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Editor's Note: In May 2021, Frito-o-Lay disputed aspects of Montañez's story, which are collected in this story reported by the Los Angeles Times. Montañez stood by his story in a follow-up interview with Variety. The original story begins below.


Occasionally you read a story that sounds so much like a movie script you question whether it's real or fake. The tale of how Flamin' Hot Cheetos was invented is one of those stories.

Ankith Harathi shared how the beloved spicy snack came about in a viral Twitter thread, and it's a must-read.

Harathi wrote:

"A janitor making $4/hour walked into a Fortune 500 company boardroom. Shaking, he took a seat opposite the CEO.

'So I had an idea...' he nervously began.

Years later, that idea would become an iconic consumer brand and make him worth ~$20M.

Here's how that meeting went 🧶👇


Richard Montañez grew up in Cucamonga Valley, California, sharing a one-room cinderblock hut with 14 family members.

He dreaded school. Barely able to speak English, he'd cry to his mother as she was getting him ready for class.

When asked, all other students in class would eagerly shout out their dream job: Astronaut, Doctor, Racecar driver.

Richard had nothing to say. 'There was no dream where I came from.'

He dropped out of school in 4th grade and took odd jobs at farms and factories to help make ends meet.

Some years later in 1976, a neighbor let him know of a job opening for a factory janitor at the Frito-Lay plant down the road. The $4/hour pay was more than he'd ever made.

As he was getting ready for his first day of work, his grandfather pulled him aside and said:

'Make sure that floor shines. And let them know that a Montañez mopped it.'

Richard made it his mission to be the best janitor Frito-Lay had ever seen.

He spent his off-time learning about the company's products, manufacturing, marketing and more. He even asked salesmen to tag along and watch them sell.

In the mid-1980s Frito-Lay started to struggle. The CEO announced a new initiative to all 300,000 employees. 'Act like an owner' Trying to empower them to work more creatively and efficiently.

Montañez listened.

Then, he called the CEO.

'Mr. Enrico's office. Who is this?'
'Richard Montañez, in California'
'You're the VP overseeing CA?'
'No, I work at the Rancho Cucamonga plant.'
'Oh, so you're the VP of Ops?'
'No, I work inside the plant.'
'You're the manager?'
'No. I'm the janitor.'

The CEO got on the line. Loving the initiative, he told Richard to prepare a presentation, and he set a meeting in 2 weeks time.

Stunned, Richard ran to the library and picked up a book on marketing strategies. Then, he started prepping. 9) 2 weeks later, he entered that boardroom.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he started telling them what he'd learned about Frito-Lay and the idea he'd been working on.

'I saw there was no product catering to Latinos.'

On the sales trips he shadowed he saw that in Latino neighborhoods Lays, Fritos, Ruffles, and Cheetos, were stocked right next to a shelf of Mexican spices. Frito-Lay had nothing spicy or hot.

The Latino market was ready to explode, Montañez explained.

Inspired by elote - a Mexican street corn covered in spices - Richard had created his own snack

He pulled out 100 plastic baggies. He had taken Cheetos from the factory and coated them in his own mix of spices.

He'd even sealed the bags with a clothing iron, and had hand drawn a logo on each one.

The room went silent.

After a few moments, the CEO spoke, 'Put that mop away, you're coming with us.'

Flamin' Hot Cheetos became one of the most successful launches in Frito-Lay history. They went on to become a viral, pop-culture sensation.

Richard became a VP and amassed a $20M fortune.

Not bad for a boy from Cucamonga."

This story has so many heroes. First, Montañez's grandfather, who taught him to work hard and take pride in his work no matter what it was. Second, Montañez himself for having the gumption to share his idea, the initiative to quickly gather the skills he needed to present it, and the courage to approach the CEO in the first place. And finally, the CEO who was open-minded enough to hear an idea from one of his enormous company's janitors and give him the accolades and position he deserved.

Montañez now gives speeches to help inspire others to honor their uniqueness and embrace standing out from the crowd.


See more details of his story—including how he had simply looked up the CEO's phone number in the phone book, not really knowing that that's not something people did— in his interview on The Passionate Few:

How The Multi-Billion Dollar HOT CHEETOS Idea Was Born! (Creator, Richard Montanez Interview)www.youtube.com

Lifetime/Twitter

At this point it seems like the best choice is to fully lean into the absurdity of everything as we claw our way out of the weirdest, if not the worst, year in recent memory. And from that perspective, Lifetime's new Kentucky Fried Chicken mini-movie—yep, you read that right—totally fits the bill.

