Flamin' Hot Cheetos Is Getting Its Own Movie Will a brand's signature snack take a bite out of the box office?
By Dan Bova
No, it's not a joke, and no, it's not as dumb as it sounds.
Variety reports that Fox Searchlight announced the production of Flamin' Hot, the true and inspiring story of a billion-dollar snack.
Inspiring? Yes. If you're not up on your finger-dust history, here's the short of it: In 1976, Mexican-born janitor Robert Montanez was working at the Frito-Lay's Rancho Cucamonga plant. A production line snafu left a batch of Cheetos naked, without its signature cheese dust. Montanez didn't want the food to go to waste, so he decided to flavor it on his own with a mixture of salt, lime and chile powder used to flavor Mexican grilled corn. "I see the corn man adding butter, cheese, and chile to the corn," he explained in an interview with Fox, "and thought, what if I add chile to a Cheeto?"
Related: How to Build a Billion-Dollar Brand
His creation caught the attention of Frito-Lay's president and eventually led to the company's best-selling snack. Montanez soon hung up his janitor mop and became vice president of multicultural sales at PepsiCo. Inspiring and delicious!
