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Buck_Thorn t1_jad5doa wrote

No paywall here: https://archive.ph/Jk92M

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Monta%C3%B1ez

> According to his account, when a Cheetos machine broke down, Montañez took home a batch of unflavored snacks and seasoned them with spices reminiscent of Mexican street corn.[4][3] He pitched this idea to then-CEO Roger Enrico over the phone and was invited to deliver an in-person presentation, which he prepared for by researching marketing at the public library.[4][3] 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 soft-launched six months later to a test market in Los Angeles, and approved for national release in 1992.[5] Newsweek reported that the flavor, since expanded to a full product line, "rejuvenated the brand" and garnered billions in revenue.[4]

> In 2021, a Los Angeles Times article disputed Montañez's claim, reporting that based on an internal investigation at Frito-Lay, he was not involved in creating this product line. A spokesperson for Frito-Lay stated, "we value Richard's many contributions to our company, especially his insights into Hispanic consumers, but we do not credit the creation of Flamin' Hot Cheetos or any Flamin' Hot products to him." According to the article, however, Montañez did in fact rise from a floor-level position to a marketing executive at Frito-Lay, and he was involved in pitching new products.[1]

Another source: Frito-Lay disputes former janitor's claim he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos

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PacifistWarlord t1_jadrdi9 wrote

Or he did and frito lay is smart enough not to give him credit. They don’t have any incentive to give him the credit for making it

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HPmoni t1_jadw0vh wrote

He became an executive at the company. There were Mexican snacks that predate them.

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misogichan t1_jae4ovl wrote

I don't really see the incentive for them to lie. They did the internal investigation because Lynne Greenfield, who was part of the team who created flaming hot cheetos, complained about the lies used to sell a motivational speaking career.

Also, Montañez has never tried to claim damages in court over them taking idea. Instead he was turning it into a motivational speaking career and two books.

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Reefer-eyed_Beans t1_jae458s wrote

How is that "smart"..? What incentive do they have to not give him credit? He was indisputably their employee and it's been their product for over 30yrs now.

Some people obviously had to have made it... "Evil Faceless Chip Co." doesn't just churn out shit by magic and burn all traces of human involvement.

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GI_X_JACK t1_jaewypj wrote

Yeah, its a much better story then some faceless exec with a newly minted MBA.

Fits a lot of checkmarks that make good PR.

Minority

Rags to Riches

Linkedin tier hustle and win story

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DaveOJ12 t1_jadwu2m wrote

I find it easier to believe that the guy is lying.

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amadeus2490 t1_jaei4o3 wrote

"Here's a detailed story of how I accomplished this."

Counter-point: "Nuh-uh."

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esgrove2 t1_jaf00sf wrote

Yeah. Like the guy that invented Doritos Locos Tacos for Taco Bell. They gave him full credit. No money, but full credit. He died of brain cancer and Taco Bell donated only $1,000 to his cancer fund.

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ItsCowboyHeyHey t1_jaeko0w wrote

Exactly. “We do not credit him” does not mean he didn’t invent them.

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SpareAccountNo1 t1_jaf06u8 wrote

Read the article--he didn't invent them. His story doesn't add up.

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Ineedtwocats t1_jadx9tj wrote

a giant faceless megacorp would never lie, right?!

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Hambredd t1_jae3ni3 wrote

Except the company has actual proof.

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xiaxian1 t1_jadmh16 wrote

Such a weird story. Lots of corporate proof of the hot Cheetos being produced and marketed before the janitor guy says he created them. But he still swears he made them.

He made lots of money (and a movie!) off of this rags to riches story but it’s fake. And Frito didn’t care to correct him?

I feel bad for the original team who did the hard work and he’s enjoying the benefits.

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katievspredator t1_jadp40p wrote

It's weird to me because it's almost the story of how Doritos were invented (a guy working at Frontierland in Disneyland made them from day old tortillas)

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DaveOJ12 t1_jadzlyz wrote

Is that one true?

