Beginning in the late 2000s, Richard Montañez, who had started his career at Frito-Lay as a plant janitor and later became a marketing director for the company, claimed that he had invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos in the early 1990s while still a janitor, observing that the brand did not have any products targeting Latinos. [34] Montañez claimed he had pitched his idea to CEO Roger Enrico as part of Enrico's initiative to empower employees to help the flagging company. [34] In 2018, Fox Searchlight started developing a biopic about the origin story of Flamin' Hot Cheetos as told by Montañez. [35] It starred Jesse Garcia as Montañez and marked actress Eva Longoria's feature directorial debut. Hulu and Disney+ released the film, titled Flamin' Hot, in 2023. [36] [37] Flamin' Hot had its world premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) on March 11, 2023. [29] [30] It was released on both Hulu and Disney+ on June 9, 2023. [31] [32] The movie was screened on the South Lawn of the White House on June 15, 2023. President Joe Biden and director Eva Longoria, a notable Democrat campaigner, delivered remarks at the event, promoting it as the first White House screening of a movie focused on Hispanic characters. [33] [28] Reception [ edit ] Audience viewership [ edit ]

While Baker gets the promotion he always desired, Richard is still a janitor, though Baker gives him some support. Lonny asks Richard to clean upstairs, only to find Enrico who tells him that he understands his struggles growing up, before revealing that he has been promoted to Director of Multicultural Marketing. Richard is applauded by all his coworkers for his success and he happily calls Judy to tell her the good news.a b Zikmund, William G.; Barry B. Babin (2009). Essentials of Marketing Research. Cengage Learning. p.15. ISBN 978-0324593754. Archived from the original on 3 July 2023 . Retrieved 16 November 2011. a b "2010 PepsiCo Annual Report" (PDF). PepsiCo, Inc. 25 December 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2011 . Retrieved 1 July 2011.

Andrews, Travis M. (March 4, 2018). "From PepsiCo janitor to exec — powered by spicy Cheetos and entrepreneurship". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on June 22, 2023 . Retrieved June 22, 2023.

Montañez's last position was vice president of multicultural sales and community promotions for PepsiCo North America. [18] He retired from PepsiCo in March 2019 during an internal investigation into his Flamin' Hot Cheetos claim. [2] Indra Nooyi, who was chairman and CEO of PepsiCo while Carey was running Frito-Lay and the Pepsi beverage business, has blurbed Montañez’s new memoir, calling it a “tour de force.” (Nooyi also retired in 2019.) Tom Greco, who took over at Frito-Lay once Carey moved to Pepsi, has also blurbed the book. Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994, and Greco worked in Frito-Lay’s Canadian division until the early 2000s. a b Vary, Adam B. (June 7, 2023). " 'Flamin' Hot' Star Jesse Garcia on Why Latino Projects Don't Have 'the Luxury of Failing' and That Cheetos Controversy". Variety. Archived from the original on June 23, 2023 . Retrieved June 23, 2023.