Former PepsiCo janitor turned exec Richard Montañez is suing the corporate for denying that he invented Flamin’ Scorching Cheetos.
The Related Press stories the lawsuit states that his profession was destroyed after the meals big questioned his declare.
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Richard Montañez Sues PepsiCo For Defamation
Montañez filed the lawsuit on July 10 in a California Superior Courtroom. He claims PepsiCo initially supported him and promoted his story and the film that was created about his invention. Nevertheless, they later switched up on him and sided with former staff who claimed he was not the inventor. Richard is now suing for damages for discrimination, fraud, and defamation. The previous PepsiCo worker says the corporate’s stance harm his talking profession and different potential alternatives. Richard says a documentary on his life has since been axed as a result of firm’s new stance.
Based on the lawsuit, Richard’s story begins working for PepsiCo as a janitor at its Frito-Lay plant in Rancho Cucamonga, California, in 1977. He’s the son of a Mexican immigrant and grew up in a migrant labor camp. At some point, a machine at Montañez’s plant broke down, leaving a batch of unflavored Cheetos. He subsequently took them house. Richard experimented with chili powder in an try to copy the flavour of elote, a well-liked Mexican grilled seasoned corn. After he achieved the specified style, he requested to fulfill with PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico in 1991 to pitch his spicy Cheetos. Richard was assured the Latino group can be feelin’ the brand new snack. The lawsuit states Enrico was all the way down to have a gathering and appreciated Montañez’s presentation. In consequence, he directed the corporate to develop a brand new type of Cheetos.
Richard Montañez’s Huge Success Then Decline
The lawsuit states that PepsiCo despatched Richard on talking engagements and totally backed his declare that he created the spicy chips. Nevertheless, he says the corporate’s analysis and improvement departments shut him out of its discussions and testing. Flamin’ Scorching Cheetos hit the market in 1992, and Richard says he continued to develop extra snacks like Flamin’ Scorching Popcorn and Lime and Chili Fritos. In consequence, he was promoted to enterprise improvement supervisor in Southern California. Montañez was ultimately promoted to PepsiCo’s vice chairman of multicultural advertising and marketing and gross sales. He was in such excessive demand for talking engagements that he retired from the corporate in 2019 to turn out to be a motivational speaker full-time. Speak about a come-up story! Devon Franklin, Meagan Good’s ex-husband, produced the movie ‘Flamin’ Scorching’ in 2023 primarily based on his life.
PepsiCo turned Montañez’s opp in 2021 after aligning with a Los Angeles Instances article claiming he was not concerned in creating Flamin’ Scorching. Former staff mentioned they have been already engaged on spicy snacks when Montañez approached them, and so they created the identify ‘Flamin’ Scorching,’ not Richard. Leisure Weekly reported in 2023 that Frito-Lay didn’t deny the story. Nevertheless, they acknowledged, “the knowledge we shared with the media has been misconstrued by some.” Moreover, the corporate mentioned this “…resulted in confusion on the place we stand” and has put a “pressure on our valued friendship with Richard Montañez…” Furthermore, the model mentioned Richard “is a vital a part of [their] historical past” and credited him partly for his or her “success.”
The corporate ought to make clear their statements as a result of Richard is seemingly hawt that they’re playin’ along with his identify.
Related Press workers author Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this text.
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