Richard Montañez, 62, joined Frito Lay as a janitor in 1976, and later became Vice-president of multicultural sales and community promotions of PepsiCo, the company that owns Frito Lay. For decades he has been recognized as the inventor of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and for his life story of succeeding against adversities as a Latino in the US, he became a motivational speaker and best-selling author.
But the Los Angeles Times published a story last week in which Frito Lay cast doubt that Montanez was the actual creator of the famous chips. The company said “none of their records show” that he was involved in the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
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