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Richard Montañez

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (circa 1958- )
    Born in Ontario, California
    Vice-President of Multicultural Sales and Community Promotion for PepsiCo
    Claimed to be the inventor of Flamin' Hot Cheetos
    Wrote 'Flamin' Hot: The Incredible Story of One Man's Rise from Janitor to Top Executive'

Why he might be annoying:

    He dropped out of school in the ninth grade -- although in motivational speeches, he likes to claim it was the fourth or sixth grade.
    After a Los Angeles Times exposé and an internal investigation, Frito Lay admitted that Montañez had not been involved in creating Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
    The snack had actually been designed by a team of food professionals at corporate HQ in Plano, Texas, to compete with spicy snacks being sold at inner-city mini markets, especially in Chicago and Detroit.
    In the most dramatic part of his story, he decided to bypass the middlemen and pitch his snack idea directly to CEO Roger Enrico. However, Enrico did not transfer from PepsiCo's beverage division to Frito-Lay until six months after Flamin' Hot Cheetos were already being test marketed.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He grew up in a migrant labor camp in Southern California, where he lived in a one-bedroom apartment with his parents and ten siblings.
    He showed entrepreneurial spirit in elementary school, when he would take two burritos to lunch: one to eat, one to sell to classmates.
    He did help develop Sabrositas, a line of products pitched to the Latino community in Los Angeles.
    Several people involved in the launch of Sabrositas recalled that some of the stories that Montañez told about Flamin' Hot Cheetos -- such as tapping into the network of Tupperware ladies to distribute the snack -- did happen, but with Sabrositas.
    A Frito-Lay executive said, 'Richard's insights into the Hispanic consumer really helped us shape and think about how we should talk to that consumer.'
    If he had just stuck to his actual rise from janitor to VP, he still would have had an inspirational story.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying