Luon Sa So, right, and his wife Kagnchana Un, box donuts and kolaches for a customer Monday morning at their new store Odessa Doughnuts and Deli. (Photo: Mark Sterkel|Odessa American)
An Apsara figurine representing a divine celestial female dancer sets on the counter of the Odessa Doughnuts and Deli shop. Owners Luon Sa So and Kagnchana Un are originally from Cambodia and are keeping in the family tradition of making doughnuts. (Photo: Mark Sterkel|Odessa American)February 01, 2010
BY GEOFF FOLSOM
Odessa American (Texas, USA)
If you goEvery day, Luon Sa So gets up and starts making doughnuts at 1:30 a.m. And he doesn’t shut Odessa Donuts and Deli’s doors until 7 p.m.
- What: Odessa Doughnuts and Deli.
- Where: 1520 N. Grant Ave.
- When: 3 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
- Call: 333-2233.
"A lot of people, they get up early," said the owner of the new store in Odessa, which he opened with his wife, Kagnchana Un, Jan. 1. "People who don’t, they do not do doughnuts. They cannot stand it."
But getting up early can hardly be considered a challenge for So, who fled his native Cambodia during the regime of dictator Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in 1975, in what many consider a period of genocide.
"If one guy does something wrong, they find you and kill your entire family," he said of his life at that time.
With his family, 8-year-old So walked day and night until he reached Thailand. Many that made the walk didn’t make it.
"You could see people laying down and dying everywhere," he said. "By that time, my mom was really sick."
Eventually, So’s family made it to neighboring Thailand, where they lived in a refugee camp. In the 1980s, they headed for the United States, settling in Greensboro, N.C.
"It’s very, very different," he said. "The United States is a freedom country."
Since he left Asia, things have improved in Cambodia. So now visits about once a year. He said it was on one of these trips in 2005 that he met his wife to be. It took about a year, but he was eventually able to bring Un to the United States.
They now have an 18-month-old son, Brandon Rithearouk Kem, who can often be found sitting behind the counter, with his spiky hair, at the doughnut shop.
Un said she was impressed by the United States.
"Here it is really kind of big and developed," she said. "It made me really want to come here."
It wasn’t long until the family decided to head for Odessa. While Odessa has plenty of doughnut shops, Un (Cambodian tradition calls for women to keep their maiden names when married) said they chose to move here because they wanted to offer something the others didn’t have.
"For us, we do not do the doughnuts only," she said. "We do the doughnuts and deli. So we chose Odessa."
Along with doughnuts, the store offers cheesesteak sandwiches, turkey wraps and kolache, Czech pastries stuffed with sausage and other meats. It also sells bubble tea and smoothies.
"My kolache is the best in Odessa or Midland," he said.
Darren Farrill of Odessa said he likes that the food is hot when he orders it to bring to a construction site.
"The kolaches and stuff, it’s ready to go," he said.
Getting the building on North Grant Avenue prepared was a six month process for So. He said the one-time liquor store had been empty for 11 years. Improvements included everything from putting in ceramic tile floors to painting the building bright purple.
"I redo everything," he said. "I change everything."
And the family is taking to its new surroundings.
"I find the people here is nice," Un said. "Working at a restaurant in North Carolina, the people were different. The people here are real nice."
Still, So does admit he’s looking for a baker to help out. Those 122-hour work weeks can be a bit much after a while.
19 comments:
Glad to see our people succeed in the business. Wishing you and your family a success! Keep it up.
A KHMER KROM FAMILY OWN ALL THE CHINA FEAST RESTAURANT IN KANSAS AND MISSOURI THAT BIG YELLOW RESTAURANT.
Good job, keep feeding the Americans the doughnuts or " Cambodian Num Kang"!
Doing business is not just working hard. You must work smart also.
The art of doing business is to be able to make other people work for you. You can work but because you wanted to, not a must.
Your mind and your hands must be free to think about what to do next to improve your business.
owning business is sometime tough. It is very time consuming. But it can be very rewarding at the end. Congratulation!
Mreas Prov
Congrats. I think the donut baker guy is a lucky guy to get a girl from Cambodge to mary him. Lol.
Good Luck to So's family.It's a good start for your young family.I have done that myself when I first got here too.You're everything you wanted to call yourself.You're the Boss,Baker,clerck,Janitor and else...but work hard and work smart GOOD LUCK..
Be success is very good, but don't let your guard down as Ngor Bun Tek did in the early 80. He ruined his donut business to casinos in Las Vegas. He is the first Cambodian own donut chain in Southern California.
Majority of Khmer people operate donut stores; whereas, the majority of Vietcong operates nail salon. Siem operates restaurants whereas Korean operates big supermarket.
Good luck to your new business, but Dress nice to impress your customer and don't wear the hat like gangster. I'm not impressed with your outfit. Keep clean.
well done you two. may you become so wealthy even the vietnamese/koreans/thais come for your advice! and don't forget your own people in Cambodia. give them help because they need you too..
business like this doesn't come so easy. people worked hard for the success of their business.
True. Dress to impress. May be a uniform, bakery hat and an apron with the store name on it. Look clean and advertise the same time.
yes, they open early and close late. it takes a lot of dedication as well, really!
agreed, in the west, one of the first impression is the cleanliness of the workers and the place of business. otherwise, people are afraid to eat or go there for fear of getting sick, etc... yes, use proper uniform with name of business and at least first name as people in the western society likes to called people by their first name. and always, smile and treat all of your customers professionally and be friendly and helpful as well. it can makes a great impression and attract more customers. also, have a free sample for your valued customers to sample because if they like what they taste, they will certainly buy more of it, really. remember, too, that businesses in western society, customers are the most important person you will have, so make sure to treat them all well. after all, your business depends on them, really. be smart about it. think about it. god bless.
never wear street cloth like this at a place of business, please. yes, use clean, fresh uniform, please! it doesn't cost much to get a few uniform for the store, really! it's a good investment, really!
You are working very hard, in the few years you will own many hundred of thousand of dollars.
Please, after, do not go to any casino, have good time with your wife and children instead.
Some Chinese restaurants did the same way. At the sitting area in one of them, it displays all kind of figures from China for selling. At one corner, I happened to spot a pair of small Apsara statues putting for sales for $39.99. I told the cashier to pack them. They are just so lovely. It's very rare to find Apsara figurines in a foriegn land and a foreign restaurant, yet. The experience was out of this world!
Congratulation that Khmer can have own business.
Be sucessful and help Khmer pong
Hey wear the aprone,my man!
make it look professional!
Mf my name is ritheanouk not rithearouk
Post a Comment