Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Roger Basick.
Voice 2
And I’m Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Click here to follow along with this program on YouTube.
Voice 1
The room was full of powerful people. They were rich. They had years of experience. They were smart. He was none of these things. He had dropped out of school. He picked fruit for money. He washed cars. Now he cleaned the floors where the executives worked. He was poor. Why was he standing in this room talking to them? What could he have to say that they would find interesting? What idea did he have that would make their company billions of dollars?
Voice 2
On today’s Spotlight, we look at Richard Montañez. He came from a Mexican American family. Montañez grew up in a small farming town in California. His family was poor. They all worked on a farm picking fruit. Montañez and his ten brothers and sisters slept with their parents in a one-room home. Montañez did not speak English well. He struggled in school. One day his teacher asked the students to choose their dream jobs. These were jobs they hoped to get when they grew up. Some of Montañez’s classmates chose jobs like doctor and pilot. Montañez could not think of a dream job. He never thought he could do anything other than what his family was already doing. Montañez said:
Voice 3
“I understood I did not have a dream. There was no dream where I came from.”
Voice 1
Montañez stopped going to school. He worked all day in the fields with his father and grandfather picking fruit. Later, he worked at a meat factory. He also washed cars and picked grass out of flower beds. In the late 1970s a friend told Montañez about a job opening at a company called Frito-Lay. They made chips. The job was for a janitor. A janitor cleans the buildings. Montañez’s wife had to fill out the job paperwork for him because he could not read or write. But he met the manager and got the job.
Voice 2
Montañez worked as hard as he could to clean the floors. He wanted to be the best janitor Frito-Lay had ever had. Montañez also tried to learn how the company worked. In between his shifts, he introduced himself to other workers. Montañez watched how they did their jobs. He studied how the company’s machines worked. Montañez spent ten years learning while working as a janitor.
Voice 1
During the 1980s Frito-Lay’s sales dropped. The company struggled. The Chief Executive Officer, Roger Enrico, recorded a video message for his 300,000 workers. Enrico encouraged all workers to think of ways to help their company. He said everyone’s idea would be considered. He wanted to hear from all areas of the company. Enrico said:
Voice 4
“Act like an owner.”
Voice 2
One day, Montañez asked a Frito-Lay salesman if he could go with him. He wanted to learn what the salesman did. They went to a store in a Latino part of town. The salesman added more Frito-Lay chips to the store’s display. Montañez noticed Mexican spices sitting next to the chips. Montañez saw that Frito-Lay was not selling any spicy or hot chips.
Voice 1
A few weeks later, Montañez ate some elote. Elote is Mexican corn. It is covered in chili powder, salt, lime, and other spicy toppings. Montañez wondered how a Cheeto would taste covered in chili powder and other spices. Cheetos were one of Frito-Lay’s chips.
Voice 2
Montañez wanted to help Frito-Lay. He wanted to help the company that offered him a job. One night while working late, Montañez saw a broken machine. It was not covering Cheetos with their usual topping. Montañez took some of the Cheetos home. He and his wife covered them with chili powder and other Mexican spices. He gave them to his family and friends. They loved them.
Voice 1
Montañez had an idea. He wanted Frito-Lay to start covering Cheetos with chili powder and Mexican spices like an elote. Montañez believed many Hispanic people would love it. The state of California had more Hispanic people than any other state in the United States. Montañez said:
Voice 3
“Nobody had given any thought to the Latino market.”
Voice 2
Montañez found Enrico’s phone number in the company’s phonebook. Even though Montañez was only a janitor, he called the head of the company with his idea. Montañez was thinking like an owner. He told Enrico that he had studied their company’s products. Montañez had an idea to make Cheetos more appealing to Latinos. Enrico loved the idea. He told Montañez to prepare a presentation to give to the executives at Frito-Lay in two weeks.
Voice 1
Montañez and his wife found a book on marketing. They used it to help them prepare his presentation. He filled 100 plastic bags with Cheetos covered in his special collection of spices. Montañez took them to the presentation. He was very nervous standing in front of all the rich, educated men. But when Montañez finished, Enrico stood up and told him:
Voice 4
“Put the cleaning supplies away, you are coming with us.”
Voice 2
Montañez helped Frito-Lay put together a new line of Cheetos. They called it “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.” They started selling Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to a few stores in Latino parts of California. Montañez knew that if the Cheetos did not sell well, he would probably be back cleaning floors. This was his big chance. He thought that some of the men in charge were jealous of his opportunity. Montañez believed a few of them wanted him to fail. He had an idea that they missed. If it worked, they might get fired. Montañez said:
Voice 3
“They thought I was lucky. They were paid a lot of money to come up with these ideas. They did not want some janitor to do it.”
Voice 1
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos sold well in local stores. In 1992, Frito-Lay began selling Flamin’ Hot Cheetos across the United States. At the time, Frito-Lay only had three Cheetos products. But Flamin’ Hot Cheetos sold so well that Frito-Lay made over twenty more kinds of chips using Montañez’s spices. People could even buy all the different kinds of Flamin’ Hot chips in a box called the Frito-Lay Flamin’ Hot Mix. These chips made Frito-Lay billions of dollars. Montañez became a Vice President for PepsiCo America, which owns Frito-Lay.
Voice 2
Many years later, a newspaper story claimed that Montañez had not thought of the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos by himself. The reporter wrote that Montañez did help create Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in California. But not for the rest of the United States. People at Frito-Lay said teams of workers came up with the new kind of chip. It was not just one person. But Montañez’s lawyer said:
Voice 5
“The taste that Richard came up with, Frito-Lay did what they had to do to get it ready to market. But Richard never got to be part of it because his position had nothing to do with it. He was not in marketing, research and development, or sales. He was a general utility machine operator. He was a janitor.”
Voice 1
Newsweek and Fortune magazines both chose Montañez as one of the most important Hispanic leaders in the United States. A Hollywood studio made a film about Montañez’s life called Flamin’ Hot. Montañez got involved in youth programs that supported education. He gave speeches encouraging young people to stay in school. Montañez also told kids not to be afraid to have a dream. He said it will never be easy. But anyone can do anything if they do not give up.
Voice 2
Have you tried Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and the other chips that Frito-Lay makes? Which is your favorite and why? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X. You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Voice 1
The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No A.I. or artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people, no matter where in the world they live. This episode is called “The Flamin’ Hot Janitor.”
Voice 2
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight episode. Goodbye.
Question:
Have you tried Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and the other chips that Frito-Lay makes? Which is your favorite and why?
