What is Ted up to in Cambodia nowadays?Ted is doing well. What was it like?I spoke with him and he was in Cambodia. Baby Yoda cocktails. 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. I just want to create as many as I can, he said. Los Angeles Times Then I went to America, Ngoy said, and created the doughnut world.. His sponsor told him people will have their prejudices but they mean well. Those are the sounds of a man in love, her mother said. A daughter owns a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County. I just first hurt my wife, Christy, my children and hurt many, many other people, too, because, when we needed money. Ted is my great uncle,'" Gu says. 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." . 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. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. 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. They wont trust you, he said. It was really wonderful. Her parents and cousins hid behind curtains so they could hear him break off the relationship. Yes, you read that right. No political life, no religious life, just work, work, he said. 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. "Using money to provide for others is a feeling as powerful as any drug," he later wrote. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. Instead, she told him about a training programme run by the doughnut chain, Winchell's. Phnom Penh Post COVID origins? After Ted revealed his presence to Christy, he hid under her bed until he was eventually discovered and her family allowed them be together. Refugees who had sought his advice now avoided him, fearing he would ask for a loan. His story begins in the early 1970s when Ngoy was a commander in the Royal Cambodian Army, training soldiers in Thailand. Filmmaker Alice Gu (left) poses with Mayly Tao outside DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. That really broke the ice for us. 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. The film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. But with great riches come great temptations. 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. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. Near the station was a doughnut shop. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. Naturally he agreed, and set his sisters up with doughnut shops. 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. Ngoy tried Gamblers Anonymous. "This story sheds light on refugees in a positive way, about what happens when they're given an opportunity," she says. He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. Bun Tek Ngoy touched down at Camp Pendleton on a military plane in May of 1975 with his wife and three young children. 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. Chet and Savy, Ted Ngoys oldest children, sit down for an interview in The Donut King.. Ted now sees that the same character traits that made him take bold risks in life also made it easy for him to fall prey to gambling. Tao did everything in her power to help Gu. He is nicknamed the "Donut King. This tastes like any other glazed donut,'" Gu says. [2][3][4], The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. "But many of them were not related, they just lived in the same village or heard of my name. The rise & fall of The Donut King. Ted had met Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., [Richard] Nixon. Gu is working on developing a couple of music-themed film projects, both documentaries and narratives. He had sold what few shops remained. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. He lost all the doughnuts, said James Dok, director of the United Cambodian Community, a social service agency in Long Beach. I gave her my spiel, and she said, 'Well, you've called the right person. Ted did try to curb his habit. You just have to see the opportunity and go for it. Those are the wise words of Ted Ngoy. When Christy's parents eventually discovered the ruse, they were furious. The family were housed in a hastily erected refugee camp on a marine training base, Camp Pendleton. 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. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. Ted liked Cadillacs; Christy preferred Mercedes-Benz convertibles. But it was really the immigrant story. buy a ticket Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Key grant funding to help O.C. This is an incredible story of how he helped people. He slept under the bed and hid when the maids came to clean. One of their sons is a financial consultant; another is a computer-networking technician. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. He returned to a refugee community in transition. Streaming now on PBS. 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. Despite his success, he said, he felt unhappy and isolated. People made fun of his accent. Some of the interviews in the film seemed that way.It was actually really wonderful to speak with particularly his older kids Chet and Savy, who until that interview, they didnt have much to do with him. When he lost he would lash out, smashing doors, breaking furniture and frightening the children. "Well, it is because I've fallen in love with you," Ted replied. The whole community banded together and they all agreed to sell him out of donuts every morning by 9 a.m. "When Alice called me, she described something that I have always wanted to tell but never thought that it would get picked up anywhere," Tao says. 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. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. I ate the whole thing. "I just wanted to raise pigs and chickens and have enough meat and eggs to take to . , chronicles Ngoy's thrill-of-victory/agony-of-defeat rollercoaster ride through the American Dream immigration, capitalism, history, hubris, romance, addiction, family and food. In saffron robes and shaved head, the doughnut king spent a month meditating. The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. Buddha cannot help me.. In 1990, after disappearing for another disastrous trip to Las Vegas, he flew to Washington, D.C., and joined a Buddhist monastery. Ted was a poor boy from a poor family while Christy was the daughter of a high-ranking official. "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". Word spread. I dont think you dare come to my room, she responded. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. But the name was misleading. And I feel so much hurt. 