By 1977 he was able to purchase his first doughnut shop, Christy's Donuts, in La Habra. Ngoy's gambling had progressed from the card tables to placing bets on sports games with Cambodian bookies. He suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front. The two eventually began a secret correspondence via letters delivered by the Khoeun family maid. People made fun of his accent. 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. Christy was in the front and made a lot of inroads with the community and built a lot of bridges. One of them being my interview with Michael Krondl, the food historian. Director Alice Gu makes her film debut with “The Donut King,” following the life of Ted Ngoy. Ngoy attempted Gambler's Anonymous, but denies its help with his situation stating that when he went to meetings "I cry, everybody cry. This is an incredible story of how he helped people. She got her start as an editorial assistant delivering mail and newspapers. [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. Then he lost it all. Since then her writing has appeared in Calendar, Lifestyle, Metro and Sports sections of the paper. [1], Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. 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. 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. He would forge her signature on checks and even borrow money from relatives who leased stores from him. I’ve never experienced hunger, war, fear, served in an army, or had a wet and cold bed to sleep in. It's the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire baking America's favorite pastry, the donut. More than 6,600 people have signed an online petition demanding the resignation of a Placentia-Yorba Linda school board member who was present at a rally that led to the siege of the U.S. Capitol. Ngoy proved to be a shrewd businessman — he’d been a payroll specialist in the army — and by 1979 he owned 25 shops and was on his way to becoming a legend. There’s this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christy’s experiences in Orange County during the 70s. Bush and encouraged fellow Cambodian immigrants to support the GOP. His family had moved from a condominium to a three-storey, US$1 million mansion. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. Then things were thriving. You just have to see the opportunity and go for it.” Those are the wise words of Ted Ngoy. The second time Ted came back to California, Chet took all this time off of work, took him to his timeshare in Oceanside and drove his dad around all over Southern California. 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. The Donut King: The Rags to Riches Story of a Poor Immigrant Who Changed the World (English Edition) eBook: Ngoy, Ted: Amazon.de: Kindle-Shop When he found one, he would sit out front in his car for hours, drinking coffee and tallying customers. He writes about his extraordinary journey. 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. To understand the politics, the Republican party at the time was a very anticommunist party. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Somewhere along the line, things shifted. When he was unable to pay back his debt, he would sign over his store to them. That really broke the ice for us. Ted Ngoy was a high school student in Phnom Penh when he first set eyes on Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. He would have no more donuts to sell so he could be with his wife for the rest of the day. Ted Ngoy Realty 2,912 likes. One night, Ngoy devised a plan to sneak into the heavily guarded mansion that housed Suganthini, allowing the couple to meet for the first time. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. 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 didn’t have much to do with him. The couple were wed shortly after and had three children. Designers Andrew Hem and Charlie Le were awarded a SWSW Film special jury recognition for their poster design of “The Donut King” in 2020. The premise of family in the film is how hard your parents work and the sacrifices they make so that you can have a life better than they did. Is there anything that you left on the cutting room floor that you still think about?There are a lot of things that I still think about on the cutting room floor. Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. Distraught at the turn of events, Suganthini overdosed on sleeping pills and fell into a coma, causing her parents to relent to the union shortly after the couple recovered. Was there any tension or awkwardness when he visited California again?He came to visit California, I think, with a little bit of trepidation. Suganthini's parents and cousins hid behind curtains in the home to ensure Ngoy would break off the relationship. With Ted baking, Christy handling the counter and the kids helping out, the Ngoys soon saved enough to buy their own shop for $45,000 in 1976. EN. 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. Also, significantly for Ngoy, other Cambodian refugees and their children — donuts. Photo: Los Angeles Times … Once a paragon in the community, refugees now avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan. It actually made national, if not international, news about the kindness of these people in Orange County. Scouring classifieds, Ngoy looked for existing shops for sale by owner. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children to Camp Pendleton. "[1], After the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy returned to Cambodia for the country's first elections. He is wealthy again. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. He said he’s Chinese Cambodian and we spoke Mandarin for a couple of minutes. People love her and she’s beautiful. [4], Ngoy secured work as a janitor with Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin, California. Ted Ngoy, subject of the new documentary “The Donut King,” fled the Cambodian genocide to America, where he built a donut empire. What is Ted up to in Cambodia nowadays?Ted is doing well. I think that’s the American way — the power of connections and people. As Orange County expands its vaccine distribution, UC Irvine researchers are developing a vaccine that could prevent coronavirus outbreaks in the future. 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. Ted Ngoy and I couldn’t be farther apart. The Khoeuns immediately sent for an ambulance for Ngoy and had Suganthini locked in her room for days following the event. A day before he left, his eldest son said if you have $3.2 million you can buy it. I say, “Ted I don’t think it’s that easy at all.” And he’ll respond, “I’ve been rich three times. [8], Military Career and Immigration to the United States, Last edited on 30 November 2020, at 09:04, "Rise and fall of Cambodian refugee 'Donut King' charted in award-winning film", http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/19/local/me-donutking19, "The story of the man they called the doughnut king", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ted_Ngoy&oldid=991486239, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 November 2020, at 09:04. He married Stephanie Ngoy, whose brother was one of Ted Ngoy’s first pioneers, and the couple ran two doughnut shops. EN - English; ES - Español Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have posted lower infection rates compared to other racial and ethnic groups but make up about 19% of deaths from COVID-19. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. Also, significantly for Ngoy, other Cambodian refugees and their children — donuts. And it was actually a donut that I refused at first from Mayly Tao, the Donut Princess. He’s friends with Dana Rohrabacher. He soon desired to open his own donut shop. Ngoy would often visit Las Vegas for a period of a week, unbeknownst to his wife. Ted is the first Cambodian refugee to start a donut shop in California. If you’ve ever enjoyed a donut that came from a pink box, you have Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy to thank. Upon his return to Orange County, Ngoy began gambling harder than ever stating "Monks cannot help me, Buddha cannot help me. I’ve also never built an empire of donut shops, been wealthy, or rubbed shoulders with people with political influence. There’s so much competition. There’s a hustle to it, and director Alice Gu captures it in her debut documentary “The Donut King.”. The whole community banded together and they all agreed to sell him out of donuts every morning by 9 a.m. Ngoy's political career ended in 2002 after breaking with two powerful allies, the commerce minister and the head of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. Interviews can sometimes feel like a therapy session. The Donut King who went full circle – from rags to richesIf you walk into a doughnut How did those scenes end up happening?I asked him to travel to California again. He started from the bottom and worked his way up. After several years of hard work, the family took their first holiday and they went to Las Vegas. 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 Trump’s rhetoric. MEET ''TED NGOY'' If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. We had an instant connection and it felt like we were meant to be doing this story together. [1], When his wife returned to California for the birthday of a grandchild in 1999, Ngoy began an affair with a young woman, serving as the final straw between him and his wife, Christy. How O.C. When he was working in the donut shop, he went to his sponsor and said he was having a hard time. and California landscape with a familiar coat — yellow strip mall signs with red lettering reading Christy’s Donuts. His story has been told through different angles in a couple of articles. 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. Getting an appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine at Disneyland has proved to be difficult for many Orange County residents 65 and older. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. After cry, go back gambling." Ted Ngoy "The Donut King" Interview by Isabelle Cheam at Cambodia Town Culture Festival on April 8th, 2018. 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. 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. Ted's story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. He says to me, “Alice, making money — it’s so easy. I wanted to tell this story in a way that was inspirational and optimistic. Thousands sign petition demanding resignation of O.C. In 1975, a Cambodian refugee named Ted Ngoy and his family arrived in Southern California penniless. Ngoy had little ego in the game; he didn’t care if his donut shops were easily identifiable as his. It was here that Ngoy had his first taste of gambling while placing bets at the Blackjack tables. Within three years of his arrival, Ngoy had became a millionaire with his own chain of doughnut shops across the city. And I thought, “How could that be?” He’s passed away now so I can’t talk to him about it, but it was a learning experience for me about my parents’ relationship with politics. Ted Ngoy arrived in California with the American Dream in his heart. 