By Roberto Leal

With the recent release of Flamin’ Hot, Eva Longoria, the talented actor, producer,
makes her directorial debut telling us an inspirational Horatio Alger-like story with a
decided Mexican twist of Richard Montañez, the humble janitor working for Frito-Lay
who developed the spicy seasoning for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, America’s favorite snack
chip.

While the nuts-and-bolts facts surrounding the development of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are
in dispute, Longoria doesn’t go into that aspect of the story but rather brings clear
focus the body and soul of this story which is Richard Montañez’s rags-to-riches, triumph over adversity buoyed by the strength of his Mexican heritage and close-knit family.

Jesse Garcia (The Avengers) gives an honest, sympathetic performance as Richard, a
young Mexican struggling to navigate and overcome the barriers of a troubled upbringing and systemic racism to realize his ambitions and dreams.

Annie Gonzalez (Gentefied, Vida) delivers an excellent performance as Judy, Richard’s wife who bolsters, encourages, scolds, and never loses faith in Richard. In many ways, Judy’s never faltering strength in this story is reminiscent of the tireless determination of the Mexican wives in the  Herbert J. Biberman directed feature The Salt of the Earth (1954) who were the driving force behind the copper miners strike in New Mexico.

Judy’s presence in the film reminds us that Mexican society is not necessarily a male dominated, macho one, but more often a matriarchal hierarchy ruled by: las madres, abuelas, tias, hermanas, and comadres. At least that was the reality in my family.

Longoria’s even-handed directing style is crisp and fast-paced. She allows the story to evolve and reveal itself at its own chosen speed. There are no slow parts in Flamin’ Hot. The story is punctuated and rounded out by the casting of veteran character actors: Dennis Haysbert, Tony Shouloub, and Pepe Serna.

Flamin’ Hot was recently screened at the White House as part of the administration’s advocacy efforts to strengthen DACA and immigration reform. Alicia Menendez, host of MSNBC’s American Voices asked Longoria why she made Flamin’ Hot: “It’s a love letter to the Mexican American community”, said Longoria.

“When I think about tonight’s movie, I think about courage. So many of you, your ancestors left behind all that they knew to start a new life in the United States,” President Biden said as he addressed a crowd of over 900 person there for the outdoor screening of the film for community, White House staff and press.

Flamin’ Hot is indeed a love letter to our community. But it is also a message to Hollywood we need to see more positive representations of Latinos in film, TV and theater and we have exceptionally talented storytellers, like Eva Longoria, to bring those “love letters” to American audiences and beyond.

Richard Montañez disrupted the food industry in the ‘90s by channeling his Mexican American heritage to help turn Flamin’ Hot Cheetos into a multibillion-dollar brand today and a cultural phenomenon,” Longoria said. “We are telling a story that celebrates the American entrepreneurial dream without sidestepping the fact that the dream isn’t available in the same way for everyone.”

Flamin’ Hot starring Jesse Garcia and Annie Gonzalez is currently streaming on Hulu and
Disney+.

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Sitting “al fresco” at the community screening of Eva Longoria’s directorial debut Flamin Hot (releasing June 9, 2023), at Los Ángeles cultural center La Plaza de Cultura Y Artes was such a beautiful experience! 

Over 1000 men, women, and children, mostly Latino audience seeing themselves reflected on screen.  It was an amazing thing to witness.  As I looked around at the audience I saw grown men watching the screen with wonder. The ladies hooting and hollering when the female character took charge, while the children watched and giggled along. I turned to look back and saw a wave community collectively feeling what representation on screen feels and looks like, as they watch a Latino-themed, all-Latino cast film directed by Longoria and produced by the man that saw its potential Devon Franklin (Miracles from Heaven). 

This inspiring true story of Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), a Frito Lay janitor who disrupted the food industry by channeling his Mexican heritage to turn Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from a snack into an iconic global pop culture phenomenon.  He along with his wife Judy (Annie Gonzalez) knew how our community loves to spice up any food with a little bit of “chile”.  He saw an opportunity and took it. Back in the early 1990’s Montañez convinced the big bosses at Frito-Lay they were missing out on making money with the growing Latino consumer market.  That caught their attention.   

So when the company’s marketing failed to attract the Latino community, Montañez rallied his co-worker and friends, and family to help promote the new Flamin’ Hot Cheetos product to the people he knew would love it. He took matters into his own hands creating a grassroots marketing campaign to prove that our community buys when we are marketed to with intention.

As a film-going community, we now have an opportunity to prove our VIEWING POWER.  We can choose to rally our friends and family to watch this film. 

Garcia and Gonzalez turn in outstanding performances as the lead of the film, and the supporting cast is a combination of established actors that include Emilio Rivera (Mayan MC), Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Pepe Serna (Art is Life, Scarface) and Dennis Haysbert (Lucifer).  Additionally, other cast members include Bobby Soto (The Tax Collector)  and the charismatic Brice Gonzalez (Lopez vs. Lopez).  At the end of the day, if we can really show that we support well-made films with talented Latino actors, there will definitely be more stories.  Maybe next time it will be your story.  

