Latest news with #RichardMontanez
Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Judge dismisses suit of ex-janitor who says he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos
Published May 30, 2025 • 4 minute read PepsiCo executive Richard Montanez accepts the Inspiration Award onstage at the 2014 Latinos De Hoy Awards presented by Hoy & Los Angeles Times at Los Angeles Times Chandler Auditorium on Oct. 11, 2014 in Los Angeles, Calif. Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen / Getty Images for Los Angeles Times For years, the purported origin story of Flamin' Hot Cheetos flourished through the internet and beyond as a spicy retelling of the American Dream, with self-proclaimed inventor of the snack Richard Montanez recounting how he came up with the idea while working as janitor for Frito-Lay. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account But a Los Angeles Times investigation in 2021 threw a wrench into the rags-to-riches tale, with Frito-Lay disputing Montanez's claim and telling the newspaper that 'the facts do not support the urban legend.' The origin story of the snack remains in dispute after a federal judge this week dismissed a lawsuit filed by Montanez against Frito-Lay and its parent company, PepsiCo. U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb ruled that Montanez's accusations of fraud and defamation were either largely deficient or lacking 'factual support,' but wrote that he would allow Montanez a chance to fix his lawsuit 'because he may be able to cure the deficiencies in his pleading by alleging additional facts.' Montanez will have until June 13 to file an amended complaint, according to the ruling. If he does not, the court will dismiss the lawsuit. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Attorneys for Montanez and PepsiCo did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning. The complaint accused PepsiCo and Frito-Lay of causing undue harm to Montanez's career as a public speaker and consultant. As the 'Godfather of Latino Marketing,' Montanez had been booking 35 engagements a year at $10,000 to $50,000 apiece, but he stopped receiving those invitations as a result of what he describes in the lawsuit as the companies' 'open racism and blatant lies.' According to the lawsuit, Montanez grew up in a Southern California migrant labor camp sharing an 800-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment with his parents and 10 siblings. He got a job in the mid-1970s as a janitor at Frito-Lay's plant in Rancho Cucamonga, just east of Los Angeles, where, more than a decade later, he was inspired by a combination of a company program paying workers $1 for helpful ideas and CEO Roger Enrico encouraging all his employees to 'act like owners,' his suit states. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He and his wife started experimenting in their kitchen to create new snack flavours, particularly those that he believed he would appeal to Latinos like him, eventually coming up with the idea of applying the flavours of the elote, or grilled Mexican street corn covered in cheese, butter, lime and chili, to the Cheeto, Montanez wrote in his memoir. He bought his first-ever tie for $3 to present the idea to Enrico, and, as the story goes, the rest was history. Flamin' Hot Cheetos went on to become a sensation, transcending Cheetos to inspire other chili-flavoured snacks and becoming a cultural touchstone, inspiring rap songs, memes, clothing and even Katy Perry's Halloween costume in 2014. Fueled by this success, Montanez rose through the ranks to become PepsiCo's vice president of multicultural marketing and sales, retiring in 2019. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Montanez's account of the origin story of Flamin' Hot Cheetos has been told in two best-selling memoirs and a movie released in 2023 that was directed by Eva Longoria. 'I created Flamin' Hot Cheetos not only as a product but as a movement and as a loyal executive for PepsiCo,' Montanez said in a statement last year. 'PepsiCo believed in me as a leader because they knew people would follow me, and they did because they knew my soul is my community. We built this into a $2 billion industry, and I cannot let them take away my legacy or destroy my reputation.' Holcomb wrote in his ruling that 'Montanez and Defendants mutually benefitted from Defendants' decades-long support' of Montanez's story. The lawsuit claimed that the companies sent him across the country to talk about inventing the snack with high-powered politicians, captains of industry and elite academics. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But after a former Frito-Lay employee contacted the company to challenge Montanez's account in 2018, Frito-Lay launched an investigation, according to the LA Times . 'We have interviewed multiple personnel who were involved in the test market, and all of them indicate that Richard was not involved in any capacity in the test market,' the company said in a statement to the Times. 'That doesn't mean we don't celebrate Richard,' the statement continued, 'but the facts do not support the urban legend.' Five days after the LA Times article was published, PepsiCo issued a statement about Montanez's contributions, calling him 'an important part of PepsiCo's history and the success of the company.' The company noted that while 'we have no reason to doubt the stories he shares about taking the initiative to create new product ideas for the Cheetos brand, and pitching them to past PepsiCo leaders,' a separate division team had also been developing spicy flavours 'that were tested in market and found their way into permanent products on store shelves, including Flamin' Hot Cheetos.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Different work streams tackling the same product without interacting occasionally occurred in the past when divisions operated independently and were not the best at communicating,' the statement said, according to media reports at the time. 'However, just because we can't draw a clear link between them doesn't mean we don't embrace all of their contributions and ingenuity, including Richard's.' In his lawsuit, Montanez said his former employer had 'promised to continue to support, and to continue to tell the true story' of how he created Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Holcomb wrote that status as the creator of Flamin' Hot Cheetos 'was not an express term or benefit of his employment.' Crime World Toronto & GTA World Toronto Raptors
