What EFI Leadership Teams Have in Common With Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
If your mouth has ever been stained red by a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto, then you’ve tasted the proof that when systems are in place to engage workers at all levels, a company benefits from a wider range of ideas for improvement, increased collaboration and easier information sharing.
The story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos has been making the rounds online for a few years, and fans can look forward to seeing it adapted for the big screen in the near future. It all started with an invitation issued by Roger Enrico, the CEO of PepsiCo in the early ’80s: “I’m empowering all of you employees to act like owners.”
Richard Montañez, a janitor at a California Frito-Lay plant, took the invitation seriously, and after inventing what he called “Cheetos Calientes” for the Latino market by adding his own spice mix to unseasoned Cheetos, he made a phone call to the CEO. Enrico’s assistant decided to put the unconventional call through, and Montañez says by doing that, “She changed my life.”
After purchasing a $3 tie and delivering a self-described “ridiculous” yet earnest presentation to Enrico and 50 top executives, Montañez’s idea found a place to land. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos took off and paved the way for an entirely new market, bringing in over a billion dollars in revenue since it was launched in 1992. Montañez is now the Vice President of Multicultural Sales & Community Promotions across PepsiCo’s North American divisions.
It’s a standout story — not because a janitor had a good idea but because the idea didn’t get lost. The corporate culture was one that enabled management to hear his good idea and respond.
Can your company say the same? Since 2014, Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) has been helping fresh produce growers establish systems and corporate cultures well-suited to capitalize on innovation that originates across the pay scale.
The tool used to capture these ideas is the EFI Leadership Team, a group of eight to 20 coworker-nominated employees who represent all areas of the workforce, from management to labor. Team members receive 40 hours of training on communication, problem-solving and conflict resolution and then meet regularly, acting as liaisons for their fellow employees. These teams provide regular opportunities to pass ideas and solutions up the ladder.
The model works.
“If you listen to the people doing the job, if you listen to their ideas, you become a better, more productive operation,” said Victor Smith, CEO of JV Smith Companies. “At one of our operations, traditionally we’ve had problems during the holidays getting production,” said Smith. “Since we’ve been through the EFI training, we met with the crew leaders and crew and explained the problem to them. They came back and told us, ‘We will get you your budgeted production if you can make a few changes for us.’ The changes were all just basically production-oriented good ideas that, as a management team, we hadn’t thought about before.”
Jeff Lyons, Senior Vice President of Fresh Foods for Costco Wholesale, also applauds the concepts promoted by the EFI Leadership Team structure. “It’s amazing. When you ask the people who are doing the job how to do it better, guess what? You’ll get some really good answers. It’s one of the things that’s missing sometimes in business.”
Whether you’re producing a red-hot corn snack or a juicy red tomato or berry, when your employees have good ideas, you want to be in the loop.
EFI is available to lead customized change management, organization and leadership development trainings for companies whether they are pursuing EFI certification or not.
For more information on the EFI Program and workforce development training, contact business@equitablefood.org
