A new memoir from a PepsiCo executive is the subject of a flamin’ hot controversy.
For years, Richard P. Montañez maintained that he invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the wildly popular Frito-Lay product, while he was working as a janitor at the company. But on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times published a story that cast doubt on his claim, reporting that Montañez had nothing to do with the idea for the spicy snack.
“None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin’ Hot test market,” Frito-Lay said in a statement to the newspaper. “That doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate Richard, but the facts do not support the urban legend.”
Montañez repeats his claims in the book Flamin’ Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man’s Rise From Janitor to Top Executive, which is set for publication on June 15 by Penguin Random House imprint Portfolio. He defended himself in an interview with Variety, saying, “All I can tell you is what I did. All I have is my history, what I did in my kitchen.”
Portfolio told the Times it has no plans to cancel the publication of Montañez’s book.
“During his 40+ years at Frito Lay, Richard Montañez repeated the story of his involvement with this product hundreds of times,” said Portfolio president Adrian Zackheim. “Only now, just as his book is announced, are we suddenly hearing an alternate narrative about the development of this product, which seeks to diminish Richard’s contribution and to question the details of long-ago events.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