Just as Montañez did in real life, rallying his community to support Flamin Hot Cheetos, we as a film-going community, have an opportunity to rally our friends and family to watch this film on Hulu and/or Disney+ starting Jun 9.  We have an opportunity to watch and enjoy this film and show our LATINO VIEWING POWER…and have a good time doing it.

When “community” comes together it is an unforgettable experience. 

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It’s a film that the Los Angeles Times brought a lot of attention to early last year. And, although they didn’t intend it rally the community around this upcoming film, it did. It is a Latino rags to riches story and it was the Latino creative community’s story to tell. And what a story it is! All under the direction of actress, entrepreneur, producer and mother Eva Longoria who makes her feature film directorial debut with Searchlight’s upcoming Flamin’ Hot, the story of how Richard Montañez, a janitor, rose up to be Pepsico’s top Latino to head marketing initiatives at Pepsico, the parent company for Frito-Lay.

The new year kicked off with an exciting sneak peek in the People Magazine January 4^th article of Longoria’s film, Flamin’ Hot, which will premiere June 9 on Hulu. The film is based on the real life of Montañez, a Frito-Lay janitor who created the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and, subsequently, rose to a high-level company executive position to market the brand. The movie also features film and TV show veteran actor Pepe Serna. Both Montañez and Serna serve as advisors to the Hispanic Coalition of Small Businesses (HCSB) and its Arts & Entertainment Committee, which is chaired by Bel Hernandez, Founder & CEO of LatinHeat Media.

“I had the privilege to be asked by Eva Longoria, my hometown (Corpus Christi, TX) star, producer, and first-time movie director, to play Richard Montanez’s mentor, his grandfather,” Serna told us and added, “This and many more stories like it must be told on screen! I intend to do my part as a contributing member of the HCSB Arts & Entertainment Committee to make this happen.”

“HCSB is proud to be a leading resource and voice of Hispanic and diverse small businesses as they pursue their dreams and goals, especially in this film and entertainment industry where minority voices are too often not heard nor heeded. Flamin’ Hot is a story about ALL of us, not just Richard,” said Frank Montes, HCSB Chairman of the Board. “Eva, Richard, Pepe and so many others in front of and behind the cameras in this industry are small business owners in their own right. HCSB is here to support these small businesses and help them succeed,” said Montes. 

The mostly Latino cast also features, in addition to Serna, Annie Gonzalez (Gentified, Vida, Shameless) as Judy Montañez, Richard’s wife and is co-creator as she was the one trying to get the recipe just right; Emilio Rivera (Mayans MC) who plays his dad and also Tony Shalhoub, Bobby Soto, Brice Gonzalez and Fabian Alomar.

Flamin’ Hot tells the story of how Montañez came up with an idea – adding hot sauce (a spicy food staple from his Mexican-American heritage) – to the company’s Cheetoes to create Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the No. 1 snack in the world, which is a billion-dollar brand. The rest is history.

But Montanez simplifies it by saying, “It’s not about how smart you are. It’s about how are you smart.” Montañez spent his early childhood years in a migrant farm camp in Guasti, a town that borders the City of Ontario in the Greater Inland Empire region of Southern California. Then he moved to Ontario and grew up in the barrio. “I never went to school for a formal education,” said Montañez, “but I earned a PhD from the streets – Poor, Hungry, and Determined,” he jokes. On a more serious note, Montañez sends a message to the Latino community, small business owners, and all our children, “Come out and support the movie! If you have an idea, don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be done!”

Flamin’ Hot is produced by DeVon Franklin; written by Lewis Colick and Linda Yvette Chavez for Searchlight Pictures.

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Just before Latin Heat was to publish our second article (READ HERE) on the Flamin’ Hot controversy, we received a statement from PepsiCo. The official statement finally clarifies the issue once and for all. It reads:

“A great deal has been recently discussed about the origin of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The information we shared with the media has been misconstrued by some, which resulted in confusion around where we stand, a range of emotions among our employees and consumers and a strain on our valued friendship with Richard Montanez and the Latino community.  

The sincere truth is, at PepsiCo, we believe in the strength and power of teams, and we attribute the launch and success of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and other products to several people who worked at PepsiCo,  including Richard Montanez.  

Far from being an urban legend, Richard had a remarkable 40-plus-year career at PepsiCo and made an  incredible impact on our business and employees and continues to serve as an inspiration today. His  insights and ideas on how to better serve Hispanic consumers were invaluable and directly resulted in  the success of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. To be clear, 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. 

We also know there was a separate division team developing a spicy product offering for Cheetos and  other snack brands that were tested in market and found their way into permanent products on store  shelves, including Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. 

