Source: Ashley “AC” Trybula / ACThePlug.com
I bet you never wondered who thought of the idea of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos came from or how it came about. Well, truth be told, it came from a janitor that worked at the Frito-Lay Rancho Cucamonga plant in the 70’s.
That’s right, Richard Montañez was a sole creator of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
One day, the President of the company sent his employees a video message, “He told us to act like an owner, I looked around and didn’t see a lot of reaction from my co-workers, but for me it was the opportunity to do something different,” said Richard.
So, Richard started thinking and one day he saw someone adding chile to their corn and that light bulb went on and Richard said, “what if I add chile to a Cheetos?”
That’s all it took because he ran to this mom’s house and started grabbing spices and proceeded to make his first test of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Richard had his friends and co-workers taste tested it and with that accomplishment, he called the Pres. of the company and was lucky enough to get an appointment to see him.
He had just days to get his presentation for the Pres., the company executives so he and his wife raced to the library to check to books on marketing strategies.
With these books and the ideas, Richard put his presentation together and with the help of his neighbors and his wife, the product samples were ready for his meeting.
There’s no doubt that his product was loved and today there’s no surprise that it’s one of their top selling snacks too.
Richard, the same guy who at 7-years old, was selling burritos at lunchtime at school for a quarter and the same man who admits that he dropped out of school, a decision that he says, “I regret it, but I didn’t understand the teachers and I felt they were holding me back.”
This is the same man who was a janitor in 1976 and made it to the top with that little fire he had inside.
He says it, “If you have confidence, you can walk into any room… your job is to prepare yourself to walk through the doors.”
Richard hasn’t forgotten what it was like to be hungry, he knows the success, but he still gives back to the people.
They said why? He responds with, Because I can and it’s my responsibility, I know what it is to be hungry.”
Richard speaks now and they say that his lectures are a cross between, “scold, comic and motivational, but he does it and tells people how he went from mopping the floors at the company to using the corporate jets.
We’ll leave you with this from Richard, “The antidote to fear is hunger. When you have hunger for a job position, knowledge or a new house, you go and get it and fear will never get a hold of you.”
