Who invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos?

YOU may be wondering who invented the much-loved crunchy, cheesy treats.

Here's the bizarre story of how the popular spicy snack ended up on our shelves.

Who invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos?

For decades, Richard Montañez has claimed to have invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos while working as a janitor at a Frito-Lay factory in California in the late 1980s.

There has been long-time controversy surrounding the Flamin' Hot Cheeto origin story and who actually invented the bright-red snack that turned into a billion-dollar brand.

👉 For more insights, check out this resource.

According to Frito-Lay, Montañez began taking credit for the invention of the hot chip in the late 2000s which went on to spark a company-wide investigation in 2018.

The Los Angeles Times reported a deep-dive investigation based on the company's findings and quizzed Montañez's claimed story.

👉 Discover more in this in-depth guide.

The report alleged that many of the details Montañz gave just weren't true.

And although it has never been officially confirmed who actually invented the delicious treat, Montañez remains insistent that the popular snack came to be thanks to his ingenuity.

Who is Richard Montañez?

Montañez is a former janitor at Frito-Lay who climbed the corporate ladder, evolving from cleaning machinery at the Frito-Lay plant in Rancho Cucamonga, California, to eventually becoming a vice president at Frito-Lay’s parent company, PepsiCo.

For years the author and savvy businessman has been publicly speaking on his rise to success at corporations and prestigious universities, for appearance fees of $10,000 to $50,000 per event. 

Montañez was born to a Mexican-American family in Ontario, California, and was one of ten siblings raised in a migrant labor camp outside of Los Angeles.

He dropped out of school and worked as a laborer after struggling to learn English, he said in a 2021 interview.

He was then hired at the age of 18 as a janitor for Frito-Lay, at its Rancho Cucamonga factory, in 1976.

According to records at Frito-Lay, Montañez was promoted to a machinist operator position by 1977.

More than a decade into his career at Frito-Lay, Montañez said, Pepsi’s newly instated CEO, Roger Enrico, inspired him to “act like an owner.”

Montañez was then named vice president of multicultural sales & community promotions for PepsiCo.

He is now a motivational speaker and instructor in leadership, largely due to his famous Flamin' Hot Cheetos claim.

Montañez retired from PepsiCo in March 2019 during the internal investigation into his claim.

Montañez is the author of two books based on his life experiences: A Boy, a Burrito, and a Cookie, and Flamin' Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Rise from Janitor to Top Executive.

He is also the subject of a biopic, Flamin' Hot, directed by Eva Longoria.

When were Cheetos first made?

Montañez claimed he cold-called Roger Enrico to pitch him Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in 1991.

According to his story, when a Cheetos machine broke down, Montañez took a batch of unflavored snacks home to his wife, Judy.

He then claims to have seasoned them with spices usually seen on Mexican street corn.

He claims he pitched this idea to Enrico over the phone and was invited to deliver an in-person presentation, which he prepared for by researching marketing at the public library.

According to Montañez, he presented the product as appealing to the growing Latino market, and provided samples in plastic bags that he had hand-decorated and sealed.

It was reportedly soft-launched six months later to a test market in Los Angeles, and approved for national release in 1992.