cheetos, invented in 1948, are still being sold today, nearly 70 years later. Frito-Lay has been making nacho-cheese-flavored Doritos since the 1970s, and gas stations or movie theaters often have one of those cheese pumps to add gooey yellow goodness to chips. The author, who first started speaking out about his role in the invention of Flamin' Hot Cheetos in the late 2000s, shared a video on his Instagram page on Sunday after the Times published the story. Playing Richard's wife Judy in the movie is Annie Gonzalez. The story isnt really about Hot Cheetos. The truth is, buddy, this snack idea was conceived by him as a result of his brilliant mind. Then the online media, hungry for a feel-good story, took his claims viral. First, he talked about it in speeches at local business and philanthropy award ceremonies. The company continued, "That doesn't mean we don't celebrate Richard [] but the facts do not support the urban legend.". The years since have seen pop-up restaurants and fashion lines, and countless Instagram-ready Flamin Hot Cheetos menu items at restaurants across the country. There are several types of nachos, cream cheese, and other options. According to Frito-Lay, Richard Montanez did not invent hot Cheetos. The ingredients, thats the magic of the product, Carey said. Flamin Hots were created by a team of hotshot snack food professionals starting in 1989, in the corporate offices of Frito-Lays headquarters in Plano, Texas. Only now, just as his book is announced, are we suddenly hearing an alternate narrative about the development of this product, which seeks to diminish Richards contribution and to question the details of long-ago events," Zackheim said. When asked about the pitch meeting central to Montaezs account, Carey said that Enrico was not in attendance. 65 really protect you? I came up with the Flamin Hot name on my own, Greenfeld replied. The business school they attended was at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The . The nearly nine-minute video, which Lukaska shared with The Times, is a Day-Glo green-and-pink time capsule, with Frito-Lay execs in fashionably baggy suits touting the latest and greatest snack aimed at kids, Cheetos Paws. "And let them know that a Montaez mopped it.". When Enrico came in, he promoted Carey to oversee a new vending machine and warehouse division in early 1992, and then to division president of Frito-Lay West, based in the Bay Area, at the end of that year. As early as 2005, school administrators considered banning them in the classroom because of their distracting popularity with students; Pasadena schools eventually prohibited them in 2012. Furthermore, these snacks are said to have some significant nutritional benefits, as well as the ability to use chili powder. Its unclear whether the producers ever informed Longoria, whos set to direct the film. 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. However, the product may never have come into existence had it not been for former Frito-Lay janitor Richard Montaez. In another post, now deleted, he wrote that he worked on the Doritos Salsa Rio flavor in 1998 a product that first hit test markets in 1987, according to Advertising Age articles from that year. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times ; Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times). That's because the chemical makeup of Cheetos really does trick the brain into wanting more. starches derived from corn and rice are first used to generate maltodextrin. It's no surprise that many conferences and companies seek to haveMontaez as a speaker. But cheese is amazing and we must acknowledge its powers on other foods. Leading the Flamin' Hot cast is Jesse Garcia as Richard Montaez. Over the next few months, Greenfeld went on market tours of small stores in Chicago, Detroit and Houston to get a better feel for what consumers craved. The funny thing is, I heard maybe a year ago that some guy from California was taking credit for developing hot Cheetos, which is crazy, Lindsay said. Montaez has spent much of his time since retirement working the speaker circuit, according to his social media accounts, delivering keynotes at in-person and virtual events for organizations such as Prudential Financial, the Philadelphia Eagles, recruitment tech company Indeed, call center technology company Genesys, and at Pestworld 2019, the annual conference of the National Pest Management Assn. The test markets soon proved that Lindsays insight was right, and Greenfelds execution worked. When Montaez was enjoying some elotes, he decided that the combination of cheese and chili powder would also taste great on Cheetos. After the investigation and his retirement, Montaez has also repeatedly posted to his social media accounts photographs of what he claims are original design materials for Flamin Hot Cheetos. What makes Cheetos cheese? Oh, no big deal. Montaez invented the Flamin' Hot Cheeto after a broken machine on the Cheetos assembly line spit out a batch of plain Cheetos, without the cheese powder dust. Of course stories grow, and the longer we get