Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

thehustle.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 279 posts

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#61

Post by Glench »

borepop wrote: post #55
zpeti wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s sad to see that in the last 10 years this type of comment (tries to) ruin every single inspirational story. Just because there’s shit in the world doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty and greatness and awesomeness sometimes. In fact that’s what makes it wonderful. If you’re bitter and all you see is the shit, and resent any inspirational story, well, good luck to you but I definitely don’t think you’ll have a product…

I don't think the person to whom you're responding was trying to "ruin" anything, they were just pointing out a complicating fact that is objectively true, which is that Frito Lay is in the business of selling junk food. The inspirational part and the problematic part are both real things, and acknowledging one doesn't mean the other is unimportant.

wonderfully said, thank you!

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#62

Post by NDizzle »

Someone wrote: post #7

Great story, but it can’t happen today. No janitor works for the company whose floors he’s mopping anymore, so janitors wouldn’t get that company-wide email.

Are you implying that companies outsource all of the janitorial duties now? I'm in Arkansas, so crack all the jokes you want, but the big places that produce a lot of food (McKee comes to mind - Little Debbie) staff their own positions.

https://mckee.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/mckee/jobs

So, in other words, yeah, you could be a janitor and potentially propose a new Little Debbie snack right now. That particular dream is still alive!

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#63

Post by shmageggy »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #25
KindOne wrote: post #5

If you don't want to read the twitter thread, you can read this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20227175 (2019) https://thehustle.co/hot-cheetos-inventor/

I actually came to post this. After noticing some weird terminology in the Twitter thread (I've never heard the term "Cucamonga Valley" used to refer to the neighborhood by Ontario International Airport) I found that hustle.co article which has very similar wording. I think the Twitter thread is just a paraphrasing with some jazzed up details

> paraphrasing

That’s a generous way to say plagiarism IMO. Link should probably be updated to this (@dang?). Plus it avoids the abomination that is long form text mutilated into a thousand tweets.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#64

Post by phkahler »

Guest42 wrote: post #50
kube-system wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or alternatively, they've "figured out" how not to hire people unrelated to their core business? What does Frito-Lay have to be gained from engaging in the janitorial business?

Not paying the person in between? I worked at PepsiCo for a little and most of their job responsibilities weren’t unique to the product offering or business model.

You can't get kickbacks from the middleman if there is no middleman.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#65

Post by phkahler »

kube-system wrote: post #43
scarface74 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

Or alternatively, they've "figured out" how not to hire people unrelated to their core business? What does Frito-Lay have to be gained from engaging in the janitorial business?

Were starting to see the results of outsourcing everything but your core business and it's not looking like a great strategy.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#66

Post by nescioquid »

naikrovek wrote: post #48
bserge wrote: post #16

This is a really nice story, but you know who the other hero is? The CEO who gave him the time and the opportunity. He could've easily told him to fuck off, as many would do. Who was he, what's his name? More often than not, we get nowhere without people in better positions helping us, it would be great if more people would keep an open mind like that. That CEO deserves recognition. And if you manage to climb higher…

Yeah CEOs never get enough respect. Also they're paid FAR too little for having an insight a child would have... Good leadership is rare, you're right, and I don't think CEOs deserve credit for demonstrating good leadership. Good leadership should be table stakes for that position; the bare minimum. What needs to change are the astonishingly weak disincentives (and sometimes, actual incentives) aimed at bad CEOs. If…

The temptation might be to treat the story like a rags-to-riches fairy tale, but it is instead a parable if you read it from the point of view of a leader (which admitedly would be resisting the author's narrative).

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#67

Post by dexterdog »

laverya wrote: post #39
scarface74 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

Governments (in the west) don't hire their leaders, though. Same is true of schools - principals and the like might be hired, but the school boards that chose them are elected.

And those boards usually select the superintendent and that superintendent certainly didn't start in the system as a janitor, nor did any of the principals under him.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#68

Post by oh_sigh »

OJFord wrote: post #57
Ancapistani wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hold up just a sec here. I’m not sure I that “Indian” is a “race” for any common definition of the word. It’s a nationality, but my my relatively uninformed perspective it appears that there are many ethnic and cultural groups that comprise it. More importantly, you seem to be attributing malice to the GP. They are noticing a cultural difference and asking for context. While their choice of phrasing may seem to some…

I agree asking about a cultural difference is fine, and I also think there's a way to do it, and that the top-level comment was way wide of that mark: it doesn't read like someone that wants to learn about a culture to me, it reads like someone glad of an opportunity to have a go.

Perhaps you're just hyper sensitive. I'm really just curious why I see these stories posted by Indian people frequently, but far less frequently by, say, Chinese people. Maybe it's just because Indians can more easily be part of the Anglo-web that I'm a part of versus Chinese people.

This doesn't prove anything, but I'm married to an Indian person. My child is half Indian. I am not just "having a go". I'm just curious. You need to chill with the assumption that anything you read that is genuine curiosity is racism because of "phrasing".

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#69

Post by GuB-42 »

naikrovek wrote: post #48
bserge wrote: post #16

This is a really nice story, but you know who the other hero is? The CEO who gave him the time and the opportunity. He could've easily told him to fuck off, as many would do. Who was he, what's his name? More often than not, we get nowhere without people in better positions helping us, it would be great if more people would keep an open mind like that. That CEO deserves recognition. And if you manage to climb higher…

Yeah CEOs never get enough respect. Also they're paid FAR too little for having an insight a child would have... Good leadership is rare, you're right, and I don't think CEOs deserve credit for demonstrating good leadership. Good leadership should be table stakes for that position; the bare minimum. What needs to change are the astonishingly weak disincentives (and sometimes, actual incentives) aimed at bad CEOs. If…

It is not "an insight a child would have". Good ideas mean nothing unless it leads to a marketable product. And for one smart janitor with business sense there are thousands of people who will just cost the company money.

The CEO here managed to notice that among thousands, this is the janitor to listen to.

As for CEO being well paid, it is simply because their decisions can make the company lose or earn a lot of money. If a $500k salary earns the company millions, it is well deserved. And when things go wrong CEOs do get kicked out.

So yeah, we can say that spotting talent in a janitor and turning into a lot of money for the company is a CEO's job and the reason he is paid so well, but it doesn't mean he shouldn't be praised for a job well done.

And sure some CEO don't deserve their position, golden parachutes are a thing, but I have a feeling that most CEOs have merit.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#70

Post by kube-system »

phkahler wrote: post #65
kube-system wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or alternatively, they've "figured out" how not to hire people unrelated to their core business? What does Frito-Lay have to be gained from engaging in the janitorial business?

Were starting to see the results of outsourcing everything but your core business and it's not looking like a great strategy.

The software industry hasn't quite figured it out, but specialization is a great strategy for the vast majority of the economy and it has worked extremely well.
Post reply on HN