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Rags-to-Riches Alleged Creator of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Has His Lawsuit Dismissed

May 30, 2025
Richard Montanez allegedly pitched his idea to a PepsiCo exec and rose from a janitor to become Frito-Lay’s vice president of multicultural marketing.

PepsiCo this week won the dismissal of a lawsuit by a former employee who claimed the company defrauded and defamed him by denying that he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos – a story that launched his career as a motivational speaker.

A U.S. District Judge in Los Angeles on May 28 said Richard Montanez, who rose from a janitor to Frito-Lay’s vice president of multicultural marketing and sales, 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 spicy snack.

The judge did give Montañez until June 13 to submit an amended complaint. He filed his lawsuit last July.

He retired from PepsiCo in 2019 and launched a career as a motivational speaker, largely on his rags-to-riches story of how he was working as a janitor at Frito-Lay’s Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., plant when he concocted a spicier version of Cheetos that would appeal to the Latino community. He had the gumption to pitch his idea directly to Roger Enrico, PepsiCo CEO at the time. Not only did Frito-Lay run with his idea, the company promoted Montañez up the ranks to become a vice president.

After years of his heartwarming story circulating, the Los Angeles Times launched an investigation in 2021. Frito-Lay statements to the Times thanked Montanez for his insights into the Latino community but refused to credit him with inventing Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The price and number of his speaking engagements sunk after that.

Montañez’s account of the origin story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos has been told in two best-selling memoirs and a 2023 movie.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.