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. 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.  

Richard is an important part of PepsiCo’s history and the success of the company. He is an inspiration and his story cannot be belittled. We regret the confusion that has come from the recent speculation,  but most importantly we want Richard to know he is valued and cared for among PepsiCo’s employees and we only wish him happiness and success.”

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The “Los Angeles Times” headline of the 5,385-word article by Sam Dean, a business reporter for the Los Angeles Times covering the technology industry in Southern California read, “The man who didn’t invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”

With that, Dean infers Richard Montañez lied when he wrote his book “A Boy, A Burrito, and a Cookie“.  In his book, Montañez recounts how he started off working at the California Frito Lay plant in Rancho Cucamonga as a janitor who moved up through the company ranks to become their Executive VP of Marketing and Sales and their expert on how to market to Hispanics.  

Dean continues to present his case to justify the headline he chose for his article.

In his article, Dean claims Montañez did not invent the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos as verified,  “according to interviews with more than a dozen former Frito-Lay employees…”  and further claimed by this direct statement from Frito-Lay:

“None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin’ Hot test market. 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.”

“That doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate Richard,” the statement continued, “but the facts do not support the urban legend.”

This statement is unclear.  It claims Montañez was not involved in the “Flamin’ Hot test market.” It does not say that he did not invent the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Montañez has been telling his story of how he came up with the idea of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for over a decade.  I read his book; I heard his speech live. I am sure that Frito-lay’s CEOs and top executives also listened to the story.  However, not once did this powerful corporation, Frito Lay, worth $28.2 billion, send a cease and desist letter because they felt Montanez was taking credit for something he did not invent.

In Montañez’s book, he writes about how he came up with the idea. It was when he bought an ear of corn on a stick covered with mayo, butter, cheese, and chili powder from a Mexican street corn vendor.  This snack is popular all over southern California and many parts of the Southwest with large Latino populations.

However, according to the L.A. Times article, it was not Montañez who came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It was “A junior employee with a freshly minted MBA named Lynne Greenfeld [who] got the assignment to develop the brand — she came up with the Flamin’ Hot name and shepherded the line into existence.”

The LA Times claims they spoke “…with 20 people who worked at the Frito-Lay divisions responsible for new product development 32 years ago when Flamin’ Hot Cheetos were first introduced into existence. None recalls anything like the episode Montañez describes taking place.”

The article takes great pains to get the facts right about where Greenfeld went to school. Posting this correction after the article was published, “An earlier version of this article said Lynne Greenfeld and Miguel Lecuona attended business school at Northwestern. The business school they attended was at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.”

The article then goes on to quote some of the, then workers to prove Montañez’s deceitfulness:

“If that story existed, believe me, we would have heard about it,” said Ken Lukaska, who worked as a product manager for the core Cheetos brand when Flamin’ Hots were rolling out nationally. “This guy should run for office if he’s that good at fooling everyone.”

Finishing off with, “The idea that grew into Flamin’ Hots didn’t come from Rancho Cucamonga, or California, or even Frito-Lay’s home base in Texas.”

The article then states: “That process unearthed evidence calling his [Montañez] account into question and led the company to the conclusion it shared with The Times: “We value Richard’s many contributions to our company, especially his insights into Hispanic consumers, but we do not credit the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or any Flamin’ Hot products to him.”

Greenfeld then goes on to drive her point home by saying: “It is disappointing that 20 years later, someone who played no role in this project would begin to claim our experience as his own and then personally profit from it.”

It is not until two-thirds of the way down in the article, that Dean mentions Al Carey, a Frito-Lay lifer who retired as the FritoLay CEO and his support for Montañez’s version of the story.

In the article, Montañez is quoted as saying he met Carey, when he,  “was working as vice president of national sales out of the Plano offices. When Enrico came in, he promoted Carey to oversee a new vending machine and warehouse division in early 1992 and then to a division president of Frito-Lay West, based in the Bay Area, at the end of that year.”

“Carey appears to be the only Frito-Lay executive who worked at the company at the time of Flamin’ Hot development to publicly endorse Montañez’s version of events over the years,”  Dean writes in the article.

He and Montañez met in the early 1980s. The article goes on to say, “When the exec was taking a tour of the Cucamonga plant. When Montañez later called him for advice on pitching his idea for spicy Cheetos, he says Carey encouraged him to call Enrico directly”. The article continues, “Carey insisted that Montañez is the creator of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.  ‘The product that we know today as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos was definitely not out in the market’ before his meeting with Montañez, Carey said. “That product was developed by those guys in the plant,” Carey told the L.A. Times. 

Carey added, “I can promise you for sure there was no brand development, no brand launched called Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” adding that “if there was a prior spicy product on the market, it was reformulated to match Montañez’s sample product. The ingredients, that’s the magic of the product,” Carey said.  “Without Richard, this thing would not be out there,” he concluded.

