Pepsi Faces Lawsuit Over Who Invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos

Flamin' Hot Cheetos have inspired countless memes, spin-off flavors, instant mac and cheese, and even Crocs and womenswear clothing lines. Now, the credit for the iconic flavor's creation are the subject of a lawsuit. PepsiCo is being sued by former executive Richard Montañez for the company's denial of his alleged invention of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The lawsuit was filed on July 18 in California Superior Court for discrimination, fraud, and defamation for an undisclosed amount, reports the Associated Press. As of Thursday, PepsiCo declined to commention the situation.

Notably, the claims of the involved parties have substantially evolved over time. Long before his purported invention, Montañez allegedly began his tenure at PepsiCo (Frito-Lay parent company) in 1977 as a janitor. The story goes that, one day while he was on shift, a Cheetos machine broke down. Montañez decided to bring home some of the unflavored snacks rather than scrapping them. After experimenting  in his kitchen with different seasonings, he pitched his snack to PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico in 1991. Per Montañez's lawsuit, the idea for spicy Cheetos was his, and the 1991 meeting was the last time the company ever involved him in the snack's product development. Flamin' Hot Cheetos hit the market in 1992. By the 2010s, Montañez was a public speaker for PepsiCo and relayed his story in speeches. A rags-to-riches-style movie titled "Flamin' Hot" was made about Montañez's side of the story in 2023. However, by that time, the company contradicted his claims.

In a controversial 2021 Los Angeles Times article, PepsiCo substantiated that Montañez was not the true inventor of Flamin' Hot Cheetos, and that the company came up with the "Flamin' Hot" name. Spicy Cheetos were already being tested and sold in the Midwest at the time Montañez pitched the same idea across the country in California. PepsiCo released a formal statement saying it "can't draw a clear link between" these simultaneous occurrences, via NPR. Montañez had retired from PepsiCo in 2019, three years prior to the article's release, and following a company-wide investigation of his claims about sole inventorship in 2018.

According to PepsiCo, crediting one person as the lone inventor would be inaccurate. It was a team effort, and the level of Montañez's involvement is in dispute. As fellow Frito-Lay employee Lynne Greenfeld told the Los Angeles Times in the 2021 piece, "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." There's a lengthy statement about Montañez on the official Frito-Lay website, which praises him for "rising from the ranks of an hourly employee to an executive" and playing "a key role in accelerating the growth of our Flamin' Hot Brand and other brands particularly through his Hispanic marketing efforts." Quoth the company, "He will always be a member of the PepsiCo Family."