‘Donut King’ Ted Ngoy’s Life Was Even Crazier Than The Documentary About Him Reveals

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. In the 1980s and ’90s, when Dunkin’ Donuts tried to establish itself on the West Coast, his frosted, deep-fried empire sent the company packing. Then, he lost it all.

Ngoy’s epic rags-to-riches-to-rags story has been chronicled before (in the Los Angeles Times, the Phnom Penh Post and California Sunday, to name a few outlets), but Alice Gu is the first to put it on film.

Gu’s documentary, The Donut King, 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 full: https://laist.com/2020/10/29/donut_king_ted_ngoys_life_was_even_crazier_than_the_documentary_about_him_reveals.php

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