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katievspredator t1_jaenka3 wrote

Apparently. It's similar to how the Egg McMuffin was invented. A Tex Mex restaurant in Frontierland added them to the menu after someone suggested they fry and season the leftover tortillas instead of throwing them out. Fritos didn't find out about them until a few years later, and then they started mass producing them when they realized how popular they were

At least that's the story, I'm not a Frito Lay historian

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DaveOJ12 t1_jaepzms wrote

Thanks.

Time to find out how the Egg McMuffin was invented.

(How deep does this rabbit hole go?)

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ChargedMedal t1_jaew0aa wrote

It's similar to how Doritos were invented. A breakfast restaurant in Frontierland added them to the menu after someone suggested they slice and use as buns the leftover english muffins instead of throwing them out. McDonald's didn't find out about them until a few years later, and then they started mass producing them when they realized how popular they were

At least that's the story, I'm not a McDonald's historian.

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Lou_Mannati t1_jaew586 wrote

Some guy threw ham , egg and cheese on a muffin. Boom. Invented.

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Reefer-eyed_Beans t1_jae5abz wrote

What's weird about that? Did that turn out to be bs too? ...What's the connection? Are you saying he heard about that and plagiarized the story?

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katievspredator t1_jaen3nw wrote

They're making a movie about this guy like it's an original story, but the Doritos thing happened in the 60s and is a well known true story. Has there been an inspirational movie made about the discovery of Doritos?

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misogichan t1_jae594y wrote

Guess we know why Montañez, the former janitor, made it all the way to being a marketing executive. And why others like Lynne Greenfield, who was part or the team that did create it, didn't rise as high up the corporate ladder.

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gang_aft_agley t1_jaeo2qj wrote

If you were Frito-Lay, and one of your employees wrote a book that became popular about how he invented a product while he was a janitor, and because of the book, your sales of that product increased, maybe you wouldn’t care to correct the story?

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VegetaIsSuperior t1_jad4xor wrote

Damn and I even heard this story on NPR too

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ryaaan89 t1_jae143v wrote

I heard this story FROM THIS DUDE at an event he was speaking at, wtf.

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AnthillOmbudsman t1_jadryy9 wrote

NPR: "Well it's in Newsweek, that's a magazine that's in every doctor's office waiting room in America, so it must be true."

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NickSwardsonIsFat t1_jae6pa6 wrote

NPR suffers from the same biases that any news organization does. In this case, the journos there love the sound of a rags to riches brown immigrant story.

If the story was about a gun-toting Trumptard saying he invented flamin hots, I bet they would have debunked it in about 30 seconds. Or they wouldn't even run the story and it would have gone on Fox news instead.

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bergercreek t1_jaeehr2 wrote

NPR is definitely biased, which is annoying. I'm a conservative who literally used to listen to them every single day for years until the 2016 election cycle when their minds exploded. I took them off my preset for a while and decided to try them again in, idk 2018 or 2019 and that lasted about a week - so much bias it was like listening to anti-Fox news (which I also can't stand).

I just want unbiased reporting of news without opinion, and I can't even get it from public broadcasting. It sucks.

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Jdillagent t1_jaeunjn wrote

Yup, unbiased reporting is boring. NPR still has its moments, and nowadays if you report on anything topical in a logical way, it will come across as a left talking point.

Libraries forced to remove books, the opinion that it shouldn't be done is sadly now seen as a left talking point. Of course it isnt. It's the majority opinion.

The problem is many pundits on the right refuse to make that statement because it can lock them from further appearances.

This continues down the topic list. From LGBTQ matters and police reform, to environmental issues. This makes it hard to book guests, and also makes it difficult to engage in honest discussion because no one wants to say something that loses them money, and I can tell you from experience, if it's journalism on TV or Radio, it's about money.

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bergercreek t1_jaf3it8 wrote

Lol at me getting downvotes for wanting unbiased news.

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TheFiniteThrowAway t1_jadc1oa wrote

The company could possibly be pulling a legal maneuver, by denying his credit. Usually, companies "own" anything developed by employees. I wouldn't put it past them to deny this, to save for potential lawsuit that could develop right?

