One day, as he told Lowrider magazine, he saw a company-wide video of then-CEO Roger Enrico saying, “We want every worker in this company to act like an owner. Make a difference. You belong to this company, so make it better.”

Montañez took these words to heart.

[...]

As he tells it, one day an assembly line at the plant where he worked broke down. A batch of Cheetos didn’t receive the orange, cheesy dust that make them so popular. So he took a few home to experiment.

He had formed an idea while watching a street vendor in his neighborhood make elote, or grilled Mexican street corn — corn on the cob covered in cheese, butter, lime and chili.

“What if I took the same concept and applied it to a Cheeto?” he thought, according to his memoir.

So he did. His friends and family loved the result. Thinking back to the video and figuring he had nothing to lose, he decided to call [CEO] Enrico to pitch the idea.

Against all odds, it worked. Enrico loved the idea, and a new line of spicy snack food was born — with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos as its flagship. Montañez has since served in various positions throughout the company, including as an executive vice president.

Washington Post