I mean, Mario Lopez playing a sexy Colonel Sanders in a murderous love triangle romance thriller plot seems right on schedule, doesn't it? We did the whole "Tiger King" thing early in the pandemic, so it's high time for another "What did I just watch?" guilty pleasure.

Lifetime's "A Recipe for Seduction" is clearly a marketing ploy for KFC, but who cares. The trailer is deliciously wonderful and horrible, leaving me unable to look away long enough to roll my eyes at its ridiculousness. Like, I don't want to admit that I actually want to watch this because I'm not a fan of humiliation, but at the same, I totally want to watch this.


I mean, come on. Watch this trailer and tell me you know exactly how to feel about it. You can't. Because psychology or something.

A Recipe for Seduction | Premieres December 13th | Presented by Kentucky Fried Chicken | Lifetimeyoutu.be

So, the first issue is that Colonel Sanders is hot. How is that even a thing? Thanks for ruining my childhood. My second issue is that I want to know how this turns out. It's only a 15-minute mini-movie, so it can't be that complicated of a plot. And again, how is this even a thing?

The part that really cracked me up though, was the "Premieres December 13th at noon" part. At noon? Really? What kind of production makes a premiere at noon, for gracious sakes?

The "brought to you by Kentucky Fried Chicken" kind, apparently.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall at the marketing meetings where these mini-movie ideas came to fruition. Like, how did those conversations go? Was it just a bunch of goofy creative types talking about how they could make the silliest branded content ever, but not make it overtly silly, but still somehow make it overtly silly? And how did the filming of it go? The production quality is way up there. It probably took hundreds of people to make this "film." Did they die laughing between takes? Was it just another job for them? Did they weep over what had become of their careers?

I mean, it looks like a soap opera mixed with a feature film mixed with an advertisement mixed with a parody. It's either totally genius or totally not. I genuinely don't know what to think or how to feel.

Maybe that's what this movie/ad/monstrosity/delight is designed to do. Maybe it's an emotional biproduct of this wonky, absurd year. I don't know. All I know is that I'm going to pretend that I'm not going to watch it but will totally watch it when it comes out on December 13th. At noon. Brought to me by Kentucky Fried Chicken.

God Bless America.

You know the Gerber baby, right?

She's an American icon. And if you've ever wandered down the baby food aisle of the grocery store or checked out the pantry of a new parent, you've definitely seen her adorable face peering at you from the label of a tiny jar.

That baby was 91 years old in the early part of 2018. Her name is Ann Turner Cook, and aside from being a teacher and writer of mysteries, she's now the great-grandmother of six.


The photo above was snapped by Chris Colin, a San Francisco-based writer who also happens to be Cook's grandson.

His tweets have recently gone viral for one special picture that's brought two Gerber babies together across multiple generations.

That's right — the OG Gerber baby and the newest Gerber baby just met.

In 2018, Lucas Warren became the latest Gerber spokesbaby, beating out every one of his 140,000 contenders. Warren's not just a pretty face, though; he's also a trailblazer. He's the first baby with Down syndrome to win the contest, bringing some much needed representation to the brand.

Recently, Warren and his parents visited Cook at her home in Florida. According to eyewitnesses (read: the people who were there literally melting into puddles of goo), they were fast friends.

"As soon as we walked into the room, she and Lucas immediately bonded," Warren's parents told People. "Lucas walked right up to her, flashing his signature smile and waving, and we could tell he loved her right away." He also shared his cookies which, if you know babies, says a lot.

Of course, the two also had an obligation to their public, so of course they stopped to take one of the most adorable pictures I have ever seen.

The photo's adorable. And Lucas Warren's new status as the Gerber baby is historic.

One of Gerber's missions is making it clear that every baby is a Gerber baby. Warren being picked as this year's spokesbaby is a step in showing the world that all babies (and, by extension, all people) should be accepted for who they are.

Approximately 6,000 babies are born with Down syndrome every year in the United States. Warren's parents want his win to be a symbol of hope to the families of children born with the condition or any other disability.

"We're hoping this will impact everyone — that it will shed a little bit of light on the special needs community and help more individuals with special needs be accepted and not limited," Warren's father told "Today" shortly after the 1-year-old won. "They have the potential to change the world, just like everybody else."

Note: We weren't paid by Gerber for this story — we'd tell you if we were — we just think it's a neat bit of history paving the way for the future.