1 00:00:01,129 --> 00:00:05,782 ♪ Cambodian music ♪ 2 00:00:22,064 --> 00:00:29,671 [DONUT PEOPLE] 3 00:00:30,493 --> 00:00:31,987 [Samoeurn Phan] 4 00:00:31,987 --> 00:00:35,256 [Affectionately known as Pou Sam (Uncle Sam)] 5 00:00:35,256 --> 00:00:39,040 [Sam has opened over 20 donut shops for Cambodian families across Houston.] 6 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,969 (Uncle Sam) Well, when I came here in 1994 7 00:00:41,969 --> 00:00:47,056 to eat one donut you didn't realize how much work goes into one donut 8 00:00:47,997 --> 00:00:51,374 until you actually go into doing the donuts. 9 00:00:52,779 --> 00:00:57,446 You know, it takes quite a bit just to make one donut. 10 00:00:58,150 --> 00:01:00,648 I start off by finding a location. 11 00:01:00,648 --> 00:01:02,454 If I find a location, 12 00:01:02,454 --> 00:01:07,597 I get a family that needs a donut shop to go to look at the location, 13 00:01:07,597 --> 00:01:10,728 and if they like it, we negotiate the price, 14 00:01:11,191 --> 00:01:13,571 and if the price is right, I build it for them and turn them the key. 15 00:01:14,597 --> 00:01:17,664 You know, most of them already know how to make donuts. 16 00:01:17,664 --> 00:01:20,040 They work for a family member, 17 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,652 you know, they've already worked for like two, three or five years 18 00:01:23,942 --> 00:01:27,133 to save up the money to start up the business. 19 00:01:27,903 --> 00:01:29,681 [Chandara Meas Owner of Snowflake Donuts, Galveston] 20 00:01:29,681 --> 00:01:32,562 [Cambodian Immigrant] 21 00:01:34,974 --> 00:01:37,243 (Chandara Meas) That's what I'm saying, when I came to the States, 22 00:01:37,243 --> 00:01:40,904 I don't have no relatives in here, I don't speak that much English, 23 00:01:40,904 --> 00:01:42,631 I gotta start to learn English 24 00:01:42,631 --> 00:01:44,671 and start to work to support myself... 25 00:01:45,451 --> 00:01:47,616 and I don't have chance to go back to college, 26 00:01:47,616 --> 00:01:50,668 so I end up at a donut shop. 27 00:01:50,668 --> 00:01:54,359 Most Cambodians who take us, 28 00:01:54,359 --> 00:01:57,706 they own a donut shop, they run a donut business... 29 00:01:59,399 --> 00:02:02,193 yeah, you know, it's hard to do it, 30 00:02:02,672 --> 00:02:05,745 not many people want to do that job as I'm doing right now. 31 00:02:07,029 --> 00:02:09,295 [Countless Cambodians were tortured] 32 00:02:09,295 --> 00:02:11,577 [and more than a million were killed] 33 00:02:11,577 --> 00:02:13,244 [under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.] 34 00:02:13,244 --> 00:02:15,444 [More than a million Cambodians fled and became refugees.] 35 00:02:15,444 --> 00:02:17,778 From 1975 to 1979, 36 00:02:17,778 --> 00:02:19,446 there's Khmer Rouge ran by Pol Pot. 37 00:02:19,446 --> 00:02:22,279 At that time I was 10 years old... 38 00:02:22,279 --> 00:02:24,944 I still remember the torture, 39 00:02:24,944 --> 00:02:29,662 lot of people died by starving and sickness... 40 00:02:29,662 --> 00:02:33,129 most of [the time] they were killing people. 41 00:02:33,662 --> 00:02:34,928 That was a hard time 42 00:02:34,928 --> 00:02:39,195 and that was the worst thing that happened in the world. 43 00:02:39,861 --> 00:02:46,862 Most Cambodians escaped from the war in 1981after the Khmer Rouge regime, 44 00:02:46,862 --> 00:02:53,412 and when they started to come here, people don't speak that much English, 45 00:02:53,412 --> 00:02:57,711 so that's why they started working at donut shops 46 00:02:57,711 --> 00:03:00,312 because most of them what they do are family business -- 47 00:03:01,711 --> 00:03:03,529 This is my wife's nephew. 48 00:03:03,529 --> 00:03:06,295 He just came to the USA last year. 49 00:03:07,162 --> 00:03:10,329 He came in a special case that they call "Lottery Visa". 50 00:03:10,329 --> 00:03:13,462 He's a lucky one that won a lottery green card. 51 00:03:16,595 --> 00:03:21,812 The business we just opened-- it is kind of slow, it's brand new. 52 00:03:21,812 --> 00:03:27,245 Hopefully, we can stay for a long time until we get some profit... 53 00:03:27,245 --> 00:03:30,928 to take care of my family, my kids... 54 00:03:31,195 --> 00:03:32,878 go to school, go to college... 55 00:03:33,611 --> 00:03:36,079 I have a beautiful kid. 56 00:03:39,345 --> 00:03:42,477 It's like, if you work for a company, 57 00:03:42,477 --> 00:03:45,111 you have a different schedule than the donut people. 58 00:03:45,111 --> 00:03:49,261 So the donut people, we wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am, 59 00:03:49,261 --> 00:03:53,628 and we'll be done by 12:00 or 1:00 pm, and take a couple-of-hours-nap, 60 00:03:53,628 --> 00:03:57,979 and, you know, get together and then, go to sleep, and wake up, 61 00:03:57,979 --> 00:04:00,329 and go to make some more donuts! 62 00:04:02,079 --> 00:04:07,261 (man singing Karaoke in Cambodian) 63 00:04:10,744 --> 00:04:13,561 [Tao Ngo Vietnamese Restaurant North Houston] 64 00:04:13,561 --> 00:04:15,528 [Cambodian Karaoke Party] 65 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (end of singing) 66 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Yeah, we like to get together because, you know, 67 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we work seven days a week. 68 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Some of us wake up at 1:00 am, 69 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some of us wake up at 2:00 am, 70 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some of us at 3:00 am, 71 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and we work seven days a week, 72 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you know, this is the only fun we have. 73 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Cambodian music) 74 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I would say 95% of the donut shops in Texas, not just in Houston, 75 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in Texas is Cambodian people owned. 76 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One one-big -family, that's all. 77 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Cambodian music) 78 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Second Generation Donut Shop Owner] 79 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Roth's parents, sisters, aunts,] 80 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [and uncles all own donut shops.] 81 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 My parents bought the store in 1994. 82 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They would always bring us on weekends because we have school on weekdays. 83 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I really dread waking up on the weekend just to come make donut, you know. 84 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They told me one day I'm going to own my business 85 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I kind of say I didn't want to do this. 86 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is not my first choice of what I really wanted to do. 87 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 For me, going to school what I really wanted to do, 88 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I wanted to experience that life. 89 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One day I woke up and I realized I didn't want to work for somebody else.