Jennifer Saenz

Back in August, The Spotted Cheetah roared into town and briefly reigned as one of New York’s hottest bistros.

- David Gianatasio

The place was booked solid just six hours after it began taking reservations, shunting a thousand disappointed diners onto the waiting list. Celebrity chef Anne Burrell created the menu, which boasted 11 items priced from $8 to $22, and included Chicken Milanese, fried green tomatoes and apple crepe desserts. 

Oh, did we mention that everything was made with Cheetos? 

The three-day pop-up restaurant—which drew glitterati like Mariah Carey and wound up generating 4 billion media impressions globally—was proof that the old days of snack-food marketing were truly over. It was also a sign that Jennifer Saenz was in charge.

Saenz is the force behind a series of headline-grabbing initiatives (including The Spotted Cheetah) created in her quest to bake Frito-Lay snacks even deeper into popular culture. “Because of the transformative nature not only of our marketplace, but of how our consumers engage with us, we have evolved our approach to marketing,” Saenz explains. “Our programming strives to reflect the moods and interests of our consumers—the full range of those interests.”