Her parents wanted nothing to do with him. "He's like, 'You know what? 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. In 1985, he and Suganthini became U.S. citizens. 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. Devastated that he had broken their pact, she filed for divorce. I dont know who I am right now, he said. But with great riches come great temptations. "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. It smelled delicious and when he first tasted one it reminded him of something from home - a fried pastry, also circular, called nom kong. "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. 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. L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. The film details how Ngoy fled Cambodia with his family during the Vietnam War and later went on to build a donut shop empire, only to lose it all because of a gambling addiction. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchell's in Newport Beach. I cry. The ubiquity and low overhead of these Cambodian mom-and-pop donut shops helped drive Dunkin' Donuts out of California in the late '90s. He woke her up and she was about to scream for help, when she realised it was her classmate. On Sundays he would go to the church where her son was the pastor and join in Bible studies. Ted is my great uncle,'" Gu says. and 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. To make sure he went through with it, they insisted on hiding behind a curtain while he said his spiel. They pricked their fingers and squeezed drops of blood into a cup of water. "She was so beautiful," he remembers. This caused tension in the Ngoy household, being the center of many arguments between Ngoy and his wife. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. Then he flew to a monastery in the Thai countryside. In return, he played their tables and lost thousands of dollars. The two had met as teenage classmates in Phnom Penh. 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. Ted Ngoy made a fortune in doughnuts. That really broke the ice for us. Cambodia was having its first democratic elections since the war and he wanted to stand for office to help rebuild his country. DK's Donuts Yes, you read that right. 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. "a short-lived comeback in Sacramento in 2002," the Massachusetts-based company didn't return to the Golden State "I never back down. He suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front. It's a monster in me.". Refugees who had sought his advice now avoided him, fearing he would ask for a loan. Then he had his next great idea. 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. He trained them and handed over the keys. Bush, met former Presidents Reagan and Nixon, and urged other Asian immigrants to support the GOP. 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. He borrowed money from relatives who had leased his doughnut shops. And it was actually a donut that I refused at first from Mayly Tao, the Donut Princess. Since many of them had gotten their start in the business and the United States thanks to Ngoy, they were happy to help. Before sunrise, they would climb back into her room. Ted was a poor boy from a poor family while Christy was the daughter of a high-ranking official. Ted encouraged others to do the same. About 30 Christys Doughnuts were still in operation, as were hundreds of other Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. Theyre savvy, young, hip. Ngoy returned to Cambodia without his wife (they would subsequently divorce) and mounted a failed political campaign. "Ted, again, is Mr. Nine Lives. According to Tao, the servants caught on to Ted's presence after a few days but didn't say anything. Gu's documentary, Broke, Ted and Christy returned to Cambodia. And a new figure emerged on the California business landscape: the Cambodian doughnut-shop owner. The Ngoys helped hundreds of refugees find housing and apply for Social Security cards. That is a lie, he cried, and plunged the blade into his belly. 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. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. Ted did try to curb his habit. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy) was born into a poor Cambodian family in 1942. Ngoy built a vast donut shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County. "This friendly voice picks up the phone, a young voice in that perfectly American accented English. You will end up destroying the whole family and no more relationship with the world, just finished. "I did not have time to take care of business, so business was going down. Doing this film was really an exploration for me of understanding where you come from. I did not have time to expand. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. Then I went to America, Ngoy said, and created the doughnut world.. 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. Boozy Dole Whips. On one of his Las Vegas trips, Ngoy took up gambling. Christy has remarried and lives in the US, Listen to Ted Ngoy on Outlook on the BBC World Service, Download the podcast for more extraordinary stories, The Donut King, is available in the US now in theatres and online and will be coming to the UK in 2021, Listen to Ted Ngoy on Outlook: How the Donut King lost his crown. 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. "[8] Giving it three-out-of-four stars, Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com called the The Donut King "a heartwarming albeit scattered documentary from director Alice Gu," and praised the film for "its balance of poppy visuals and detailed history. Your Guide To Everything Boozy You Can Order, A Los Angeles Family Seeks Answers And Accountability After Black Mom Dies In Childbirth. His family didn't want to see him, and nobody offered him work, not even baking doughnuts. Ngoy would open more shops and lease them to fellow refugees. Suganthini's family insisted Ted break it off by telling her he didn't love her. 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. When time goes by it gets into your blood and you just cannot get it out," says Ted. "I spent about $100,000 of my own money, my time, my everything," he says. It provided a path for refugees to settle and was a profitable business model. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. He had no home and no money, and his country had been overrun by a gang of pitiless thugs. He cut his chest sliding under barbed wire. [8], Author Ryka Aoki describes Ngoy as legend in our Asian-American community and inspiration for her award-winning novel Light From Uncommon Stars for both his stealing books process and the legacy of Cambodian-American donut shops in Southern California. Ngoys wife hated his gambling. "[10], Whittaker said that "as Asian Americans face increasing racism, its closing message about how immigrant communitiesdefine America has only become more timely."[8]. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. [7][3], Ngoy's fortunes improved dramatically, such that by the mid-1980s Ngoy had amassed millions of dollars through his expanding doughnut shop empire, reported as 50 locations throughout California. California Sunday He was ready to be taken by a new passion. "We were happy - until the gambling came to wreck my life. goes to your local theater. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, and the Cambodian genocide began. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. After earning a communications degree at UC San Diego, Tao worked for a while at a news station but wasn't enthused about that career path. "Some of them were cousins, uncles, nieces," says Ted. Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. The son of a peddler had no chance with such a girl, no right even to think of loving her. 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. [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. A bank had foreclosed on his mansion on Lake Mission Viejo. in Tustin sponsored the family, allowing them to live in the church where Ted worked as a janitor. The couple and their three toddlers arrived penniless at Camp Pendleton, part of the first wave of Cambodian refugees. He would forge her signature on checks and even borrow money from relatives who leased stores from him. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. Ted and Christy are divorced. 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. 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. Of pitiless thugs he suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front up. 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