New York Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Ex-PepsiCo exec who claimed he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos loses defamation lawsuit against snack giant
PepsiCo won the dismissal of a lawsuit by a former executive who said the food and beverage company defrauded and defamed him by denying that he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos. In a decision on Wednesday, US District Judge John Holcomb said Richard Montanez, who retired from PepsiCo in 2019 to become a full-time motivational speaker, did not show that PepsiCo and its Frito-Lay unit intentionally reneged on a promise to tell the 'true story' of how he created the popular spicy chips. The Santa Ana, Calif.-based judge also said PepsiCo did not defame Montanez by allegedly refusing in 2023 to assist in a documentary about his life unless it debunked his claim. 3 Richard Montanez, who retired from PepsiCo in 2019 to become a full-time motivational speaker, had his lawsuit against his former employer tossed. GC Images Holcomb said the actual malice standard for defamation, requiring knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth, was appropriate based on Montanez's describing himself as 'part of the cultural canon' through two best-selling books and a hit movie directed by Eva Longoria. Lawyers for Montanez did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Camille Vasquez, a lawyer for Purchase, NY-based PepsiCo, declined to comment. Montanez began in 1976 as a Frito-Lay janitor in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and rose to become PepsiCo's vice president of multicultural marketing and sales. He said he sparked what became Flamin' Hot Cheetos around 1989, when took unflavored Cheetos home to experiment with seasonings and 'drew inspiration' from elote, a Mexican grilled corn seasoned with chili powder. PepsiCo introduced Flamin' Hot Cheetos in 1992, and made it a multibillion-dollar brand. 3 Montanez said he sparked what became Flamin' Hot Cheetos around 1989. Mdv Edwards – Montanez said he once booked 35 speaking engagements annually at $10,000 to $50,000 each but lost most bookings after a Los Angeles Times article in May 2021 in which Frito-Lay rejected the 'urban legend' that he invented the snack chips. Frito-Lay later said its comments were misconstrued, and it had no reason to doubt Montanez's efforts to create new Cheetos products. The newspaper defended its reporting. 3 A scene from the 2023 film 'Flamin Hot,' which was directed by Eva Longoria. AP Montanez's story about Flamin' Hot Cheetos was told in Longoria's 2023 film 'Flamin' Hot' and in two memoirs. The case is Martinez v PepsiCo Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 24-01792.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
'Creator' of Flamin' Hot Cheetos loses PepsiCo, Frito-Lay lawsuit
May 29 (Reuters) - PepsiCo (PEP.O), opens new tab won the dismissal of a lawsuit by a former executive who said the food and beverage company defrauded and defamed him by denying that he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos. In a decision on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Holcomb said Richard Montanez, who retired from PepsiCo in 2019 to become a full-time motivational speaker, did not show that PepsiCo and its Frito-Lay unit intentionally reneged on a promise to tell the "true story" of how he created the popular spicy chips. The Santa Ana, California-based judge also said PepsiCo did not defame Montanez by allegedly refusing in 2023 to assist in a documentary about his life unless it debunked his claim. Holcomb said the actual malice standard for defamation, requiring knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth, was appropriate based on Montanez's describing himself as "part of the cultural canon" through two best-selling books and a hit movie directed by Eva Longoria. Lawyers for Montanez did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Camille Vasquez, a lawyer for Purchase, New York-based PepsiCo, declined to comment. Montanez began in 1976 as a Frito-Lay janitor in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and rose to become PepsiCo's vice president of multicultural marketing and sales. He said he sparked what became Flamin' Hot Cheetos around 1989, when took unflavored Cheetos home to experiment with seasonings and "drew inspiration" from elote, a Mexican grilled corn seasoned with chili powder. PepsiCo introduced Flamin' Hot Cheetos in 1992, and made it a multibillion-dollar brand. Montanez said he once booked 35 speaking engagements annually at $10,000 to $50,000 each but lost most bookings after a Los Angeles Times article in May 2021 in which Frito-Lay rejected the "urban legend" that he invented the snack chips. Frito-Lay later said its comments were misconstrued, and it had no reason to doubt Montanez's efforts to create new Cheetos products. The newspaper defended its reporting. Montanez's story about Flamin' Hot Cheetos was told in Longoria's 2023 film "Flamin' Hot" and in two memoirs. The case is Martinez v PepsiCo Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 24-01792.
