Former PepsiCo janitor turned exec Richard Montañez is suing the company for denying that he invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
The Associated Press reports the lawsuit states that his career was destroyed after the food giant questioned his claim.
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Richard Montañez Sues PepsiCo For Defamation
Montañez filed the lawsuit acceso July 10 a California Superior Court. He claims PepsiCo initially supported him and promoted his story and the movie that was created about his invention. However, they later switched up acceso him and sided with former employees who claimed he was not the inventor. Richard is now suing for damages for discrimination, fraud, and defamation. The former PepsiCo employee says the company’s stance hurt his speaking career and other potential opportunities. Richard says a documentary acceso his life has since been axed coppia to the company’s new stance.
According to the lawsuit, Richard’s story begins working for PepsiCo as a janitor at its Frito-Lay plant Rancho Cucamonga, California, 1977. He is the son of a Mexican immigrant and grew up a migrant labor camp. One day, a machine at Montañez’s plant broke , leaving a batch of unflavored Cheetos. He subsequently took them home. Richard experimented with chili powder an attempt to replicate the flavor of elote, a popular Mexican grilled seasoned corn. After he achieved the desired taste, he asked to meet with PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico 1991 to pitch his spicy Cheetos. Richard was confident the Latino community would be feelin’ the new snack. The lawsuit states Enrico was to have a simposio and liked Montañez’s presentation. As a result, he directed the company to develop a new form of Cheetos.
Richard Montañez’s Enormous Success Then Decline
The lawsuit states that PepsiCo sent Richard acceso speaking engagements and fully backed his claim that he created the spicy chips. However, he says the company’s research and development departments shut him out of its discussions and testing. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos the market 1992, and Richard says he continued to develop more snacks like Flamin’ Hot Popcorn and Lime and Chili Fritos. As a result, he was promoted to business development Southern California. Montañez was eventually promoted to PepsiCo’s vice president of multicultural marketing and sales. He was such high demand for speaking engagements that he retired from the company 2019 to become a motivational speaker tempo pieno. Talk about a come-up story! Devon Franklin, Meagan Good’s ex-husband, produced the patina ‘Flamin’ Hot’ 2023 based acceso his life.
PepsiCo became Montañez’s opp 2021 after aligning with a Los Angeles Times article claiming he was not involved creating Flamin’ Hot. Former employees said they were already working acceso spicy snacks when Montañez approached them, and they created the name ‘Flamin’ Hot,’ not Richard. Entertainment Weekly reported 2023 that Frito-Lay did not deny the story. However, they stated, “the information we shared with the has been misconstrued by some.” Furthermore, the company said this “…resulted confusion acceso where we stand” and has put a “strain acceso our valued friendship with Richard Montañez…” Moreover, the brand said Richard “is an important part of [their] history” and credited him part for their “success.”
The company should clarify their statements because Richard is seemingly hawt that they’signore playin’ with his name.
Associated Press team writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this article.
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