away from the date the stories evolve. Cheetos were invented in 1948 by Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin, who cooked early test batches in the Frito Company's research and development kitchen in Dallas, Texas. Eva Longoria will direct Flamin' Hot, a movie about the creator of the Flamin' Hot Cheeto, Deadline reported on Monday. He had noticed that Cheetos didn't have any spicy flavors, so he seasoned the plain corn puffs he had gotten with spices and chili powder to make them hot and spicy. The Times spoke with 20 people who worked at the Frito-Lay divisions responsible for new product development 32 years ago, when Flamin Hot Cheetos were first extruded into existence. The section on Frito-Lay talks about the plant in Rancho Cucamonga, where manager Steve Smith had taken up Enricos initiative and gotten more front-line workers thinking about how to improve the business as a whole. Each cheesy bite is a vaguely lumpy log that occasionally branches off, and much like searching for shapes in clouds, imaginative snackers have found themselves looking for cool shapes in their Cheetos. "I want you to do this: Write down your history, because if you don't, somebody else will. Certain school districts in three states, California, Illinois, and New Mexico, have banned Flamin' Hot Cheetos, both because they aren't nutritious, and because they "may create a brain response similar to what is seen in individuals who are addicted to illicit substances.". Everything at the show, from the models' hair and makeup to their accessories and clothes, was inspired by the Flamin' Hot snack. new investigative report from the Los Angeles Times, This Flamin Hot Cheetos ice cream is weird but we cant look away, Hoda and Jenna try the new Cheetos popcorn. Enrico went on to lead PepsiCo as a whole by the end of the 90s, and the first media mention of his I Own the New Frito-Lay campaign came in a May 1992 feature in Ad Day. The snack food is now owned by PepsiCo. The producers of his biopic, despite being informed of problems by Frito-Lay in 2019, announced a cast for the movie in early May. Montaez, who claims to have invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos in the 1970s, has become a popular motivational speaker and is set to release his second memoir, "Flamin' Hot: The Incredible True Story . His second memoir, Flamin Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Mans Rise from Janitor to Top Executive, is out in June from an imprint of Penguin Random House. 7. Flamin Hot Cheetos were invented in the Frito-Lay factory by a janitor. Some of her past credits include Mr. Corman and Gentefied. I want you to do this: Write down your history, because if you dont, somebody else will. In his new memoir, Montaez clearly restates this claim: Enricos name appears 60 times in the text. He created his . The collection was curated by fashion influencers Luanna, Hungry Hipsters, Alexa Jade, J. Bolin, and costume designer Ami Goodheart closed out the show. Carey became president and CEO of Frito-Lay North America in 2006. Dont make the mistake Montaez made. Macarons. One of the earliest newspaper articles about the product corroborates that detail: A Frito-Lay spokesperson told the Dallas Morning News in March 1992 that our sales group in the northern United States asked for them., Fred Lindsay, a retired Frito-Lay salesman from the South Side of Chicago, feels that he can be more specific: Im the one that was responsible for getting us into Flamin Hot products.. As a result, he decided to drop out of high school, and soon afterentered the work force. Cheetos were invented in 1948 by Fritos founder Charles Elmer Doolin in Dallas, Texas. In 1990 Carey was working as vice president of national sales out of the Plano offices. Frito-Lay corroborated many of the details of this account, writing that as early as 1989, there were regional competitive spicy products on the market, including a spicy, bright-red potato chip from the Chicago snack company Jays. Lindsay for years worked the sales beat in Chicago and the Great Lakes region, where he witnessed spicy products from regional competitors just blow off the shelf at corner stores and gas stations. A single serving of Hot Cheetos with Nacho Cheese contains 280 calories. Not only was the inventor of Flamin' Hot Cheetos a janitor, but he was a high school dropout. Montaez took the Cheetos home and dusted them with chili powder, an idea Montaez credits to the grilled corn dressed with lime and chili powder sold by a local street vendor. Frito-Lays battle was quieter but just as brutal. Eva Longoria directed a movie about Flamin' Hot Cheetos. In an interview, Carey, 69, initially said that he first met Montaez after becoming division president for Frito-Lay West in December 1992, and that Montaez pitched him a set of products targeted at the Latino market. But don't think that means he doesn't believe in the importance of an education. Flamin Hot Cheetos are one of his most popular products, and his net worth is attributed to his success in the food industry. In April 2019, Frito-Lays legal