PepsiCo Defends Richard Montanez & Clarifies Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Controversy, Eva Longoria Shares The News

PepsiCo just released a statement to clarify the controversy brewing about who created Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

This past weekend, Frito-Lay claimed that Richard Montanez has no claim as being the sole inventor of the product. The statement shared by the company said that none of their “records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin’ Hot test market.”

One of the reasons why the story is getting so much attention right now is because it was announced that Eva Longoria will be directing a movie about Richard and how he created the beloved product.

Richard then spoke out in response to the claims made by Frito-Lay and he explained how the company worked back then.

Now, PepsiCo, the company that owns Frito-Lay, has clarified the controversy and they are recognizing the contributions that Richard made to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Eva took to her Twitter account to share the news after the statement was released.

Click inside to check out the full statement released by PepsiCo…

You can read PepsiCo’s full statement below (via Latin Heat):

“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.”