Based on a book of the very same name, Flamin’ Hot tells the story of Richard Montañez, a janitor for Frito-Lay who claims to have pioneered the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto, one of the most popular snack foods in the world today. Unfortunately, not everyone is convinced, and just one of those doubters happens to be Frito-Lay themselves.
For years now, Richard Montañez has sold his rags-to-riches story to just about everyone who’ll pay his fee for an appearance and motivational seminar. Yes… Montañez claims to have been the one to have solely pitched the idea of a version of an already popular snack food that turns up the heat. Following the announcement of his book, an expose from the LA Times sought to topple the declarations made by Montañez.
Back in 2021, Montañez released his second book titled ‘Flamin’ Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man’s Rise from Janitor to Top Executive’—a book that detailed Montañez rising through the ranks of the white-dominated company, going from the bottom of the food chain, all the way to the top, with the invention of a singular product that would come to take the world by storm.
You Sit On A Throne Of Chester’s Fries
Here’s the issue… apparently it’s not true— none of it— not a word. That is, of course, according to Frito-Lay, the company who… made the Cheeto. More than a dozen employees from Frito-Lay and the archival record from the company is against him. In fact, Montañez was reportedly not involved with the product at all, according to the popular snack food brand company, calling the story an “urban legend”.
According to Frito-Lay, the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto was not invented at the Rancho Cucamonga factory, and instead, found its home in Plano, Texas, where a team of Frito-Lay employees created the spicy reinvention of a classic. Frito-Lay credits the brand itself to Lynne Greenfeld, reportedly coming up with the name of the product and ushering the world into a Flamin’ Hot era (Lynne Greenfeld has nothing to do with global warming, probably). Greenfeld was reportedly quite upset to hear that somebody else was taking credit for her work, saying that she was “disappointed” and curious as to why someone would start making these claims over two decades later.
Resolved?
Here is where the heat gets turned up even more— Searchlight Pictures and director Eva Longoria were reportedly informed of the fabricated origins of both Montañez and the spicy snack all the way back in 2019, but did not act on it, and continued development and eventually production on the film.
Just a week after the hit piece was put out by the LA Times, PepsiCo jumped into action and actually issued an apology of sorts to Richard Montañez. The company updated its stance on the situation, attributing the launch and success of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to Montañez, but did not make an effort to give him credit for the invention of the product.
Flamin’ Hot is streaming now, exclusively on Hulu. The film brings to life the story (that may or may not be true) of Richard Montañez, the fabled creator of the spicy Cheetos variant that has been rooted in our culture. The film is also the feature film directorial debut of actress turned director, Eva Longoria.
Eva Longoria’s feature debut film Flamin’ Hot releases exclusively on Hulu on June 9. You can read our full review of the film here. Check out the trailer below.
