Born of Chinese immigrants who fled the Communist Revolution, filmmaker Alice Gu related to the story of Ted Ngoy the instant she heard it. He “escaped the Khmer Rouge and genocide, arrived as a refugee at Camp Pendleton… and then by virtue of hard work… became a millionaire just three years later,” we learn in The Donut King.
But this is more than a story about a hard-working refugee. It is a particularly Cambodian-American story, and one rooted specifically in California.
When Gu heard about the “Cambodian donut” available all over the west coast state, she couldn’t help ask more questions. What about it made it Cambodian? Wasn’t a donut quintessentially American? As she discovered, what made it Cambodian was that it was more likely than not to have been made by a Cambodian refugee, or a descendant of one.
After fleeing Cambodia in the mid-1970s, Ted Ngoy and his family settled in southern California. One day, he followed an enticing aroma and bought his first donut. From there, his life and the lives of many other countrymen and women would transform.
Ted Ngoy in the early days of life in America. Source: Madman Entertainment
Ted got a job at a Winchell’s donut shop, and being quick to learn and already well versed in business and payroll, was soon running the place, as well as his own shop named for his wife and right-hand woman, Christy. Ted, like his immediate and extended family members interviewed for this doco, are refreshingly honest about their experiences, the good, bad and ugly ones. Ted recalls those early days with a chuckle.
“The first few months working, people always make fun of me, because [of] my language.”
He didn’t care a hoot. He was thrilled to be a free man making his own money off his own hard work. America was indeed offering him the dream life he’d heard about. With the driving lifestyle of Californians and coffee and donuts being a common breakfast for commuters, highways were the perfect location for donut shops. “By 1979 I got about 25 shop.”
Winner of the One in a Million Documentary Award at the Sun Valley Film Festival, and receiving Special Jury Recognition in the documentary feature category at the SXSW Film Festival in 2020, this documentary’s gravitas comes from its in-depth back story of how and why Ted and so many others had to leave their homeland.
As one of Ted’s descendants, Susan, shares, a lot of Americans still have no idea where Cambodia is, let alone about the atrocities that took place there. Gu impressively sets the historical context here, balancing the sweet rise of success with first-hand accounts of what occurred to Cambodians before their arrival in the US, alongside archival footage of news reports at the time. She also includes sound-bites of political leaders, who urged everyone to open their hearts and minds to the desperate newcomers. One was President Jimmy Carter, who reminded the populace in 1979, “Our nation is a nation of immigrants. A nation of refugees.”
Ted and one of his extended family in the younger man’s donut shop (note the emoji-inspired donut). Source: Madman Entertainment
One of Gu’s aims was to contrast that compassion and moral fortitude with the attitude of many in the face of our current global humanitarian crisis. Of her experience in her homeland as a young child, says Susan, “You would think after 30 years, you don’t remember, but you do.”
With no news coming out of communist Cambodia, all the Ngoys could do about their family left behind was “cry and pray for them”.
In the meantime, Ted and Christy worked very long hours, every single day, while raising their children. Says Ted, “I enjoy making money, yeah. By 1985, I make about $100,000 net every month. They call me Donut King.” He marvels at the success he found. “Imagine, a man with nothing, penniless, come to the most powerful country in the world and he build something.”
He didn’t just help himself. Ted personally sponsored over a hundred families to start their lives over in America. He only leased shops to Cambodian-Americans, determined to give them opportunities to succeed too.
We hear from Ted’s relatives who he trained and who went on to run their own shops and find their own success while raising their children, such as Chuong Lee of DK’s Donuts and Chhay Bun Ngoy of BC Donuts, a man who has been making donuts for 35 years.
Cambodian refugee Chuong Lee of DK’s Donuts in California. Source: Madman Entertainment
Also interviewed are Bob Rosenberg, former CEO of Dunkin’ Donuts, the franchise that was driven out of the state by the exponential rise of Cambodian-owned and run donut shops, and Greg Nichols, a food and culture journalist who offers insights on the influence Ted had on the donut market.
At the height of his success, someone introduced Ted to Las Vegas. He describes the thrill of the casino-laden city as being “just like the first time I tasted a donut”. While he took to gambling slowly at first, he rapidly ended up with nothing to his name. His daughter reveals, “I don’t know what was wrong with him.” Ted does: “Excitement, money and greed”.
Despite the turn Ted took, the final act of this story is an uplifting one, just like the main thread that runs through this beautifully made film that honours the people in it. It’s well worth a watch. You might want to keep a few donuts handy.
The Donut King airs 11.30am Friday 22 June 2023 on SBS VICELAND. It will be available at SBS On Demand for 30 days after it airs.