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. That's because of a refugee who built up an empire, and became known as the Donut King, only to lose it all. 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. How Ted Ngoy Jumpstarted the Cambodian Donut Shop Business In an article titled, How One Cambodian Refugee Started Southern California’s Donut Empire, author Gowri Chandra discussed how Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy, immigrated with his family to San Diego, California, and changed the donut industry forever. 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.It’s wild. He is nicknamed the "Donut King." Chuong Lee Tao passed down DK’s Donuts in Santa Monica to her daughter Mayly Tao, who updated the shop with a vast menu and a worldwide social media following. Despite never really being a huge success under the previous owners, Christy's became popular under the ownership of the Ngoys. The city of Irvine has settled a 1st Amendment lawsuit that alleged former Irvine Mayor Christina Shea blocked a resident after he posted comments on her personal page in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The king of the title, Ted Ngoy, was named Bun Tek Ngoy when he arrived in California in 1975, a refugee separated from his family. Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. Ted was dismayed. He dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. Ngoy also involved himself in American politics, joining the Republican Party and hosting fundraisers for George H.W. When you first reached out to Ted, it was a cold call. [3], Ngoy worked at various jobs, including as a travel agent and tour guide, before joining the military in 1970. By 1980, Ted Ngoy owned 20 Christy’s shops in Southern California. The world moves so quickly now, but I do believe that it is still real and it is still possible. The film follows an immigrant tale of the American dream through Bun Tek “Ted” Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee whose charmed life is full of war, romance, entrepreneurship, racism and a caution about greed. UC Irvine developing vaccine that targets all coronaviruses. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles leaving behind his new wife and their two children. [6][3], Ngoy bought additional doughnut shops in Orange County. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents’ old donut shops with a worldwide following. Upon deeper glance, it was so personal for me. 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. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in the real estate business. The proclaimed 'Donut King' taught his family how to build and sustain a business. She grew up in Boyle Heights and graduated from Cal State Northridge with a bachelor’s in literature and a minor in journalism. She served brief stints as a city reporter for the Daily Pilot and an education reporter for the Burbank Leader and Glendale News-Press. A few return visits later, however, Ngoy began gambling. He is working in real estate. That is because I had a buttermilk bar about 30 seconds out of the fryer with fresh glaze on it. Although the locations shared a name, he made no effort to give them a cohesive brand identity. It was on the market. Santa Ana’s LibroMobile will host its third Literary Arts Festival on Jan. 23 through Instagram. Khoeun's parents denied Ngoy's suitability as a mate for their daughter due to his lower social class, and instructed Ngoy to break off the relationship with Suganthini at a relative's home. Owner of 25 Christy’s Doughnut shops from San Francisco to San Diego, he is one of the most successful Cambodian business executives in the country. I called her when I found out and asked if she knew about Ford and Brown. 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. 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. Virtual town hall addresses COVID-19 vaccine concerns in O.C.’s Asian American community. Doing this film was really an exploration for me of understanding where you come from. Shortly after reiterating what he was forced to say, he admitted that what was said was a lie and stabbed himself in the stomach. [5] In … It was really wonderful. And she said she knew a lot of people in her parents’ generation who are lifelong Republicans and that’s why they hate the Democratic party. nonprofits have responded to the impact of COVID-19 on Asian American seniors and business owners. I thought I would just get an exterior scene for context. 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’m Chinese American. He’s really funny. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. He didn’t want to build a brand. Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. Chet and Savy, Ted Ngoy’s oldest children, sit down for an interview in “The Donut King.”. Ngoy … Which donut shop do you find yourself going back to for the sake of eating a donut?I had my out of body experience at DK’s Donuts and Bakery in Santa Monica. At his peak, Ngoy owned 65 shops and his wealth was estimated at US$20 million. I instantly found the Realtor, the listing agent and arranged to go and have Ted walk through his old house. Ted Ngoy Realty, Kompot Chhuk, Kampong Thum, Cambodia. Like everyone else, Orange County Asian Americans have struggled to adjust to the new reality brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. He subsequently received training through an affirmative action program to increase donut hiring within the Winchell's chain of doughnut shops, and managed a store in Newport Beach where he employed his wife ted nephew. Ted Ngoy on IMDb: Movies, Tv, Celebrities, and more... 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