team forwarded a letter that Greenfeld wrote outlining her version of events to Franklin, whose production company, Franklin Entertainment, is co-producing Montaezs biopic along with Searchlight Pictures. Richard developed a spicy version of Cheetos inspired by a street snack from Mexico. Montaez 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. Geri Lavrov/Getty Images However, Doolin didn't have the resources to take his snack food nation-wide just yet. Montaez had different dreams for himself though he wanted to drive a trash truck. With their spicy kick and neon-red flavor dust, Flamin Hot Cheetos have inspired viral rap videos, Instagram-worthy menu items and streetwear designs. In 2019 it was announced that the teen retailer was closing 7,000 stores and might be filing for bankruptcy protection. In Flamin Hot Cheetos, maltodextrin and capsaicin are the two most commonly used ingrediants. Eva Longoria is also set to direct a film based on his life with Searchlight Pictures this summer. Business degrees were practically required to get in the door at PepsiCo in those days, with rare exceptions made for people with B.A.s from Babson College, Enricos alma mater. The world has been eating it up. Think of the drama the second the idea popped intoRichard Montaez's head, the bold call to the company CEO, the nerve wracking first presentation, and joy of his success. Richard Montaez and his wife attend the 2014 Latinos De Hoy Awards presented by Hoy and the Los Angeles Times. But I'd. Montaez said there's no documentation proving he's the inventor and he believes that's because he was working at a lower level in the company at the time. Owens recalls that she assigned the project to a new employee: Greenfeld. 10. Greenfeld, the Flamin Hot team leader, didnt see the story of the scrappy janitor who invented Flamin Hot Cheetos until the summer of 2018, when she happened upon a blog post on the Esquire website. An earlier version of this article said Lynne Greenfeld and Miguel Lecuona attended business school at Northwestern. But long before Katy Perry dressed up as a Flamin' Hot for Halloween and Lord Bezos posted his grubby billionaire cheese fingers to Instagram, cows were the first ones feasting on what would later become the famous Cheeto. Well, for some Cheeto-heads, that wish came true. In telling after telling, Montaez says he felt empowered to invent Flamin Hot Cheetos after watching a motivational video from Enrico, the CEO of the company, that encouraged all Frito-Lay workers to act like owners and take charge of the business. He currently leads PepsiCos North American multicultural sales and community activation team. The man behind Flamin' Hot Cheetos didn't stop at just changing the world of snacks. There are entire guides showing hungry diners where they can get some Flamin' Hot Cheetos in their meal in Los Angeles, and for a while Taco Bell was serving up Flamin' Hot Cheetos Crunchwrap Sliders, proof that it's a more versatile ingredient than one might think. Later on in the night they . Well, Montaez said he's "not concerned" about it being spoiled by Frito-Lay's allegations. Now, it's crunch time. "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." Viewers may recognize Garcia from roles like Ambulance, Snowfall, Narcos: Mexico, From Dusk Til Dawn: The Series and Sons of Anarchy. Flamin Hot Cheetos, a Frito-Lay snack brand, was first introduced in 1991. After spraying the apples with olive oil spray, place them in an air fryer and set it to 400 degrees for 6 minutes to crisp them up. But the people who had worked on the original Flamin Hot line werent watching viral videos or reading food blogs targeted at young audiences. Editor's Note: Richard Montaez's claim that he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos was disputed in a 2021 report by the LA Times, in which Frito-Lay said, "We value Richard's many contributions to. The only difference in what I did, is I made the product, instead of just writing the idea on a piece of paper and sending it. banquet in 2019, is set to direct a biopic based on the life of Richard Montaez. He began working as a janitor at Frito-Lays Rancho Cucamonga plant. Season with salt. The janitor rose through the ranks after pitching the idea to executives, and Flamin Cheetos were born. Thank you for your support. They may even say you never existed, Montaez says to the camera. Montaez, the son of Mexican immigrants, suddenly found inspiration. The profusion of warnings stemming from Californias landmark consumer safety law has left shoppers overwarned, underinformed and potentially unprotected, a Times investigation has found. How did they come to be, and why are they so popular? After testing recipes and outlining a marketing strategy, Montaez burst forth with a kernel of an idea: Flamin Hot Popcorn, which will soon make its debut.. Made with real cheese . The bag is green, not the orange bag as I remember. An internal promotional video for the Cheetos brand from the first quarter of 1991 serves as further proof that Flamin Hots were already out in the