A BATTLE HAS STARTED OVER WHO REALLY INVENTED FLAMIN' HOT CHEETOS

A former PepsiCo executive—who worked his way up from janitor to vice president of multicultural marketing and sales thanks to his role in the original Flamin' Hot Cheetos launch—is now suing Frito-Lay over the flavor, USA Today reports.

Richard Montañez filed a lawsuit against his formal employer, who he says made "false statements" and launched a "smear campaign" against him, over the company's claims he did not, in fact, invent Cheetos' beloved Flamin' Hot flavor. The company previously reported that their records don't show Montañez "was involved in any capacity in the Flamin' Hot test market," according to a Los Angeles Times investigation. "That doesn't mean we don't celebrate Richard but the facts do not support the urban legend," the company said.

The complaint argues that Montañez has been the victim of fraud, racial discrimination, defamation, and violations of California's unfair competition law.

"I created Flamin’ Hot Cheetos not only as a product but as a movement and as a loyal executive for PepsiCo," Montañez said in a news release. "PepsiCo believed in me as a leader because they knew people would follow me, and they did because they knew my soul is my community. We built this into a $2 billion industry, and I cannot let them take away my legacy or destroy my reputation. I will not let them silence me.”

According to the New York Post, the former exec-turned-motivational speaker was inspired by unflavored Cheetos he found (and later experimented on) at the factory. He later pitched the concept to then-CEO Roger Enrico and claims to have been a part of its booming success. However, there are two sides to every story. The LA Times report argues that it was actually a Plano, Texas-based team that dreamt up the flavor in 1989. They went as far to say the flavor was inspired by the corner stores in Chicago and Detroit. Lynne Greenfeld, who played an integral role in the snack's development, even came up with the name while salesman Fred Lindsay was responsible for pushing Frito-Lay into making Flamin' Hot happen.

Delish reached out to Frito-Lay for comment on the lawsuit but did not hear back in time for publication.

2024-07-26T19:00:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd