Ngoy tried Gamblers Anonymous. Few foods are as universally adored as fried dough. No political life, no religious life, just work, work, he said. [1], That's why I want to tell the world, "Do not gamble." The rise & fall of The Donut King. [2][3][4], The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. The doughnut king landed at LAX with $50 in his pocket. Even in gambling. 2023 BBC. Although there is still some resentment towards him in the Cambodian community, whose hard-earned cash he gambled away, he is also revered by many. The Ngoys went to Las Vegas for the first time in 1977. During the week they went to school, where sometimes they were so hungry they stole snacks from other kids' lunchboxes. They made a blood pact, promising to be forever faithful. The documentary goes back and forth between Ngoy and the present-day lives of second- and third-generation donut shop kids or what Gu refers to as Donut Generation 2.0. Hes also a sign of Mexicos healthcare crisis, Black residents of Jackson, Miss., blast plans by white-dominated Legislature for more state control, Spain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws. "Ultimately, this is a story of a guy who came to the country with nothing, and with some hustle, and dreams, and a little luck, really made quite a charmed life for himself.". On one of his Las Vegas trips, Ngoy took up gambling. You cannot resist against it.. Ted Ngoy is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of donut shops in California, earning him the nickname the "Donut King." While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about learning the business. When he couldn't pay them back because he had gambled the money away, Ted signed away his ownership stake in those stores. Ted began to look for more doughnut shops to buy and lease to fellow refugees. Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. Their fairy tale romance is so distant, she said, its as if it happened to someone else. At 35, Ngoy had already climbed out of poverty and into privilege once. "[10], Whittaker said that "as Asian Americans face increasing racism, its closing message about how immigrant communitiesdefine America has only become more timely."[8]. He went on to marry Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. These are all people who present day you dont associate with welcoming refugees with open arms. On hearing the music float across the quiet city, Suganthini's mother remarked that whoever was playing must be in love. Ted Ngoy in The Donut King documentary. War erupted in 1970. Rose Donuts and Cafe He returned to a refugee community in transition. Because of the Ngoys, a Cambodian refugees first American job was often in a doughnut shop. He lobbied his contacts in the Republican inner circle, including Senator John McCain, and MFN status was granted permanently in 1996. Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit They would speed through Phnom Penh on his motorcycle, the couple recalled. He had no home and no money, and his country had been overrun by a gang of pitiless thugs. He trained them and handed over the keys. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. I never loved you.' Here's Why It's Especially Dangerous To Hike SoCal Mountains Right Now, How 4 Words Upended A University's Journalism Program, And Stirred A Reckoning Over Race, What A Popular Yoga Teacher's Descent Into Conspiracy Theories Says About The 'Wellness To QAnon Pipeline', Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters In LA. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. It's so amazing, so touching.' But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christys Doughnuts. Faced with such determination, her family allowed the young lovers to be together. [5] By 1977 he was able to purchase his first doughnut shop, Christy's Donuts, in La Habra. Once a paragon in the community, refugees now avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Key grant funding to help O.C. I go to borrow. I called her when I found out and asked if she knew about Ford and Brown. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. Theres a hustle to it, and director Alice Gu captures it in her debut documentary The Donut King.. Hes friends with Dana Rohrabacher. And I feel so much hurt. In the end, filming the documentary was a healing experience for Ted. Distraught, she took an overdose of sleeping pills and fell into a coma. In return, he played their tables and lost thousands of dollars. I told them I'm very sorry 1,000 times. 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. Besides, he reasoned, as a politician he would not be able to gamble. That is a lie, he cried, and plunged the blade into his belly. [4], Ngoy secured work as a janitor with Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin, California. When the couple recovered, her parents finally allowed them to marry. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. Like Ngoy, most of the people who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian. Every evening, he sat by his open window and played the flute. "[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. And she said she knew a lot of people in her parents generation who are lifelong Republicans and thats why they hate the Democratic party. The Donut King is told through archival footage, animation, and interviews with family members alongside Ted Ngoy, who has tried to make peace with those who he's hurt including Mel Allison, a 91-year-old baker still at it at Winchell's. The film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. Tao did everything in her power to help Gu. Long-lost ship found at the bottom of Lake Huron, confirming story of tragic collision, TikTok to set default daily time limit of up to 60 minutes for minors, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, TikTok faces bans in a number of countries over security fears. "It was a different take on a refugee story,". They wont trust you, he said. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. It was really wonderful. "They're a good company and I owe them gratitude," Ted says. Drenched and bleeding, he tiptoed into a hallway. It led many voters to assume, incorrectly, that he was against Cambodia's royal family, and he didn't win a seat. Boozy Dole Whips. The following month, US President Gerald Ford insisted the US should welcome 130,000 refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia, telling any critics: "We're a country built by immigrants from all areas of the world, and we've always been a very humanitarian nation.". He spends his evenings alone, reading the Bible. In doing the research and finding that it was President [Gerald] Ford who issued the executive order to receive the refugees, a Republican president that was a huge surprise to me given that during the time that we were making this film we were hearing Donald Trumps rhetoric. ", He communicates with them almost every day. Her name was Suganthini Khoeun. The Donut King: Directed by Alice Gu. I could have made a special piece just on the history of donuts. What was it like?I spoke with him and he was in Cambodia. The ubiquity and low overhead of these Cambodian mom-and-pop donut shops helped drive Dunkin' Donuts out of California in the late '90s. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in real estate. No days off. California Sunday After cry, go back gambling.. 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. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. It took longer than 40 years. He tasted his first donut at a Tustin gas station, trained as a baker in a La Mirada Winchells and ran his own Winchells store in the Balboa Peninsula. He is wealthy again. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. Ted kept a low profile until the LA filmmaker Alice Gu got in touch a couple of years ago. Two days after Gu's out-of-the-blue call to DK's Donuts, she was talking to Ngoy in Cambodia. Ngoy forged her signature on checks. Why are we still having these debates? (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment). The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. His doughnut fortune was almost gone. Theres also the moment where Ted revisits his former home in Mission Viejo. Something else about Orange County that I found so beautiful and touching while we were making this film, there was a man who owned a donut shop in Seal Beach and his wife was stricken with cancer. I cry. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. This is my own speculation, but it seemed like he had come to some peace with his dad and childhood. 50? The Cambodians worked hard and because the whole family pitched in, they did not have to pay out any wages. When you get to the table, youre so emotional, evil in your body, he said. One involves reggae and another focuses on Puerto Rican musicians. When I become big guy, then I cannot go gamble because people wont vote for you. The Ngoys drove a motor home around California, opening shops in Los Angeles, Modesto, Fresno, San Jose, the Bay Area city of Brisbane, Sacramento and San Diego. It was a strategy that ended up working for them. The first few times he and Christy visited, on early family holidays, everything went well: they watched a magic show, they saw Elvis perform. It was on the market. Tell us about your wife. Ted Ngoy By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. "Well, it is because I've fallen in love with you," Ted replied. One night under a full moon, they knelt and prayed. People made fun of his accent. Sent to the city to study, Ngoy met the beautiful Suganthini Khoeun who was the daughter of a government. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. Seasonal Halloween donuts at DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. 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. While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about . Money, doughnuts, sleep.. Devastated that he had broken their pact, she filed for divorce. Suganthini's family insisted Ted break it off by telling her he didn't love her. On Sundays he would go to the church where her son was the pastor and join in Bible studies. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. "The more you chase, the more it's gone," he says in a new documentary about his rise and fall, called The Donut King. . Did working on this film change or contribute to your perspective of the American dream or immigrant stories?It seems like these days the American dream is harder and harder to attain. The Ngoys helped hundreds of refugees find housing and apply for Social Security cards. This caused tension in the Ngoy household, being the center of many arguments between Ngoy and his wife. Then I went to America, Ngoy said, and created the doughnut world.. Read about our approach to external linking. Theyre savvy, young, hip. In English, Mandarin and Cambodian with English subtitles; Not rated, Playing: Regency South Coast Village, Santa Ana, and in limited release where theaters are open; available via virtual cinemas, including Laemmle Theatres. He is nicknamed the "Donut King. It actually made national, if not international, news about the kindness of these people in Orange County. [6] Gu persuaded him to and, ultimately, he regarded his return as a 'healing experience,' and his ex-wife and children have forgiven him. There were some hurt relationships. The past I cannot change, but I learned the heavy way. "It is the purest form of risk-taking, the distilled anxiety and thrill behind every business decision and bold declaration of love," he writes in his autobiography. About 30 Christys Doughnuts were still in operation, as were hundreds of other Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. Christy and Ted bought a $1-million, three-story, 7,000-square-foot house with palm trees and a three-car garage on Lake Mission Viejo in Orange County. Then he pulled a knife. He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. He has converted to Christianity, he said, and prays often, asking God for help. "If I need to shower, I knock on the door, 'Lady can I take a shower?' 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. He was ready to be taken by a new passion. When he completed his three-month training, Winchell's gave him a shop to run on Balboa Pier, a tourist spot on the Newport peninsula not far from Tustin. While Ted was immersed in Cambodian politics, Christy flew to the US for the birth of a grandchild. Ted wrote one day. Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends. "This story sheds light on refugees in a positive way, about what happens when they're given an opportunity," she says. He also apologised to many of those he hurt. In 1985, he and Suganthini became U.S. citizens. I believed him a thousand times, she said. Ngoy's epic rags-to-riches-to-rags story has been chronicled before (in the "[1] In 1977, the Ngoys took a trip to Las Vegas where Ted saw Elvis Presley. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. She would discover big losses, and they would argue, sending their children running to their rooms. When he lost big, he would sign the stores over to them. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? She was hooked. [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. Most crucially, she acted as something of an ambassador, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other donut shop proprietors. He had spent all his money on electioneering and on a failed attempt to introduce a new type of hybridised rice, which he believed would improve yields. While he was recovering in hospital, Suganthini also made an attempt on her life. Still penniless, after nearly four years of exile, Ted flew back to Cambodia. 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. Ngoy would open more shops and lease them to fellow refugees. The couple had flash cars, bought a million-dollar mansion with a pool and an elevator, and went on holidays abroad. That is because I had a buttermilk bar about 30 seconds out of the fryer with fresh glaze on it. Mismanagement, Sloppy Hiring Practices, Lack Of Transparency. She was lucky that Mayly Tao, whose mom, Chuong Lee, owns the shop, answered the phone. "This friendly voice picks up the phone, a young voice in that perfectly American accented English. But on a later trip Ted had a go on the blackjack tables, and soon he was hooked on the glamour and the adrenaline. At the end, I win. One night, he. I just do it.. Ted Ngoy made a fortune in doughnuts. So I decided to change.". "She was so beautiful," he remembers. The family were among the many tens of thousands of . Suganthinis parents kept her locked in her room for days. He credits his Christian faith with finally curing his gambling addiction, although he confesses he liked to bet on football games until last year. He dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. called Ngoy would often visit Las Vegas for a period of a week, unbeknownst to his wife. And then we opened second store in Fullerton, and when they opened, I also train people and my wage, Christi, also . Former staff writer Vera Castaneda covered arts, entertainment, lifestyle and issues related to Orange County for TimesOC, a community newspaper owned by the Los Angeles Times. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. Over four years nearly two million Cambodians were either executed, or died of starvation, disease and overwork. His story has been told through different angles in a couple of articles. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. For the next 45 days, he lived in her room. 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. [2], In 1967, Ngoy was sent by his mother to study in the capital, Phnom Penh, where he met and married Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. In order to be allowed to leave the camp and find work, they needed an American sponsor, who would find them a job and somewhere to live. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. All night long Ted would watch people buying coffee and doughnuts, and he realised it was a good business. [4], Despite the wealth he had amassed and his importance within his community, Ngoy felt dissatisfied, remarking that he had "No political life, no religious life, just work, work. [8] However, the film's directorAlice Gupersuaded him to and, ultimately, he regarded his return as a 'healing experience,' and his ex-wife and children have forgiven him. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children to Camp Pendleton. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. By the mid-1980s, he was a millionaire. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Soon, Cambodians began copying the Ted Ngoy business model. In Cambodia, Ngoy formed the Free Development Republican Party. It really helped put some perspective on the journey to get here from somewhere else and the struggles that people go through when they arrive in a new, strange and foreign land. Inspired by the economic success of Taiwan, Ted decided to lobby the US for "most favoured nation" status, which would open the door to foreign investment. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. 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. One of Ngoy's first jobs in the US was as a service station attendant. [8], After a particularly devastating gambling loss in 1990, Ngoy flew to Washington, D.C. and joined a Buddhist monastery where he spent a month meditating. Hard work. Casino operators gave Ngoy free rooms, food, airfare and front-row seats to prize fights. Interviews can sometimes feel like a therapy session. One day in 2018, she cold-called Hes really funny. He is working in real estate. I ate the whole thing. Volcanic tiki drinks. I say, Ted, who are you? I really dont know.. The Donut King diretcor Alice Gu talks about what led her to make a film about Ted Ngoy, her first intro to the phenomenon of Cambodian donut shops and how she got a Wu-Tang song in the score. The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. Perpetually in need of cash, he'd ask the people running his donut shops for loans. "It made me homesick," says Ted. Once, he was a poor boy who carried away one of Cambodias wealthiest daughters. Ted became deeply religious. the Each morning, he walked with the monks, begging for food from peasants, crying as the rocky roads tore at his bare feet. in Pasadena, Yes, you read that right. In 1990, after disappearing for another disastrous trip to Las Vegas, he flew to Washington, D.C., and joined a Buddhist monastery. Ngoy fled with his wife, three young children, two cousins and a nephew to the United States in 1975. They saved money where they could, even washing and reusing coffee stirrers - until they were reprimanded by Winchell's. At a news conference, he dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. Never surrender. With the help of his brother-in-law, he was promoted to major and appointed military attache at the countrys embassy in Thailand. Oklahoma-style smash burgers and Georgian dumplings make for some excellent cheap bites in Glendale, Husband and wife Felix Agyei and Hazel Rojas combine food from their heritages, creating a marriage of West African and Filipino cooking. 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. "If I need the vote, I cannot gamble. The two had met as teenage classmates in Phnom Penh. Aside from what 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. Using his Republican Party connections, Ngoy successfully lobbied the U.S. for most-favored-nation trade status for Cambodia in 1995, helping create a modern garment industry and thousands of jobs. They had lost their beautiful home and their chain of shops, but still had enough money to live comfortably. They cried and prayed for the family they had left behind. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. At school, Ngoy fell in love from afar with a beautiful girl. What is Ted up to in Cambodia nowadays?Ted is doing well. He has to start a new life.. Then he flew to a monastery in the Thai countryside. The family also still had the Winchell's so now they had two stores to run. Director Alice Gu makes her film debut with The Donut King, following the life of Ted Ngoy. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. We were taxed to the hilt, unemployment was high and he was very reluctant to give refugees a home here when Californians were out of work. As far as the immigrant experience and my parents what it really did for me is open my eyes and I just cut them some slack about growing up here in conflict with wanting to be an American kid and their Chinese ways of raising me. She would drive there with her youngest son and go from hotel to hotel looking for him. The details that aren't in the movie are even crazier. She ended up threatening to starve herself, saying, "If you won't let me be with him, I'm not going to eat.". In 1985, Ngoy and his wife became American citizens assuming the American names of Ted and Christy, respectively, and were enjoying a lavish lifestyle including a million dollar home at Lake Mission Viejo, a vacation home in Big Bear, expensive cars, and vacations to Europe. "Using money to provide for others is a feeling as powerful as any drug," he later wrote. All the latest on Orange County from Orange County. Los Angeles Times Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. And a new figure emerged on the California business landscape: the Cambodian doughnut-shop owner. It was helping his community and it was a bit of a cautionary tale.". 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