world. "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. Carey, his corporate mentor, retired that same month. We did a strategic partnership with Tupperware, where they would take the product to their parties, he added, recalling a mortifying presentation that he made as a 22-year-old ad man to a room of hundreds of Tupperware ladies, who ribbed him onstage for being so young and handsome. The exact origin of nacho cheese is unknown, but it is thought to have been created by Ignacio Nacho Anaya, a Mexican-American chef who is credited with inventing the dish in the early 1950s. While it is rare that eating Flamin' Hot Cheetos could, on its own, cause a tear in the stomach, some doctors confirmed that if someone already has digestive issues, eating spicy foods of any kind can exacerbate them. Flamin Hot Cheetos became a cultural phenomenon in the late 2000s. Dredge each cheese stick into the egg mixture, followed by flour, another egg wash (so it's a double coat), and the . He wanted to change the companys product focus by coming up with a Mexican street food line. In an August 2019 interview with Fast Company about Montaezs biopic, Frito-Lay Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Saenz said that the company helped the films producers piece together the historical information that exists on Flamin Hot Cheetos. Growing up,Richard Montaez found it difficult to understand his teachers at school. Flamin Hots became a runaway hit, and Montaez rose through the ranks and became an icon. You see the warnings everywhere. As for that film that's being made about his life? The way Frito-Lay would tell it, one of their executives, a man named Arch West, went somewhere to the wrong side of the tracks in the 1960s and went to a Mexican restaurant to get this snack, which was basically tortilla chips and cheese, like the song says. When asked how that timeline fits with the 1990 Flamin Hot trademark and test market, Carey insisted that Montaez is the creator of Flamin Hot Cheetos. Richard Montaez is widely known as the inventor of Flamin' Hot Cheetos, but a new report claims that he wasn't the brains behind the product. Saenz then substantially repeated the statement that the company had sent to Lynne some months earlier: At Frito-Lay, and PepsiCo, a product or flavor extension is the work of a number of people across functions as diverse as R&D, sales and marketing, all of whom are proud of the products they help create.. The pastime is so popular that Cheetos actually created an onlineCheetos Museum, and snackers from around the globe were invited to submit their wild Cheetos shapes. Jasmine Lim. Hours after initial publication of this story, Montaez posted a video to his Instagram account, addressed to all you young leaders., I dont care what room youre in, theres always somebody in the room thats going to try to steal your destiny. "Make sure that floor shines," Montaez describes his grandfather telling him. TODAY Food reached out to Montaez's publisher to see if these new claims will affect the release of his latest book "Flamin' Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Rise from Janitor to Top Executive," and Adrian Zackheim, president and publisher of Portfolio Books, said that the publishing house is excited to release the book as scheduled. Mac and cheese crusted "doughnuts". Bags of Flamin Hot Cheetos at Touchdown Food Mart in Chicago. The filmmakers behind Montaezs biopic were informed of potential problems with his story two years ago. Hot Cheetos are one hell of a drug.". They may have not invented the ingredient, but they invented the energy that goes behind this thing and the positioning, and then it becomes successful, he said. Al Carey, former president and CEO of Frito-Lay North America. In an interview with Variety, Montaez said he has never heard of Greenfield and said he stands by his claims that he invented the popular snack in his own kitchen and garage. Further email correspondence shows that the company launched an investigation into the question of Flamin Hots origin after Greenfelds initial email. Of course, that wasn't meant to be, but the janitor job he ended up with took him farther than any trash truck could have and all without a high school diploma. However, there was some speculation as to whether or not eating Flamin' Hot Cheetos could actually send someone to the hospital (and some conspiracy theorizing that the whole thing was one big marketing campaign). "We are proud to stand with our author. Lay & Co. had first merged, but Anheuser-Busch had come out swinging with its national Eagle Snacks line, and Frito-Lay was losing ground. He claimed he and his wife inspired the seasoning that led to the chip we. It was that determination that lead him to create the first bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos, a new addition to the Cheetos family that's now one of the most popular snacks at Frito-Lay. Frito-Lay wrote that a product or flavor extension is the work of a number of people across functions as diverse as R&D, sales and marketing, all of whom are proud of the products they help create..