Donut People

"This short food film tells the story of Cambodian immigrants in Texas, where Cambodians own an estimated 95% of the donut shops. Some of the film's subjects escaped torture and persecution in Cambodia at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Interviews with immigrants and their children offer insights into the culture. The film wraps up with a look at the exciting new style of Cambodian donut shop/coffee house with gourmet Asian donuts and hip baristas."

DISCLAIMER: I don't own this video and I'm not monetizing it. This is a copy only used with the purpose of adding subtitles and making it accessible to more people around the world.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

♪ Cambodian music ♪

[DONUT PEOPLE]

[Samoeurn Phan]

[Affectionately known as
Pou Sam (Uncle Sam)]

[Sam has opened over 20 donut shops
for Cambodian families across Houston.]

(Uncle Sam) Well, when I came here in 1994

to eat one donut you didn't realize
how much work goes into one donut

until you actually go into
doing the donuts.

You know, it takes quite a bit
just to make one donut.

I start off by finding a location.

If I find a location,

I get a family that needs a donut shop
to go to look at the location,

and if they like it,
we negotiate the price,

and if the price is right,
I build it for them and turn them the key.

You know, most of them
already know how to make donuts.

They work for a family member,

you know, they've already worked
for like two, three or five years

to save up the money
to start up the business.

[Chandara Meas
Owner of Snowflake Donuts, Galveston]

[Cambodian Immigrant]

(Chandara Meas) That's what I'm saying,
when I came to the States,

I don't have no relatives in here,
I don't speak that much English,

I gotta start to learn English

and start to work to support myself...

and I don't have chance
to go back to college,

so I end up at a donut shop.

Most Cambodians who take us,

they own a donut shop,
they run a donut business...

yeah, you know, it's hard to do it,

not many people want to do that job
as I'm doing right now.

[Countless Cambodians were tortured]

[and more than a million were killed]

[under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.]

[More than a million Cambodians fled
and became refugees.]

From 1975 to 1979,

there's Khmer Rouge ran by Pol Pot.

At that time I was 10 years old...

I still remember the torture,

lot of people died
by starving and sickness...

most of [the time]
they were killing people.

That was a hard time

and that was the worst thing
that happened in the world.

Most Cambodians escaped from the war
in 1981after the Khmer Rouge regime,

and when they started to come here,
people don't speak that much English,

so that's why they started
working at donut shops

because most of them what they do
are family business --

This is my wife's nephew.

He just came to the USA last year.

He came in a special case
that they call "Lottery Visa".

He's a lucky one
that won a lottery green card.

The business we just opened--
it is kind of slow, it's brand new.

Hopefully, we can stay for a long time
until we get some profit...

to take care of my family, my kids...

go to school, go to college...

I have a beautiful kid.

It's like, if you work for a company,

you have a different schedule
than the donut people.

So the donut people,
we wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am,

and we'll be done by 12:00 or 1:00 pm,
and take a couple-of-hours-nap,

and, you know, get together
and then, go to sleep, and wake up,

and go to make some more donuts!

(man singing Karaoke in Cambodian)

[Tao Ngo Vietnamese Restaurant
North Houston]

[Cambodian Karaoke Party]

(end of singing)

Yeah, we like to get together
because, you know,

we work seven days a week.

Some of us wake up at 1:00 am,

some of us wake up at 2:00 am,

some of us at 3:00 am,

and we work seven days a week,

you know, this is the only fun we have.

(Cambodian music)

I would say 95% of the donut shops
in Texas, not just in Houston,

in Texas is Cambodian people owned.

One one-big -family, that's all.

(Cambodian music)

[Second Generation Donut Shop Owner]

[Roth's parents, sisters, aunts,]

[and uncles all own donut shops.]

My parents bought the store in 1994.

They would always bring us on weekends
because we have school on weekdays.

I really dread waking up on the weekend
just to come make donut, you know.

They told me one day
I'm going to own my business

and I kind of say
I didn't want to do this.

This is not my first choice
of what I really wanted to do.

For me, going to school
what I really wanted to do,

I wanted to experience that life.

One day I woke up and I realized
I didn't want to work for somebody else.

I called my mom and I told her
I wanted to come back home

and try this again,

and she was very excited,
very happy for me

that I can kind of woke up
and I wanted to do this.

I get up at 4:00 am,

and my sisters get up
at around 2 - 2:30 am,

they're closer to the plant
so they wake up earlier,

to go to the plant and--

I'm fortunately to have
a little bit of both,

so I can stay in bed a little longer
and they can--

So when I first got to Houston
I didn't know--

I thought my family was the only one
that was doing donuts

but I come to find out that

a lot of Cambodian people
have done this way before we have...

You know, it's like a community
of helping out each other, you know,

like, people were telling each other
what can make you successful

and I don't think anybody
was envious of each other,

just wanted to see our culture succeed,

and the donut business
is where it started

for a lot of these Cambodian cultures.

It's definitely a dream

that a lot of people want
when they are in Cambodia,

to have their own place, back in Cambodia.

It's a fast-pace life.

Every day is a struggle to find
money and food for the family.

It made me realized
what I have out here in America.

As hard as I work down here,

I think that they work harder over there
to make a small living.

My first place when I came,
[...] Donald en el Dorado, Webster