This is going to happen.'". 50? They barely talked to him. The Donut King is a 2020 American documentary film which tells the life story of California donut shop owner Ted Ngoy. When you get to the table, youre so emotional, evil in your body, he said. Los Angeles Times But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christys Doughnuts. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. And I feel so much hurt. Eager to learn the business, Ngoy approached the shop owners. I could have made a special piece just on the history of donuts. Doughnut revenue put their children through college. How did those scenes end up happening?I asked him to travel to California again. He subsequently received training through an affirmative action program to increase minority hiring within the Winchell's chain of doughnut shops, and managed a store in Newport Beach where he employed his wife and nephew. We had an instant connection and it felt like we were meant to be doing this story together. Not many professional gamblers are bipolar women, but Cat Hulbert was one of the best - and she delighted in winning money from men. "[5] Upon looking into the matter, she learned about Ted Ngoy and became fascinated with the topic. "[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 is working in real estate. 60? You cannot resist against it.. She thought it might have been a tall tale, "But when I was in Cambodia, [Ted] lifted his shirt and I saw the puncture wounds," Gu adds. He wanted to be with her, but he had no one else to manage the shop. With Chuong Pek Lee, Susan Lim, Ted Ngoy, Daewon Song. I dont know who I am right now, he said. Her parents and cousins hid behind curtains so they could hear him break off the relationship. "That's why I want to tell the world, 'Do not gamble.' On one of his Las Vegas trips, Ngoy took up gambling. Huge numbers of Cambodian refugees were arriving in California. I did not have time to expand. All the boys at his school were in love with her, and as a poor half-Chinese boy from a village near the Thai border he had no chance. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. According to Tao, the servants caught on to Ted's presence after a few days but didn't say anything. I have to go to school.". But Cambodians were leaving the business, tired of working 17-hour days and squeezing a 13-cent profit from every 65-cent doughnut. ', "If you could turn the clock around, I would do that. Ted and Suganthini sold everything they had and arrived in California on one of the first refugee flights, with their three children, an adopted nephew and two nieces. As many as I could.". Upon deeper glance, it was so personal for me. He formed the Free Development Republican Party (ahead of the countrys UN-backed elections), believing that he could show others the path to wealth and hoping that being a politician might stymy his gambling addiction. Rose Donuts and Cafe 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. And she let me in to take a shower. People made fun of his accent. Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. At loose ends, she returned to Los Angeles and, once again, started helping with the family business. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. [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. I ate the whole thing. Their fairy tale romance is so distant, she said, its as if it happened to someone else. Tell us about your wife. When there was an overrun of pink doughnut boxes Ted bought them cut-price, and the pink boxes became his trademark. This is an incredible story of how he helped people. "Before I'd never gambled, but like all the compulsive gamblers in the world, first you throw in a couple of bucks, $10, $20. Also, significantly for Ngoy, other Cambodian refugees and their children donuts. Sent to the city to study, Ngoy met the beautiful Suganthini Khoeun who was the daughter of a government. But I still win. Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. One night, he saw Suganthini on her balcony, and decided it was time to make his move. Upon his return to Orange County, Ngoy began gambling harder than ever stating "Monks cannot help me, Buddha cannot help me. He shaved his head and spent three months barefoot in Thailand, coming back emaciated and a changed man - or so he thought. Abcarian: Mask mandates? Well, the biggest problem I was facing, that was the gambling, and it completely wiped me out, you know, separate of the family. One night he asked the woman at the counter if saving $3,000 would be enough to buy a doughnut shop. In a year Ted had saved enough to put down a deposit on a second doughnut shop, a "mom-and-pop" shop called Christy's. One by one, Ted lost all of his donut shops. "a short-lived comeback in Sacramento in 2002," the Massachusetts-based company didn't return to the Golden State More and more relatives came forward for sponsorship. "She was powerful, like your royal princess," says Ted. 2023 Southern California Public Radio - All Rights Reserved, Rising Egg Prices Are For The Birds. I think thats the American way the power of connections and people. His few shirts and pants hang from a clothesline. It was hurtful. Ngoy would make a habit of returning monthly to watch performers such as Tom Jones, Diana Ross, and Wayne Newton and indulging in the incentives pit bosses of major casinos offered all the while spending even larger sums at the card tables. By 1976, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own shop, which he named Christy's. 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. Doughnut shops were easy to run. . "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. They were moving their capital and know-how into liquor stores, markets and fast-food restaurants. Two days after Gu's out-of-the-blue call to DK's Donuts, she was talking to Ngoy in Cambodia. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. "We were happy - until the gambling came to wreck my life. The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. ", But in the end, he says, he beat it. Never surrender. They arranged a meeting for the couple at a relatives house, where Ngoy was expected to formally end their romance. Over the last few years, Tao has rebranded the shop with a colorful, hot pink logo and experimented in the kitchen, producing eye-catching, Instagram-friendly creations and original flavors. buy a ticket Despite never really being a huge success under the previous owners, Christy's became popular under the ownership of the Ngoys. He saw an opportunity to expand his business and help the large number of poor, unassimilated Cambodians who had fled the Khmer Rouge to the United States. Once, he was a poor boy who carried away one of Cambodias wealthiest daughters. Then he had his next great idea. I say, Ted, who are you? I really dont know.. Long hours. Designers Andrew Hem and Charlie Le were awarded a SWSW Film special jury recognition for their poster design of The Donut King in 2020. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. Oh, and stop for a donut and say "hi.". Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. And then we started communicating, bringing back and forth the messages," Ted says. While he was recovering in hospital, Suganthini also made an attempt on her life. He was, however, invited to become a government adviser on commerce and agriculture. People love her and shes beautiful. BC Donuts You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. But then Ted discovered that the tiny room where he lodged, on the fourth floor of a walk-up apartment block, overlooked Suganthini's villa. in Tustin sponsored the family, allowing them to live in the church where Ted worked as a janitor. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. Ted, who spoke four languages, was offered a post as liaison officer in Thailand by Suganthini's brother-in-law, Gen Sak Sutsakhan. From the wall, he leaped onto the roof and crawled through an open window. The Ngoys helped hundreds of refugees find housing and apply for Social Security cards. Your Guide To Everything Boozy You Can Order, A Los Angeles Family Seeks Answers And Accountability After Black Mom Dies In Childbirth. He believed he could show others the path to wealth and opportunity. He wrote a book called The Donut: History, Recipes, and Lore from Boston to Berlin and he gave really fascinating insights into donut culture, history and our relationship to donuts in America. But then one of Suganthini's servants appeared at his door with a reply. Through the maneuvering of his brother-in-law, chief of police and briefly future president of Cambodia, Sak Sutsakhan, Ngoy was promoted to the rank of major and appointed military attache at Cambodia's embassy in Thailand. The Cambodians worked hard and because the whole family pitched in, they did not have to pay out any wages. I never will be able to pay back. All the latest on Orange County from Orange County. He was ready to be taken by a new passion. DK's Donuts The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. On Sundays he would go to the church where her son was the pastor and join in Bible studies. [1], That's why I want to tell the world, "Do not gamble." It was here that Ngoy had his first taste of gambling while placing bets at the blackjack tables. Christy's parents said they would let Ted live if he told Christy that he was a dog who had romanced other girls and had never loved her. It led many voters to assume, incorrectly, that he was against Cambodia's royal family, and he didn't win a seat. When he was unable to pay back his debt, he would sign over his store to them. "She was so beautiful," he remembers. Ted managed to escape on the last flight out of Phnom Penh but Suganthini's parents were left behind. But the name was misleading. Ngoy forged her signature on checks. 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. They saved money where they could, even washing and reusing coffee stirrers - until they were reprimanded by Winchell's. And he has a new goal. And I thought, How could that be? Hes passed away now so I cant talk to him about it, but it was a learning experience for me about my parents relationship with politics. Ted Ngoy, his wife and family pick up the story and walk us through their unbelievable experience, flying to a . Ted encouraged others to do the same. Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin hired Ngoy as a janitor. He joined Gamblers Anonymous but was back at the tables in no time. 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. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children to Camp Pendleton. [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. Until then, she was kept sheltered. "It's a crazy story, but it's true," says Ted, now 78. It provided a path for refugees to settle and was a profitable business model. He woke her up and she was about to scream for help, when she realised it was her classmate. 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. [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. He wrapped the note around a stone, and threw it down. Ngoy showed them baking and bookkeeping. The Donut King is a documentary directed by Alice Gu that covers the life of Ted Ngoy, one of the primary reasons behind the Cambodian American donut shop boom. Baby Yoda cocktails. Ted Ngoy: Well, when I was in a high school in a French school, my wife's Suganthini. 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. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. "He was afraid of being shunned and feeling lonely - but I forced him!" Ted, Christy and their two kids fled to Thailand. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. A cinematographer who has worked on commercials and movies with Rory Kennedy, Werner Herzog and Stacy Peralta, she stumbled onto the subject after her nanny brought her some "Cambodian donuts. Ngoy wrote to her. ", "I was like, 'What on earth makes this Cambodian? He is nicknamed the "Donut King. Gambling is a devil. I never loved you.' In saffron robes and shaved head, the doughnut king spent a month meditating. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. And it was actually a donut that I refused at first from Mayly Tao, the Donut Princess. Ngoy managed to escape just as Phnom Penh was falling and brought his wife, Suganthini, and their three children to America in the mid-1970s. For weeks, they watched other families leave, until finally they, too, were sponsored by a pastor from a church in Tustin, Orange County, about 35 miles south of Los Angeles. "[1] He says his Christian faith ultimately helped him abandon the habit. What was surprising for me was watching Ted, a Republican, pictured with Pete Wilson at one point in the film since Wilson supported laws that hurt immigrants.Its wild. Naturally he agreed, and set his sisters up with doughnut shops. Ted Ngoy was reaping rewards of that success. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. Stranger again poor boy who carried away one of his donut shops became his trademark did not have pay... But Cambodians were leaving the business, tired of working 17-hour days and squeezing 13-cent! 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