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“Flamin’ Hot” is not the story of how Flamin’ Hot Cheetos came to be.
The film (streaming now on Hulu and Disney+) is an inspiring story about an underdog proving naysayers wrong, a Latino man who beat the odds stacked against him as he rose the ranks of corporate America in the ’80s.
“Flamin’ Hot,” directed by “Desperate Housewives” actress Eva Longoria, depicts Richard Montañez (played by Jesse Garcia) landing a job at Frito-Lay as a janitor to support his wife Judy (Annie Gonzalez) and their sons and going on to invent the iconic Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Here’s what’s fact and what’s fiction in the new movie:
Was Richard Montañez really a janitor at Frito-Lay?
Born to a Mexican American family, Montañez grew up in a migrant labor camp outside of Los Angeles.
After dropping out of high school, he was hired by Frito-Lay in 1976 as a janitor in the company’s Rancho Cucamonga factory when he was 18. In 1977, he was promoted to machinist operator.
In 2019, during an internal investigation into claims he created Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Montañez retired from PepsiCo.
He has since published two memoirs and built a lucrative career out of speaking engagements where he retells his story.
Why is the ‘Flamin’ Hot’ movie controversial?
The movie is based on Montañez’s 2013 memoir “A Boy, A Burrito and A Cookie: From Janitor to Executive,” and follows his rise from former gang member to Flamin’ Hot Cheeto inventor.
But Montañez’s claims have been the source of flaming hot arguments.
In 2021, the Los Angeles Times published an investigation discrediting him as the flavor’s sole creator. “None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin’ Hot test market,” Frito-Lay told the news outlet in a statement. “That doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate Richard but the facts do not support the urban legend.”
Montañez told USA TODAY in June he was “forever thankful” to the leaders that “recognized my potential and paved the way for my journey” at Frito-Lay and PepsiCo.
“The film does a great job of capturing my journey, from being a janitor to achieving the American Dream,” he says. “This film, like much of my life, is a dream come true.”
So who did invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos?
According to the LA Times, Montañez’s claims were embellished.
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos were created by a team starting in 1989 in Plano, Texas, the report said. Other employees recalled that the inspiration came from corner stores in Chicago and Detroit.
The LA Times claims Lynne Greenfeld was tasked with developing the brand and came up with the Flamin’ Hot name. And Fred Lindsay, a retired Frito-Lay salesman, claimed in the report that he was the one who got the company into the Flamin’ Hot business.
Though the movie portrays Montañez as the one who thinks up the idea, experiments with the recipe, pitches it to PepsiCo’s then-CEO Roger Enrico and markets it to the Latino community, it also alludes to claims that the recipe was already being developed elsewhere in the Midwest.
“In the movie, we even touched on it, where they were developing a hot chip, but it wasn’t quite working,” Garcia said in an interview with Variety. “They couldn’t get the flavor right and they didn’t know how to market it. And Richard didn’t know that.”
In a statement to USA TODAY in June, Frito-Lay seemingly backtracked on what it said in 2021.
The film is “Montañez’s story, told from his point of view. His contributions to Frito-Lay are highlighted throughout the film, specifically his insights and ideas on how to better serve Hispanic consumers and engage the Hispanic community, a legacy PepsiCo continues today. We are grateful to him for that, and hope people enjoy the film.”
What has Eva Longoria said about the Hot Cheetos controversy?
The film’s director has been firm in saying “everything really happened.”
“I never wanted to tell the history of the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto,” Longoria tells USA TODAY. “I’ve always been committed to telling Richard’s story. His story is complex and inspiring and motivating. The movie is about Richard Montañez.”
Did Richard Montañez really take Cheetos home to test spices on them?
In the movie, inspiration strikes while Montañez is eating Mexican street corn with his sons. He proceeds to scour grocery stores for spices for the perfect red powder recipe. The one that “burns good.”
The film shows an eager Montañez taking home unseasoned Cheetos and other Frito-Lay chips for taste tests. “He would just put them in a trash bag,” Longoria says. “He would take them home, test on it, and the next day, he would take some Doritos … they knew he was doing it.”
In an interview with CNBC published in 2018, Montañez said the idea was born when a machine broke in the assembly line and a batch of Cheetos didn’t get dusted with orange cheese powder.
Did a judge really let Richard Montañez off the hook after he had been arrested?
Montañez and his pregnant wife are seen being pulled over for being in possession of a stolen car, and it lands him in jail. During a court hearing, a judge lets him go.
Montañez “had guns in the car, he had warrants for his arrest, he was dealing drugs, he had drugs, and the judge looked at him and said, ‘I think you can do better … prove to me you can do better,’ ” Longoria says.
This moment was a “turning point in Richard’s life.”
Heroes are ‘never brown, never Chicano’:Why Eva Longoria embraced the story of ‘Flamin’ Hot’
Did Frito-Lay factory workers clap when Richard Montañez was promoted?
At the end of the movie, Enrico presents Montañez with his own office, complete with a plaque on the door that reads: “Richard Montañez, Director of Multicultural Marketing.”
The former janitor looks out proudly as the entire factory claps and cheers him on. That’s “the one thing that did not happen,” Longoria says. “He got the plaque, he got his promotion, but nobody came out to clap,” Gonzalez adds.
Longoria says the real Richard and Judy were on the “Flamin’ Hot” set the day the scene was shot, “and they were both crying. I asked them, ‘Do you like the scene?’ And Judy goes, ‘This never happened. They never applauded him.’ I said, ‘Well this is the ending he deserves.’ “
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