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. He has found his way to be wealthy again. Then he had his next great idea. 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. When he couldn't pay them back because he had gambled the money away, Ted signed away his ownership stake in those stores. "I became a very, very bad man and borrowed money here and there," he says. Ted Ngoy was born in Sisophon, Cambodia. 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. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three . So, I just did it. Some of his relationships didnt end well. He found a second job at a gas station. All three were taken to the police station but they were too scared to mention the cash in the boot. Upon deeper glance, it was so personal for me. I never will be able to pay back. Ngoy built a vast donut shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County. Her father was a high-ranking government official. ', "If you could turn the clock around, I would do that. Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. And then we started communicating, bringing back and forth the messages," Ted says. Soldiers and dogs guarded the mansion. So Ngoy snuck into her family's heavily guarded compound and climbed through her bedroom window. I cant take credit for it, but I do feel like in the making of this film and having some of these people face feelings that they hadnt confronted in many years, it was very healing. "She was so beautiful," he remembers. The first few times he and Christy visited, on early family holidays, everything went well: they watched a magic show, they saw Elvis perform. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. The family were among the many tens of thousands of . That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. When Christy returned to California for the birthday of a grandchild in 1999, Ngoy met a young woman and brought her to live in his house. Ted worked as the church janitor but he soon realised earning $500 a month wouldn't be enough to support his family. [5], The film received 69/100 on Metacritic, receiving "generally favorable reviews. To make sure he went through with it, they insisted on hiding behind a curtain while he said his spiel. Ted joined the Republican Party, held fundraisers for George H.W. Ngoy was one. 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. And then I hate the gambling and then I hate that I treat Christy so badly, treat my children so badly, because of the gambling, so I hate myself," he says. It was here that Ngoy had his first taste of gambling while placing bets at the blackjack tables. When you first reached out to Ted, it was a cold call. The son of a peddler had no chance with such a girl, no right even to think of loving her. Monks cannot help me, he said. Because of the Ngoys, a Cambodian refugees first American job was often in a doughnut shop. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? Never give up. "Some of them were cousins, uncles, nieces," says Ted. Broke, Ted and Christy returned to Cambodia. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. I say, Ted, who are you? I really dont know.. His story has been told through different angles in a couple of articles. (Elina Shatkin/LAist). Ted encouraged others to do the same. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. An owner could keep costs low by employing his family. , some of the dough (see what we did there?) One night he asked the woman at the counter if saving $3,000 would be enough to buy a doughnut shop. He took two additional jobs, working almost 24 hours per day. "After cry, go back gambling," he told one interviewer. He lobbied his contacts in the Republican inner circle, including Senator John McCain, and MFN status was granted permanently in 1996. To think about what Ted did years ago letting bygones be bygones. This 2020s documentary film-related article is a stub. 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. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy) was born into a poor Cambodian family in 1942. The family worked 12 to 17 hours a day, with all hands on deck. Director Alice Gu makes her film debut with The Donut King, following the life of Ted Ngoy. He had burned a lot of bridges and at the time his children hardly spoke to him. The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. I just do it.. He ran to the shop across the street where he bought a donut. All that money paid for expensive clothes, luxury cars, fancy trips and an opulent home in Mission Viejo. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. Ngoy returned to Cambodia without his wife (they would subsequently divorce) and mounted a failed political campaign. At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. Ngoy and his wife became American citizens and were . The Ngoys helped hundreds of refugees find housing and apply for Social Security cards. It was small amounts first but he was soon blowing bigger figures and he couldn't seem to stop. DK's Donuts I told him that he has a story to tell. "[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. Ngoy lived in an attic apartment a few blocks from the Khoeun familys mansion. If you can dream it, they're probably mixing it somewhere on property. Then, he lost it all. By the mid-1980s, he was a millionaire. "I did not have time to take care of business, so business was going down. He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. BC Donuts Two days after Gu's out-of-the-blue call to DK's Donuts, she was talking to Ngoy in Cambodia. I believed him a thousand times, she said. California Sunday But Cambodians were leaving the business, tired of working 17-hour days and squeezing a 13-cent profit from every 65-cent doughnut. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in real estate. I was addicted to a feeling, and money was simply the needle that delivered the toxic dose," he writes in his autobiography, also called The Donut King. When they were released, the cash was gone. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. One of the tricks he learned was to bake doughnuts in small batches throughout the day to keep them fresh - and because the smell of baking was the best form of advertising. It's something Ted feels a bit bad about. "It made me homesick," says Ted. Theres this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christys experiences in Orange County during the 70s. Where are they now?. Everybody went to the gold mine, Ngoy said. When he lost their money he would just sign over the shop to them - without telling Christy, whose signature he forged. TED NGOY HAD an unrelenting obsession during his 1975 plane ride from Southeast Asia to Southern California. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. This is my own speculation, but it seemed like he had come to some peace with his dad and childhood. Before sunrise, they would climb back into her room. Was there any tension or awkwardness when he visited California again?He came to visit California, I think, with a little bit of trepidation. Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends. Interestingly, largely because of Democratic policy we got a grant for our camera and it came from this girl, who was the daughter of Vietnamese refugees who landed in Arkansas. Okay, you guys can' It was a whole Romeo and Juliet story," Gu says. Christy would search for him in the casinos, the children in tow. Despite never really being a huge success under the previous owners, Christy's became popular under the ownership of the Ngoys. He had hidden a dagger and he took it out and stabbed himself three times. Ngoy believes he is suffering Gods punishment for having betrayed the blood vow he made as a young man under the moonlight in Phnom Penh. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. To Christy, this was the final betrayal. [5] Having grown up in Los Angeles, she was doubtful when her children's nanny made a reference to "Cambodian" donuts; she thought all donuts were simply "American." [5] Upon looking into the matter, she learned about Ted Ngoy and became fascinated with the topic. What you've done is incredible.' He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. It was a humbling experience, and the lowest point in his life. Ted Ngoy, his wife and family pick up the story and walk us through their unbelievable experience, flying to a . Once back in Orange County, he bet more than ever. He says his gambling is under control -- though he has no money with which to test this will power. Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. Christy always forgave him, but word got around that Ted could no longer be trusted. That's a disaster," he says. One night in a pouring rain, Ngoy scaled a coconut tree beside the wall surrounding her home. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. 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. [3] Ngoy worked at various jobs, including as a travel agent and tour guide, before joining the military in 1970. Suganthini became the smiling face behind the counter, even though she hardly spoke any English. This caused tension in the Ngoy household, being the center of many arguments between Ngoy and his wife. He would have no more donuts to sell so he could be with his wife for the rest of the day. He took a chance and opened a bedroom door - and there was Suganthini, fast asleep. And then we opened second store in Fullerton, and when they opened, I also train people and my wage, Christi, also . Suganthini smuggled him food at night, and after many days she said she loved him too. But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christys Doughnuts. He would forge her signature on checks and even borrow money from relatives who leased stores from him. He is wealthy again. "Cambodian people owe them a lot.". 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. This is going to happen.'". Christy was in the front and made a lot of inroads with the community and built a lot of bridges. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. Ted Ngoy: Well, when I was in a high school in a French school, my wife's Suganthini. He went on to marry Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. And a new figure emerged on the California business landscape: the Cambodian doughnut-shop owner. 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. It's a monster in me.". These are all people who present day you dont associate with welcoming refugees with open arms. "I cry. Los Angeles Times Ted, who spoke four languages, was offered a post as liaison officer in Thailand by Suganthini's brother-in-law, Gen Sak Sutsakhan. He wrapped the note around a stone, and threw it down. "Growing up, when you look on the screen, there's not a lot of Asian representation. Theyre savvy, young, hip. 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. In The Donut King, we learn that a teenage Ted won over his wife, Christy (ne Suganthini), by spending 45 straight days laying under her bed. and California landscape with a familiar coat yellow strip mall signs with red lettering reading Christys Donuts. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. Drenched and bleeding, he tiptoed into a hallway. in San Clemente and, of course, DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. All the latest on Orange County from Orange County. At the end, I win. "New documentary 'The Donut King' follows Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy's journey to multi-million dollar empire", "Review: A Shakespearean SoCal tragedy, 'The Donut King' charts the rise and fall of Ted Ngoy", "Director Alice Gu Wants You to Meet The Donut King", "The Donut King who went full circle - from rags to riches, twice", "Review: The Donut King, a sweet documentary that doesn't tell the hole truth", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Donut_King&oldid=1131760803, This page was last edited on 5 January 2023, at 16:51. As word of Ted's success spread, Cambodian immigrants started seeking him out when they arrived in Southern California. Then he pulled a knife. He cut his chest sliding under barbed wire. 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. After cry, go back gambling." Cambodia was having its first democratic elections since the war and he wanted to stand for office to help rebuild his country. Never surrender. In this condensed and edited conversation, Gu talks about the American dream, Cambodian American Republicans, 1970s Orange County and the best donut she ate during filming. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles leaving behind his new wife and their two children. You will end up destroying the whole family and no more relationship with the world, just finished. Night after night, he watched customers come and go. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. That is because I had a buttermilk bar about 30 seconds out of the fryer with fresh glaze on it. His tenants opened their own stores and leased them out. His few shirts and pants hang from a clothesline. 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