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> Or he could simply be getting things mixed up. Either way, it's concerning to see so many comments implying (or explying) malice on his part when the more lik

> Or he could simply be getting things mixed up. Either way, it's concerning to see so many comments implying (or explying) malice on his part when the more likely explanations are both more mundane and more charitable. He has a very clear story. He says the machine that coats the cheetos in cheese powder broke, so he took some home, developed a spicy powder, and coated them. Then he called up the CEO, Roger Enrico, and had a meeting with him and 100 other people where he pitched his invention. There's no way he was somehow involved in the marketing of hot cheetos, got confused and accidentally came up with a story like that. I'm sure the charitable version is that he slowly embellished over the years until one day he invented hot cheetos instead of being involved in popularizing them.

yellowapple 4y ago
> He says the machine that coats the cheetos in cheese powder broke, so he took some home, developed a spicy powder, and coated them. Then he called up the CEO, Roger Enrico, and had a meeting with him and 100 other people where he pitched his invention. That doesn't necessarily mean what he (claims to have) pitched was the exact recipe for the Flamin' Hot powder. Mixing up which CEO he pitched to aside, it's entirely possible (probable, even) that he could've presented some homemade powder only for Frito Lay to then decide "well wait, we already have this spicy powder from McCormack we're using for a Chee-tos flavor we're testing in the Midwest, so we'll just use that and greenlight it for national distribution; yo Rick, anything else we should spice up for the Latin American market? Popcorn? Fritos? Fuck it, why not?". The timeline of when Montañez allegedly "invented" Flamin' Hot Cheetos does line up with when they hit shelves nationwide; I'm willing to bet it's less a matter of him deliberately stealing credit from others and more a matter of him not having been aware of prior efforts and his independent invention being of something already in the works.

yellowapple 4y ago

> He says the machine that coats the cheetos in cheese powder broke, so he took some home, developed a spicy powder, and coated them. Then he called up the CEO, Roger Enrico, and had a meeting with him and 100 other people where he pitched his invention. That doesn't necessarily mean what he (claims to have) pitched was the exact recipe for the Flamin' Hot powder. Mixing up which CEO he pitched to aside, it's entirely possible (probable, even) that he could've presented some homemade powder only for Frito Lay to then decide "well wait, we already have this spicy powder from McCormack we're using for a Chee-tos flavor we're testing in the Midwest, so we'll just use that and greenlight it for national distribution; yo Rick, anything else we should spice up for the Latin American market? Popcorn? Fritos? Fuck it, why not?". The timeline of when Montañez allegedly "invented" Flamin' Hot Cheetos does line up with when they hit shelves nationwide; I'm willing to bet it's less a matter of him deliberately stealing credit from others and more a matter of him not having been aware of prior efforts and his independent invention being of something already in the works.