Donuts and Cambodia

There are two things that have become part of my shtick, talking about California (Southern) and how much I just love it and how nice the weather is and talking about food, often donuts. Given any new audience who hasn't heard my limited backlog of stories, I like to talk about Southern California, Donuts and my favorite newspaper, the Wall Street Journal. I like to wow them with a double header of WSJ reporting.

"I once read in the WSJ that there are more donut shops per capita in Southern California than anywhere else. I also read that most donut shops in Southern California are owned by Cambodians. Apparently there was one person who immigrated and started working at Winchell's Donuts. He opened his own donut shop and has now become a supplier of donut shop equipment and supplies to other Cambodian donut shops. As each new person in the community immigrates to Southern California, they often open small businesses and many open donut shops because there are lots of resources available within the community on 'How to open a donut shop?' They initially work at Winchell's Donuts and receive training and then they leave and open up their own shops. They've been able to push Winchell's out of many neighborhoods and having grown up in Southern California, I've personally witnessed the diminished presence of Winchell's. Since many independent donut shops are owned by Cambodians, you get the multipurpose donut shop. 'Donuts and Chinese Food,' is a classic example of this culinary multitasking. The funny thing is most Cambodian donut shop owners interviewed don't like donuts because they're too sweet, but I like donuts so it's all good."

Actually, when I talk I don't sound like a well researched thesis and I sometimes say "like" so this dialogue may not give you the full taste, but you get the gist and you learn something new everyday.