‘Flamin’ Hot’ follows Frito-Lay employee Richard Montañez, whose claims about inventing Flamin’ Hot Cheetos have generated the wrong kind of heat.
, a phrase that reflects the rags-to-riches fairy tale he’s spun as the self-proclaimed inventor of the titular billion-dollar spicy snack.
Montañez is a former janitor at Frito-Lay who climbed the corporate ranks, moving from cleaning machinery at the Frito-Lay plant in Rancho Cucamonga, California, to eventually become a vice president at Frito-Lay’s parent company, PepsiCo. For years he’s been selling the story of his rise at corporations and prestigious universities, for appearance fees of $10,000 to $50,000 per speaking engagement.
According to Montañez’s original lore , Montañez was raised in Southern California. He struggled to learn English and support his family before landing a job at Frito-Lay’s Rancho Cucamonga plant in 1976, he said in . More than a decade into his tenure at Frito-Lay, Montañez said, Pepsi’s newly instated CEO, Roger Enrico , inspired him to “act like an owner.” Soon, Montañez noticed similarities in shape between elote and Cheetos. Inspiration struck. Montañez then brought unseasoned chips home for experimentation.
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