Is ‘Flamin’ Hot’ a true story? Well… let us explain.

Richard Montañez almost certainly did not invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

That revelation, which came to light as part of a 2021 Los Angeles Times investigationIt came at a rather inopportune time, considering that a biopic based on Montañez’s inspiring 2013 memoir, “A Kid, a Burrito, and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive,” in which he claims to have invented the spicy snack, was already out. Developing. .

But the Times article wasn’t a death sentence for the movie, in fact, far from it.

“We never set out to tell the story of the Cheeto”, Eva Longoria, who makes her feature film directorial debut with “Flamin’ Hot”, told the Los Angeles Times in March, shortly before the film’s premiere at South by Southwest. “We are telling the story of Richard Montañez and we are telling the truth about him.”

So, the filmmakers went ahead and “flamin’ hotBilling itself as a “true story,” it will begin streaming on Disney+ and Hulu on Friday. The film follows Montañez (Jesse Garcia) through his early days as a janitor at a Frito-Lay plant in California, where he finally makes a pivotal phone call to Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub), the CEO of the parent company. from Frito-Lay. PepsiCo, to present an idea for a tasty corn puff pastry. That’s on his way to becoming a multicultural marketing executive at PepsiCo.

Here’s a guide to how Cheeto’s racy story played out, which parts of it are actually true (there are some!) and what the real Montañez has said about the controversy.

Who is Richard Montanez?

Montañez began his career with Frito-Lay in 1976, when he was hired as a janitor at the company’s Rancho Cucamonga, California, plant. He rose through the ranks and eventually became a marketing executive.

For about 15 years, he has claimed that he came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in the early 1990s after noting that Frito-Lay did not have any products aimed at Latinos.

Did He invented the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos?

The Los Angeles Times investigation concluded no, based on interviews with more than a dozen former Frito-Lay employees, company records and some glaring inconsistencies — no, impossibilities — in its story.

For one thing, Montañez, now 60, often tells the story of cold calling PepsiCo’s CEO to pitch his idea after watching a motivational video Enrico had recorded as part of a campaign encouraging Frito-Lay employees to “take action”. as owners.”

There was just one problem, The Times discovered: Enrico didn’t take over the company until early 1991, nearly six months after Flamin’ Hot products had already been available in a test market.

So that’s a no, right?

Well, Montañez invented something at Frito-Lay; they just weren’t Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. According to a 1993 US news and world report article, Montañez launched Flamin’ Hot Popcorn, which debuted in March 1994 as an extension of the Flamin’ Hot line.

Roberto Siewczynski, who in 1994 worked as an outside consultant in the test market for a new product line aimed at Latinos in Los Angeles, Sabrositas, also told The Times that Montañez was heavily involved in its development.

What did Frito-Lay say?

After a former employee, Lynne Greenfeld, contacted the company in 2018 to dispute Montañez’s claim, Frito-Lay conducted an internal investigation, which found no evidence that Montañez played a role in Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. However, the company noted, his part of the story about his promotion from janitor to chief marketing officer was accurate.

A PepsiCo spokesperson paid tribute to Montañez’s contributions in a second statement — which did not dispute any of the facts of The Times’ investigation — saying that “his insights and ideas on how to better serve Hispanic consumers were invaluable and directly resulted in the success of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos”.

Who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos?

The company told the Los Angeles Times that its records indicated the snack was developed by a group of scientists and marketing executives beginning in 1989 at Frito-Lay’s headquarters in Plano, Texas. Greenfeld, then a junior employee, was given the task of developing the brand and, Frito-Lay said, came up with the name Flamin’ Hot.

What did Montañez say?

He sticks to his side of the story.

One of his arguments is that because he had such a low-level job, documentation of his efforts was lacking. As for the inconsistencies in the timeline, he he told Variety in 2021 that he was unaware of what might have been going on in other parts of the company.

“I’m not even going to try to contest that lady, because I don’t know,” he told Variety, speaking of Greenfeld. “All I can tell you is what I did.”

Does the film acknowledge the controversy?

No. An epilogue characterizes the film as a “true story,” not mentioning the Los Angeles Times investigation or Frito-Lay’s warnings to filmmakers in 2019 that it could not verify Montañez’s involvement in Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

The film mentions that a group of Frito-Lay executives were simultaneously working on a spicy chip at a plant in the Midwest, although it does not follow this plot.

What else does the movie do right or wrong?

Was Montañez dealing drugs before joining Frito-Lay?

Yes. In his 2013 memoir, he recounts his life as a gang member in East Los Angeles as a young man.

Did Montañez lie on his Frito-Lay application about having a high school diploma?

A voiceover in the film describes him as uneducated, and a tense scene shows him distraught over the app. It’s unclear if Montanez, who dropped out of high school sometime before his sophomore year, forged a badge he didn’t have or simply persuaded Frito-Lay to hire him without one.

Was Clarence Baker, the plant engineer Montañez befriends in the film, based on a real person?

Yes, according to a spokeswoman for Searchlight Pictures, the film’s distributor. The character played by Dennis Haysbert was inspired by an employee at the plant where Montañez worked. The engineer died a few years ago and his name was changed for the movie.

Did Frito-Lay resist promoting Montañez?

While the company’s opposition to his promotion is central to the plot of “Flamin’ Hot,” in real life, Montañez was promoted to machinist operator in his first year, according to Frito-Lay records.

Was Frito-Lay going to pull Flamin’ Hot Cheetos off shelves ahead of a popular marketing campaign spearheaded by Montañez?

No. In Montañez’s most recent memoir, “Flamin’ Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man’s Rise From Janitor to Top Executive,” he recounts recruiting local women to host Tupperware parties to help spark interest in Flamin. ‘ Hot Cheetos, which, he writes, initially struggled to gain traction in a Southern California test market. According to what Siewczynski, the consultant, told the Los Angeles Times, that account is accurate, if it is about Montañez’s involvement with Sabrositas, not Cheetos.