He had no way of making a living until a Chinese contact from better days asked him to help out with a real estate deal. Their youngest son Chris drove them there to pick up the money - but it went horribly wrong. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. It was on the market. Still homeless, he moved to the coastal town of Kep, on the Gulf of Thailand. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. Im Chinese American. He shaved his head and spent three months barefoot in Thailand, coming back emaciated and a changed man - or so he thought. Bush, met former Presidents Reagan and Nixon, and urged other Asian immigrants to support the GOP. He sat on the roof of his apartment and played his flute, the music sweeping over the neighborhood. goes to your local theater. COVID-19 has hit her store and most other shops hard. A day before he left, his eldest son said if you have $3.2 million you can buy it. If you can dream it, they're probably mixing it somewhere on property. Her father was a high-ranking government official. It was love at first bite. When he couldn't pay them back because he had gambled the money away, Ted signed away his ownership stake in those stores. Money, doughnuts, sleep.. 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. Mag's Donuts 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. You see some of these families and their stores in The Donut King It was a strategy that ended up working for them. And a new figure emerged on the California business landscape: the Cambodian doughnut-shop owner. "I became a very, very bad man and borrowed money here and there," he says. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in real estate. Once, I said I would die if something happened to him, Christy said of her ex-husband. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. Ngoy was one. He became tired running doughnut shops on his own and decided to train and lease shops to his relatives and employ Cambodian refugees. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. 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. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. More land deals followed and he has now worked his way back to being a millionaire. He dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. No political life, no religious life, just work, work, he said. I'm no good. He had hidden a dagger and he took it out and stabbed himself three times. That's because of a refugee who built up an empire, and became known as the Donut King, only to lose it all. 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. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. The gambling is sad, the saddest part of my life.". He landed in LA with less than $100 in his pocket - all the money he had left. Theyre savvy, young, hip. At loose ends, she returned to Los Angeles and, once again, started helping with the family business. "I spent about $100,000 of my own money, my time, my everything," he says. And I feel so much hurt. I say, Ted I dont think its that easy at all. And hell respond, Ive been rich three times. buy a ticket 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. Christy Ngoy now owns a Peruvian restaurant in Irvine. [5] She would drive there with her youngest son and go from hotel to hotel looking for him. A 2005 profile in the Los Angeles Times described him as "broke, homeless, and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends." Today, he makes a living selling real estate in Cambodia. Distraught, she took an overdose of sleeping pills and fell into a coma. He has found his way to be wealthy again. That is a lie, he cried, and plunged the blade into his belly. Ngoy is Cambodian and he was in Phnom Penh when it fell. Hes friends with Dana Rohrabacher. Chuong Lee, who has run DK's Donuts since 1988, is officially retired although she occasionally helps out at the shop. Read about our approach to external linking. Ted became deeply religious. These are kids who are American educated. Ted and Christy are divorced. Some of those he borrowed from were the people he had leased doughnut shops to. One of Ngoy's first jobs in the US was as a service station attendant. He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. She became Christy. Was there any tension or awkwardness when he visited California again?He came to visit California, I think, with a little bit of trepidation. While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about . Night after night, he watched customers come and go. "Cambodian people owe them a lot.". Ted, who spoke four languages, was offered a post as liaison officer in Thailand by Suganthini's brother-in-law, Gen Sak Sutsakhan. But the name was misleading. Driving back with $85,000 cash in the boot of the car, they were stopped by the police; they had fallen behind with payments, so the car showed up as stolen. Along with thousands of other Cambodian refugees, the Ngoys ended up at Camp Pendleton. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business. Los Angeles Times A child of immigrants herself, she had become curious why Californian doughnut shops were so often run by Cambodians, and why there were so many of them. The Donut King: Directed by Alice Gu. After cry, go back gambling." "The note said, 'I appreciate you blowing the flute. To Christy, this was the final betrayal. The whole community banded together and they all agreed to sell him out of donuts every morning by 9 a.m. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. But on a later trip Ted had a go on the blackjack tables, and soon he was hooked on the glamour and the adrenaline. "It's a devil, it's a monster. 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. Nearly every independent donut shop in every Southern California mini-mall hides a story and many of them start with an unlikely impresario, a Cambodian refugee named Ted Ngoy. They took American names. 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. "I never back down. Two days after Gu's out-of-the-blue call to DK's Donuts, she was talking to Ngoy in Cambodia. Ted Ngoy has become a stranger even to himself. Faced with such determination, her family allowed the young lovers to be together. In the early 1990s, it was reported that California had 2,400 Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. He had $50,000 riding on many Sundays. Gu's documentary, On the porch of a friends mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering. "The more you chase, the more it's gone," he says in a new documentary about his rise and fall, called The Donut King. "I just wanted to raise pigs and chickens and have enough meat and eggs to take to . He became Ted. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles. Suganthini became the smiling face behind the counter, even though she hardly spoke any English. 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. He said hes Chinese Cambodian and we spoke Mandarin for a couple of minutes. 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. One of their sons is a financial consultant; another is a computer-networking technician. [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. Beautiful views aren't the only thing drawing Angelenos to the region. He was born Bun Tek Ngoy. The family were among the many tens of thousands of . He hired his wife and nephew. At school, Ngoy fell in love from afar with a beautiful girl. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. The family were housed in a hastily erected refugee camp on a marine training base, Camp Pendleton. Chuong Lee Tao passed down DKs Donuts in Santa Monica to her daughter Mayly Tao, who updated the shop with a vast menu and a worldwide social media following. "He was a little uneasy," Gu says. He is working in real estate. He suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front. That really broke the ice for us. The family were housed in a hastily erected refugee camp on a marine training base, Camp Pendleton. . The Donut King 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." . Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. Tell me more about how they connected to the local community.Ted came in the 70s and it was quite homogeneously white in Orange County at the time and a lot of people had never seen an Asian person, much less heard of a place called Cambodia. Okay, you guys can' It was a whole Romeo and Juliet story," Gu says. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. "What happens if I decide to jump into your room?" When Christy's parents eventually discovered the ruse, they were furious. One by one, Ted lost all of his donut shops. I ended up not sharing that donut. He went on to marry Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. Where are they now?. On one of his Las Vegas trips, Ngoy took up gambling. He subsists on small handouts from friends. In 1978 Vietnamese troops invaded and in 1979 Pol Pot was overthrown, leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees. 'How I got rich beating men at their own game'. Yeah, My Family Doesn't Either, Soup Dumplings, Kimchi Burritos And More Fast, Cheap Eats In Glendale, At Masarap Cafe, West African and Filipino Cuisines Find Their Pairing, Drinking At Disneyland? Now, he is in real estate development," Gu says. Her daughter, Mayly Tao, has taken over the reigns of DK's. Theres this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christys experiences in Orange County during the 70s. 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. That's a disaster," he says. It was hurtful. The United States alone is home to more than 25,000 donut shops and they produce more than 10 billion donuts each year. Read about our approach to external linking. He is nicknamed the "Donut King. And he has a new goal. Everybody cry," he said. Soldiers and dogs guarded the mansion. youths avoid juvenile hall comes to an end, As it approaches its first decade, the Frida Cinema abides, Shake Shack gets ready to shake things up in Orange County, Santa Anas Electric City Butcher moves online, Brews&Bites beachside beer festival comes to the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, 13 couples say I do on Valentines Day weekend at the Anaheim Marketplace, Broadway Divas serve off-Broadway realness at Segerstrom, Dine your heart out this Valentines Day with special menus throughout Orange County, 43rd annual Orange County Black History Parade & Unity Fair a source of pride in Anaheim. Each morning, he walked with the monks, begging for food from peasants, crying as the rocky roads tore at his bare feet. Ted resides in Cambodia where he splits his time between Phnom Pen and Kep, a province in Southern Cambodia that's famous for its crab fishing industry. Ngoy asked to visit. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. He was ready to be taken by a new passion. He lobbied his contacts in the Republican inner circle, including Senator John McCain, and MFN status was granted permanently in 1996. Gambling is a devil. I gave her my spiel, and she said, 'Well, you've called the right person. In our very first phone call, he asked if I was American and I told him that I was Chinese American. 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. Over the next few years, he went back every month or so, seeing Tom Jones, Diana Ross and Wayne Newton -- and betting ever-larger sums. He said that we didnt have room for these refugees here. "Don't worry, I will hide under your bed," said Ted. He ran to the shop across the street where he bought a donut. Everybody cry, he said. But with great riches come great temptations. [5], The film received 69/100 on Metacritic, receiving "generally favorable reviews. Oh, and stop for a donut and say "hi.". It was here that Ngoy had his first taste of gambling while placing bets at the blackjack tables. "I'd want [people] to know about not only the journey of the donut itself but the story of the people behind it, the people making the donuts," Tao says. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. "I achieved my American dream," Ted says. If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. Theres so much competition. While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local doughnut shop and inquired of its operators about learning the business. 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Gu says Christy's family then threatened to kill Ted but his mother made a deal with them. Ted remembers hiding from her behind the slot machines. During the week they went to school, where sometimes they were so hungry they stole snacks from other kids' lunchboxes. Ngoy attempted Gamblers Anonymous, but denied it helped with his situation, stating that when he went to meetings "I cry, everybody cry. Christy would search for him in the casinos, the children in tow. Ted Ngoy: Yeah. One night, he. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. They barely talked to him. [10] Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. "He's like, 'You know what? He lost all the doughnuts, said James Dok, director of the United Cambodian Community, a social service agency in Long Beach. Chet and Savy, Ted Ngoys oldest children, sit down for an interview in The Donut King.. [4], Ngoy secured work as a janitor with Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin, California. Seasonal Halloween donuts at DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. [1], When his wife visited California for the birthday of their grandchild in 1999, Ngoy began an affair with a young woman; Christy divorced him soon after and has not since returned to Cambodia. He hosted Dan Quayle and Pete Wilson at his house. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. she says. His gesture went unreciprocated for days. Channy also wholesales doughnuts to other minimarts. 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. 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. And of the 5,000 independent doughnut shops in California today, around 80% are still Cambodian, she says. Few foods are as universally adored as fried dough. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. Following his time in the nation's capital, Ngoy spent time in a monastery in the Thai countryside where he spent his morning begging for alms. . What you've done is incredible.' Mismanagement, Sloppy Hiring Practices, Lack Of Transparency. [6][3], Ngoy bought additional doughnut shops in Orange County. When time goes by it gets into your blood and you just cannot get it out," says Ted. [9], Ngoy is the subject of the 2020 documentary film The Donut King. It's something Ted feels a bit bad about. No days off. (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment). We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. But while she was gone Ted had an affair. Doughnut revenue put their children through college. The Donut King 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 credits his Christian faith with finally curing his gambling addiction, although he confesses he liked to bet on football games until last year. The Ngoys helped hundreds of refugees find housing and apply for Social Security cards. After a civil war broke out and Phnom Penh fell to the communist Khmer. "Well, it is because I've fallen in love with you," Ted replied. When you first reached out to Ted, it was a cold call. Cambodian Americans control an estimated 80 percent of the donut market in California thanks largely to one man- Ted Ngoy, otherwise known as The Donut King. But then one of Suganthini's servants appeared at his door with a reply. When he was working in the donut shop, he went to his sponsor and said he was having a hard time. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. Ngoy built a vast donut shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County. After a little research, Gu discovered that a huge number of California's independent donut shops, maybe 80-90%, are owned by Cambodian Americans, mostly thanks to Ngoy. "They're a good company and I owe them gratitude," Ted says. In the end, filming the documentary was a healing experience for Ted. The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. Until then, she was kept sheltered. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. He joined Gamblers Anonymous but was back at the tables in no time. He helped them apply for permits. Once a paragon in the community, refugees now avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan. 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. Christys Doughnuts in La Habra never did great business. This is my own speculation, but it seemed like he had come to some peace with his dad and childhood. I ate the whole thing. "'You want to tell my story? One night in a pouring rain, Ngoy scaled a coconut tree beside the wall surrounding her home. And he saw an opportunity. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. She would forgive him when he promised to stop, and he would -- for a while. The donut business isnt easy. Designers Andrew Hem and Charlie Le were awarded a SWSW Film special jury recognition for their poster design of The Donut King in 2020. They wont trust you, he said. Ted had met Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., [Richard] Nixon. His party did poorly in the 1993 and 1998 parliamentary elections, but Prime Minister Hun Sen made him an advisor on commerce and agriculture. She said he would be throwing his money away. I dont know who I am right now, he said. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit Then Ngoy would fly to Las Vegas without telling her, sometimes staying as long as a week. Baby Yoda cocktails. The Top 5 newsletter catches you up with LAs top 5 stories in just 3 minutes. Perpetually in need of cash, he'd ask the people running his donut shops for loans. Not many professional gamblers are bipolar women, but Cat Hulbert was one of the best - and she delighted in winning money from men. Ngoy lived in an attic apartment a few blocks from the Khoeun familys mansion. Ted negotiated well and got a good commission. When I become big guy, then I cannot go gamble because people wont vote for you. Ted now had a new passion - politics. 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. They arranged a meeting for the couple at a relatives house, where Ngoy was expected to formally end their romance. Suganthini replied, "Well be careful, if you don't jump into my room, you'll jump into my mum's room.". Boozy Dole Whips. Ngoy ended his political career abruptly in 2002, breaking with two powerful allies, the commerce minister and the head of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. I believed him a thousand times, she said. "It went like fire on the hill, so fast," says Ted. The two had met as teenage classmates in Phnom Penh. By 1987, Ngoy owned 32 Christy's Donuts locations, largely accomplished by living out of a motorhome allowing him and his family to travel up and down the state of California establishing new locations. He ran to the coastal town of Kep, on the hill, so fast, '' Ted! Permanently in 1996 into the business Peruvian restaurant in Irvine money away refugees now avoided him for fear being. Run DK 's across California and it started in 1970s Orange County Ted it! 'D ask the people running his donut shops for loans have room for refugees. To win back What he had lost, very bad man and money! And they produce more than 10 billion Donuts each year the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, 're! 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