As such, the West Division may not have been aware of the Metroline products/test." Frito-Lay seemed to be speculating. But it told us it was possible the Midwest product could have been happening at the same time as the Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., product: "At the time of the Rancho Cucamonga meeting, was divided into divisions, with each division operating independently with its own executive team. Sure."įrito-Lay told us about the existence of the Midwest release of Flamin' Hot products. It told us, "We do not credit the product creation to him and him alone." When we asked Frito-Lay to clarify whether that meant Montañez was not involved at all, it said, "He was a part of it. We asked Frito-Lay directly, multiple times, whether Montañez was involved in the invention of Hot Cheetos. It's now clear Flamin' Hot Cheetos never used their recipe.Īs we say in the original episode, the reporting is based on the recollection of people at Frito-Lay roughly 30 years ago, as well as what the company told us, which it said was based, in part, on an earlier internal investigation.īefore we published the episode, we corresponded with Frito-Lay over a dozen times by email, phone and text. In our episode, we ask whether Montañez and his wife were ever compensated for their recipe. It came out after Flamin' Hot products were already in stores elsewhere in the country, and Carey now says the California product used seasoning from the Midwest products. Carey maintains Montañez pitched him an idea for a spicy Cheeto that he approved and rolled out in California. But she and other former employees say Montañez did pitch flavors and product ideas. We spoke to Lynne Greenfeld, who led the team that created the Midwest products. By that time, products had already been sold in the Midwest under the trademark Flamin' Hot. According to Patti Rueff, the person who set up that meeting, and Al Carey, a former executive who was in the meeting, it could not have happened before 1992. Montañez told us he pitched an idea for hot Cheetos in a meeting in 1990. įirst, the timeline laid out in our episode is incorrect.
PepsiCo, parent company of Frito-Lay, has since released a statement saying it "can't draw a clear link between" the California and Midwest efforts. However, our reporting shows he was involved in pitching a similar product in California. He wasn't involved in developing that product. This is inaccurate.īottom line: Hot Cheetos were on the market in the Midwest before Montañez ever pitched an idea for hot Cheetos. He claimed he and his wife inspired the seasoning that led to the chip we find on store shelves to this day. This episode centers on a claim that Richard Montañez invented a product that came to be known as Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesĮditor's note: We want to tell you more about this episode that we've learned since we first released it:
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