Still, the article headline does not say, “There is doubt that the man invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” quite the contrary.  The L.A. Times article reverberated and trended on social media. It was picked up by three other major media outlets who repeated a version of the L.A. Times headline that same day.  One of the outlets referred to the L.A. Time article as an “expose.” However, the article was no such thing because it was not definitive if you believe Carey, the only person who had first-hand knowledge of Montañez’s actual involvement with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.  

Further evidence of Montañez’s involvement is the reference to the article of the “U.S. News and World Report” reference in Dean’s article: “The U.S. News and World Report article from December 1993 focuses on businesses finding success by empowering their employees. The section on Frito-Lay talks about the plant in Rancho Cucamonga, where manager Steve Smith had taken up Enrico’s initiative and gotten more front-line workers thinking about how to improve the business as a whole.” The quoted article goes on to say. “Veteran machine operator Richard Montañez, 37, became so energized by Smith’s new operating style that after listening to salesmen, he developed a new ethnic-food concept aimed at the Hispanic market, After testing recipes and outlining a marketing strategy, Montañez burst forth with a kernel of an idea: Flamin’ Hot Popcorn, which will soon make its debut.”

Since the printing of the L.A. Times article by Dean on Sunday, May 16th, NPR reporter, Sarah Aida Gonzalez, has also been in touch with Frito-Lay, and it seems that Frito-Lay is rethinking some of what they told Dean.  Here Gonzalez posts the latest of Frito-Lay told her on Twitter:

Gonzalez’s Twitter post (13/14) states: “At the time of the Ranch Cucamonga meeting, FLNA was divided into divisions, with each division operating independently with its own executive team. As such, the West Division may not have been aware of the Metroline products/test.”

Followed later that day Gonzalez posts again: “Update: Frito-Lay told me they first talked to the LA Times on Thurs. after our episode published. They said they gave the same information to them as they gave to me. But said they “Learned things yesterday” from the story and that “additional facts were brought to light.”  

Sam Dean’s article seems to have its sights on discrediting the actions of a hard-working janitor who goes on to become one of the highest-paid Latino marketing executives in Frito-Lay’s history… A man who has inspired many persons, young, old, and of different races, across the country with his story. 

When Dean writes, “Montañez has built a lucrative second career out of telling and selling this story, appearing at events for Target, Walmart, Harvard, and USC, among others, and commanding fees of $10,000 to $50,000 per appearance,”  Dean seems to imply that this is somehow a bad thing to do when this is a practice many corporate executives engage in.  

As stated already, if Frito-Lay, with all its resources, felt Montañez was spreading lies, they could have easily threatened him with a lawsuit.  Yet they didn’t. They just keep promoting him up the corporate ladder.

Montañez is a Christian and a committed philanthropist and founder of Onelite, a nonprofit that provides hundreds of high-need families in the United States with food and school supplies. He believes in giving back for all the good fortune he has made for himself.

He is devastated that a company he worked for and promoted for over forty years would react the way they have.  

“I have all my documents, letters from the CEOs, even Al Carey,” Montanez told Latin Heat Entertainment. 

He is quoted in Variety saying “I was their greatest ambassador,” referring to Frito-Lay. “But I will say this, you’re going to love your company more than they will ever love you. Keep that in perspective.”

When asked about Greenfeld’s allegations, Montañez told Variety, “In that era, Frito-Lay had five divisions. I don’t know what the other parts of the country, the other divisions — I don’t know what they were doing. I’m not even going to try to dispute that lady because I don’t know. All I can tell you is what I did. All I have is my history, what I did in my kitchen.”

If anyone expected Montañez to back down in light of the “bad press” this article has brought upon himself and his family, they were wrong.  He has an Instagram account, and he is not shy about using it.  On Sunday night, he posted:

“I don’t care what room you’re in; there’s always somebody in the room that’s going to try to steal your destiny. They may even say you never existed,” Montañez says to the camera. “I want you to do this: Write down your history because if you don’t, somebody else will. Remember that. And also, remember this, the best way to destroy a positive message is to destroy the messenger. Never allow that to happen to you. I’m certainly not going to allow it to happen to me.”

He has already written his history twice.  Once in his first memoir, “A Boy, a Burrito and A Cookie,” and his next book “Flamin’ Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man’s Rise from Janitor to Top Executive,” which will be published by Penguin Random House and goes on sale June 15.

As for the biopic of his story based on his first book Flamin’ Hot, the studio, the director (actress Eva Longoria), and the producers were all alerted in 2019 about the Frito-Lay findings, and they are going ahead as planned. They will begin shooting in June in New Mexico.

And, there is also the ongoing reporting by  NPR’s Gonzalez and more recently, a podcast was announced that will delve deep into the “facts”.

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