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jcracken t1_jadt93a wrote

The food researcher who actually created it is known, they interviewed her for the LA Times story. It broke wide because they were going to make a movie based on the false version of the story.

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Mysticpoisen t1_jadyn40 wrote

Jeez, one of these days Netflix is going to knock on my door asking to make an 8 episode miniseries on the prodigious shits I take every Friday.

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TheFiniteThrowAway t1_jadtwag wrote

Gotcha. Ok hard to know who to believe in that case, but I suppose the one to take credit could be seeking glory over the person who really did it, totally plausible

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pgold05 t1_jadrmfd wrote

> A junior employee with a freshly minted MBA named Lynne Greenfeld got the assignment to develop the brand — she came up with the Flamin’ Hot name and shepherded the line into existence.

After reading this headline my very first thought is, I bet it was really a woman who invited it.

Not suprised.

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Khelthuzaad t1_jae6kd3 wrote

The guy that invented Monopoly stole the game from an anti-capitalist sect that used the game as a means to teach the children the power of greed.

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MpVpRb t1_jadzgjs wrote

Creative liar gets famous

I like creative, but despise liars

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poultry_pounder t1_jadw3sb wrote

Hmmmm now I have to go give my business law professor grief for misinforming me Edit: I forgot to add “grief”

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HPmoni t1_jadwdt8 wrote

This is a Romy and Michelle High School Reunion event

No one knows who invented it, so we go along with someone who says they invented it.

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Evorgleb t1_jae6syw wrote

So if he was not involved with the product then why did Frito Lay, the company he was still working for, allow him to publicly take credit?

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BlOoDy_PsYcHo666 t1_jaea5n8 wrote

If I had to guess, its a bygones be bygones scenario. The story makes the brand look good, and to my knowledge isn’t costing them anything. So as long as he doesn’t target them for money they’ll probably just let it slide as it was free good publicity.

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edward414 t1_jadcbx8 wrote

They are pushing ahead with the movie about this apocryphal story anyways, huh?

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drygnfyre t1_jaefhi3 wrote

They made an entire movie about Frank Abagnale even though it was known his book was 99% made up BS at the time.

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Nmilne23 t1_jaeugyj wrote

This is like the story of the guy in prison who claimed he gave his lawyer the submission for patents he himself thought up while in prison for the Doritos locos taco, with the seasoned shell, and gave them to his lawyer to submit to the patent clerk on his behalf, and he is alleging the lawyer took the recipe and stole them. It’s wild

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Sdog1981 t1_jaedoua wrote

He became an executive at the company, you would think they would have drummed up the story more if their janitor turned executive also invited a popular product. It sounds like a story he would tell at work that other people repeated.

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Icy-Priority1297 t1_jaeattp wrote

While not always cut and dried, intellectual property created within the workplace context is typically deemed to belong to the employer, not the employee, even though the employee is the creator or inventor of the work in question.

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flibbidygibbit t1_jaedq9i wrote

I watched a video about how flamin hot cheetos are engineered to be as addictive as possible.

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SockTaters t1_jaegeih wrote

No, I've seen Good Will Hunting and I'm pretty sure it's real

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BladesHaxorus t1_jaehk2d wrote

Apparently millennials weren't the first generation to eat hot chip and lie.

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j33205 t1_jaehjg5 wrote

No because they were engineered to be as addictive as possible.

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nopantsirl t1_jaf26wm wrote

Lies that people enjoy hearing and want to believe are everywhere. Wait until you hear about why the 1/3lbs burger failed.

−1

Landlubber77 t1_jad30hm wrote

🎶 Flaming Hot Cheetos, they're like regular Cheetos but they're flaming hot

Regular Cheetos are for pussies, Flaming Cheetos are not...

For Pussies, that is 🎶

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wclure t1_jadfgzd wrote

Is it true? Yes. Legally, no though. But also yes, and at the same same time not really. It’s a true fiction.

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DaveOJ12 t1_jadg3ad wrote

I don't understand.

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wclure t1_jadk6ly wrote

It definitely happened. But legally, it never happened. So it’s true, from a certain point of view.

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