If you thought the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos saga was already over, you’d be mistaken. Friday, Frito-Lay released another statement walking back most of the comments it issued last week. Despite calling Richard Montañez’s invention story an “urban legend” in their initial statement, the company has now thrust its full support behind the former Frito-Lay executive.
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“The information we shared with the media has been misconstrued by some, which resulted in confusion around where we stand, a range of emotions among our employees and consumers and a strain on our valued friendship with Richard Montanez and the Latino community,” the company now says.
PepsiCo — the parent company behind Frito-Lay and dozens of other snack brands — goes on to say it attributes “the launch and success of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to several people who worked at PepsiCo, including Richard Montañez.”
Last Sunday, the Los Angeles Times ran a report challenging many of Montañez’s claims as to his self-proclaimed status as the inventor of the fiery treat. As the story goes, Montañez was a janitor at a Frito-Lay plant and developed a spicy coating for Cheetos. He then ran that up the food chain at the snack-maker and eventually, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos were born. According to the Times piece, Frito-Lay initially said the facts available “do not support the urban legend.”
The story has become so inspirational to some, there’s even a biopic being developed by Eva Longoria. Longoria’s team declined to provide ComicBook.com a comment, but Flamin’ Hot screenwriter Lewis Colick recently defended the project.
“I think enough of the story is true,” the writer previously told Variety. “The heart and soul and spirit of the story is true. He is a guy who should remain the face of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”
Colick also confirmed Frito-Lay helped in the initial development of the movie, even giving the movie’s crew a tour of the California-based plant where Montañez first worked.
PepsiCo’s latest statement can be seen in full below.
A great deal has been recently discussed about the origin of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The information we shared with the media has been misconstrued by some, which resulted in confusion around where we stand, a range of emotions among our employees and consumers and a strain on our valued friendship with Richard Montanez 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 Montanez.
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.
We also know there was a separate division team developing a spicy product offering for Cheetos and other snack brands that were tested in market and found their way into permanent products on store shelves, including Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Different work streams tackling the same product without interacting occasionally occurred in the past when divisions operated independently and were not the best at communicating. However, just because we can’t draw a clear link between them, doesn’t mean we don’t embrace all of their contributions and ingenuity, including Richard’s.
Richard is an important part of PepsiCo’s history and the success of the company. He is an inspiration and his story cannot be belittled. We regret the confusion that has come from the recent speculation, but most importantly want Richard to know he is valued and cared for among PepsiCo’s employees and we only wish him happiness and success.
Cover photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Frito-Lay North America
