Late at night, Ngoy would put Suganthini on his back and climb down the roof, then down the coconut tree. One by one, Ted lost all of his donut shops. Gambling is a devil. To make sure he went through with it, they insisted on hiding behind a curtain while he said his spiel. "He was a little uneasy," Gu says. It was on the market. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. All three were taken to the police station but they were too scared to mention the cash in the boot. Never surrender. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. Six weeks later, Gu and her producer, Jos Nuez, were on a plane to Cambodia where they spent three days interviewing Ngoy and shooting B-roll. It was hurtful. These are kids who are American educated. NICK STREET Channy is a stocky man in his mid-forties, and he runs USA Donut in Boeung Keng Kang with his wife. After Ted revealed his presence to Christy, he hid under her bed until he was eventually discovered and her family allowed them be together. "'You want to tell my story? He bought a bigger doughnut shop, and offered to lease the original Christy's to a family of Cambodian refugees, who had been working in fast food outlets on low wages. He had hidden a dagger and he took it out and stabbed himself three times. When they were released, the cash was gone. He sat on the roof of his apartment and played his flute, the music sweeping over the neighborhood. So he named his own political party the Free Development Republican Party. I go to borrow. By 2005, after a failed political career in Cambodia, Ngoy was penniless and living on the porch of a fellow Parkcrest Christian Church parishioner's mobile home. Pit bosses, floor men and dealers at Caesars Palace, the MGM Grand and the Mirage got to know the Cambodian doughnut king. All that money paid for expensive clothes, luxury cars, fancy trips and an opulent home in Mission Viejo. He bought donut shop after donut shop, leasing them to other Cambodian immigrants, who ran the stores with their families, and taking a monthly cut of each store's profits. It provided a path for refugees to settle and was a profitable business model. Most crucially, she acted as something of an ambassador, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other donut shop proprietors. His story begins in the early 1970s when Ngoy was a commander in the Royal Cambodian Army, training soldiers in Thailand. His party did poorly in the 1993 and 1998 parliamentary elections, but Prime Minister Hun Sen made him an advisor on commerce and agriculture. He has found his way to be wealthy again. That was super mind blowing for me to hear the political flip-flop and really insightful about another time when politics were more civil and there could be discussion. When time goes by it gets into your blood and you just cannot get it out," says Ted. "[9] In a mixed review, Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail said the film is "well worth watching" while saying there "are holes in this doughnut story. In 1985, he and Suganthini became U.S. citizens. A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. BC Donuts Ted worked as the church janitor but he soon realised earning $500 a month wouldn't be enough to support his family. He had gotten his first taste of that passion years earlier. On the porch of a friends mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering. In the early 1970s, Cambodia was in the midst of a brutal civil war that displaced two million people, more than a quarter of the country's population. Her parents wanted nothing to do with him. It's a monster in me.". Broke, Ted and Christy returned to Cambodia. He taught them the names of the doughnuts: old fashioned, jelly-filled, glazed. Bush, met former Presidents Reagan and Nixon, and urged other Asian immigrants to support the GOP. She would forgive him when he promised to stop, and he would -- for a while. Christys Doughnuts in La Habra never did great business. After setting up a sweet shop of his own, he helped fellow . I dont think you dare come to my room, she responded. One night under a full moon, they knelt and prayed. I did not have time to expand. Ted's parents and sisters fled across the border to Thailand, and Ted got a call from the US embassy there asking if he would sponsor them to live in the US. As many as I could.". Doughnuts offered an escape from years of welfare dependency. Night after night, he watched customers come and go. On Sundays he would go to the church where her son was the pastor and join in Bible studies. Ngoy built a vast donut shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County. "I became a very, very bad man and borrowed money here and there," he says. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Key grant funding to help O.C. If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. When he lost their money he would just sign over the shop to them - without telling Christy, whose signature he forged. "He's like, 'You know what? He says to me, Alice, making money its so easy. He did not fare well in either the 1993 or 1998 parliamentary elections, but his friend, Prime Minister Hun Sen, made him an advisor on commerce and agriculture. Also, significantly for Ngoy, other Cambodian refugees and their children donuts. Ngoy's gambling had progressed from the card tables to placing bets on sports games with Cambodian bookies. Heres a list, Greek transportation minister resigns over train collision as death toll keeps rising, Ohios senators to unveil rail safety bill in wake of East Palestine derailment, After months of pounding, Ukrainian official says military may pull back from Bakhmut, Elizabeth Holmes cites her new baby as a reason she should avoid prison for Theranos scam. Still homeless, he moved to the coastal town of Kep, on the Gulf of Thailand. Eventually, her parents discovered Ngoy and threw him out. They arranged a meeting for the couple at a relatives house, where Ngoy was expected to formally end their romance. