Spicy dispute over the origins of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos winds up in court

AP Business Writer

A court case could soon settle a spicy dispute: Who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? A former PepsiCo executive is suing the company in California, saying it destroyed his career after questioning his claim that he invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. According to his lawsuit, Richard Montañez began working for PepsiCo as a janitor at its Frito-Lay plant in California in 1977. He claims he began experimenting with chili powder on Cheetos in the early 1990s and helped convince the company to sell them. Montañez later became a marketing executive at PepsiCo. But he says the company eventually claimed that others had developed the hit product.