Name: How Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Became America’s Favorite Snack
Uploaded: 2021-05-27T12:08:20.000Z
Duration: 12 min 25 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

It seems like you can't go anywhere without seeing Flamin' Hot

retailers to music videos to makeup tutorials.

Here's how Flamin' Hot went from a janitor's vision to a worldwide

The rise and popularity of Flamin' Hot is unlike anything else we've

It has a cult-like following that really goes beyond just being a

Since launching Flamin' Hot Cheetos in 1992, Frito-Lay is continuing

to expand their Flamin' Hot product line.

There are 15 Flamin' Hot snacks from popcorn to Doritos.

It's easy to mistake Flamin' Hot's popularity for just another social

media trend, but experts say its success is actually a reflection of

America's shifting demographics and their desire for more intense

flavors. Flamin' Hot's rise started with this man, Richard Montañez.

Montañez was a janitor at Frito-Lay when he saw a message from the CEO

calling on all employees to act like owners.

I started, you know, researching my company, and I saw no products

that were catering to Latinos or to the person who loves spices.

Montañez grew up in a migrant farming community east of Los Angeles,

and even though Montañez says he didn't have a college degree or

formal business training, he prided himself on having an eye for

innovation. In a lot of Latino neighborhoods like mine that I grew up

in we have something that is called the elote man.

It's a vendor called the corn man, and he puts mayonnaise, butter,

cheese —however you want it —lime, chili.

I remember, I whistled and I said, "Let me have two." I'm eating, and

What could I create?" And then I looked at that, and it looked just

like Cheeto. I thought, "What if I put chili on a Cheeto?"

Montañez called Roger Enrico, Frito-Lay's CEO at the time, to

personally pitch his idea over the phone.

With the help of his wife, Montañez put together a formal

presentation, selling Frito-Lay executives on the promise of an

Richard's insights into the Hispanic consumer really helped us shape

and think about how we should talk to that consumer.

That was something that we relied on very heavily.

In 1992, the Flamin' Hot flavor was officially launched.

Today it's one of the top-selling snack flavors at Frito-Lay, a

company that has over 1,100 snacks in its arsenal.

The brand added Flamin' Hot peanuts in 1997, then Flamin' Hot Cheetos

puffs in 1999, and Flamin' Hot Limón crunchy Cheetos in 2002.

Since then, it's released 11 more snacks and even created a Flamin'

Flamin' Hot is actually the number one snack in spicy foods.

Flamin' Hot flavored snacks saw a 150% increase in sales from 2018 to

2019. One reason for the spike is the brand's strategic approach to

Remember, I'm Flamin' Hot and you're Flamin' not.

One of the most effective ways to market a snack right now is with an

And you are definitely seeing Frito-Lay play into that.

They have musicians who have promoted the product.

He was in the Super Bowl last year with the Backstreet Boys, and they

You have Post Malone, who rebranded himself Post Limón to promote

Flamin' Hot Doritos. So you're seeing the brand try things and do

things in a way that connects with culture.

Can't touch this. And that makes it more shareable, and that makes

people hunger for the content and then potentially hunger for the

product. But more importantly, Flamin' Hot fans are showing

enthusiasm for unconventional Flamin' Hot experiences.

Mukbang, a video genre that originated in South Korea, attracts

millions of viewers who enjoy watching excessive amounts of food

Flamin' Hot has been a massive success in the Mukbang category on

YouTube, with the top post garnering over 20 million views.

In 2018, Frito-Lay, opened Flamin' Hot inspired pop-ups in New York

and Los Angeles, which quickly sold out while attracting a ton of

But while Flamin' Hot owes some of its popularity to A-list

endorsements, fan pages, and clever marketing schemes, there's a

quiet but seismic force underlying its elevation from snack food to

Our demographics have been changing slowly but surely over time.

We've seen a great influx of Hispanics as well as Asians.

And when they immigrate to the United States, they bring their food

cultures with them, and many of their core flavors are on the spicier

side. And so, as they became a bigger part of our population, we

noticed that spicy flavors started popping up a little bit more.

And our millennial generation is the most willing generation to use

these flavors. America's preferences for new flavors are evolving in

The two fastest growing ethnic groups in America are Asian-Americans

Between 2000 and 2018, the Asian-American population grew by nearly 7

3%. The Hispanic-American population also saw significant growth at 63

%. Experts say the explosive growth of these two communities are

impacting the types of flavors and ingredients used in restaurants

and snacks. What restaurants are buying in big numbers are flavors

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How Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Became America’s Favorite Snack

phenomenon

evolve

consume

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