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. , some of the dough (see what we did there?) At school, Ngoy fell in love from afar with a beautiful girl. You just have to see the opportunity and go for it. Those are the wise words of Ted Ngoy. "[1], Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. The donut business isnt easy. in Tustin sponsored the family, allowing them to live in the church where Ted worked as a janitor. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business. Under the Khmer Rouge leadership of Pol Pot people were forced to work on communal farms, and those with money or education were tortured and killed. Those are the sounds of a man in love, her mother said. Like Ngoy, most of the people who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian. When you get to the table, youre so emotional, evil in your body, he said. After cry, go back gambling." The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. He has to start a new life.. ", "I was like, 'What on earth makes this Cambodian? But the situation at home was increasingly dangerous and on his last trip, in April 1975, the capital fell. And it was actually a donut that I refused at first from Mayly Tao, the Donut Princess. While Ted was immersed in Cambodian politics, Christy flew to the US for the birth of a grandchild. [11], Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 19:19, "Rise and fall of Cambodian refugee 'Donut King' charted in award-winning film", "A TASTE OF CAMBODIA: A Real Horatio Alger Story: Refugee Built Empire on Doughnuts", "VOICES FROM THE FIRST GENERATION: The Ngoy Family", "Asians Looking to Broaden Horizons: Immigrants Prosper but Hope to Venture Outside the 'Business Ghetto', "The Donut King who went full circle - from rags to riches, twice", "The story of the man they called the doughnut king", "Review: A Shakespearean SoCal tragedy, 'The Donut King' charts the rise and fall of Ted Ngoy", "Lessons from the Donut King & Science Fiction's Golden Age", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ted_Ngoy&oldid=1140980965, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 19:19. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? He believed he could show others the path to wealth and opportunity. Baby Yoda cocktails. The other discovery for me was what I called Donut Generation 2.0, the kids who go to take over the parents mom and pop shops. "[1] He says his Christian faith ultimately helped him abandon the habit. At the peak of his success, Ted owned something like 65 donut stores many of them named Christy's and was bringing in about $100,000 per month. [5], The film received 69/100 on Metacritic, receiving "generally favorable reviews. and California landscape with a familiar coat yellow strip mall signs with red lettering reading Christys Donuts. Ted began to look for more doughnut shops to buy and lease to fellow refugees. 60? They took American names. He paid for their airfare and, when they arrived, "Uncle Ted" let them stay at his house while he taught them the ropes of the donut business. Designers Andrew Hem and Charlie Le were awarded a SWSW Film special jury recognition for their poster design of The Donut King in 2020. ", He communicates with them almost every day. Ted's story is told in a new documentary. "[7] In a positive review, Richard Whittaker with The Austin Chronicle said that "Gu does stellar work compiling and constructing Ngoys life story through interviews and archive and contemporary footage," and added "the animation sequences by Chapeau Studios and 1881 Animation that make the perfect drizzle of icing. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles. Gambling is a devil. By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. "But many of them were not related, they just lived in the same village or heard of my name. They barely talked to him. Suganthinis parents kept her locked in her room for days. It was helping his community and it was a bit of a cautionary tale.". This tastes like any other glazed donut,'" Gu says. Suganthinis father ran out from hiding and called an ambulance. Over the years, Ted and Christy sponsored more than 100 families, often hosting them before setting them up with homes, loans, and doughnut shops. [2][3][4], The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. "[8] Giving it three-out-of-four stars, Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com called the The Donut King "a heartwarming albeit scattered documentary from director Alice Gu," and praised the film for "its balance of poppy visuals and detailed history. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. Ted Ngoy, his wife and family pick up the story and walk us through their unbelievable experience, flying to a . Eventually Cambodians owned so many doughnut shops in California that they dominated the market, pushing Winchell's into second place. "I never back down. He is nicknamed the "Donut King." He is nicknamed the "Donut King." "It went like fire on the hill, so fast," says Ted. He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. Abcarian: Mask mandates? Ted did try to curb his habit. "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". Theres so much competition. And of the 5,000 independent doughnut shops in California today, around 80% are still Cambodian, she says. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. At a news conference, he dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. He has converted to Christianity, he said, and prays often, asking God for help. It was small amounts first but he was soon blowing bigger figures and he couldn't seem to stop. 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