Sam Pham arrived to work at 3 o’clock Monday morning, not knowing exactly what to expect, kind of like a new kid on the first day of school.
It was the first day in business for Milledgeville Donuts & Coffee, located at the old Goodie Gallery property. Would people show up, Pham wondered.
The answer was a resounding “Yes!” And by 10 a.m., Pham was completely sold out of donuts.
So, he hopped back in the kitchen and started making more.
“It’s very nice. It made me feel really good. I thank everybody for all the support,” Pham said.
The apple fritters flew off the racks the quickest, followed by the cake donuts, which are glazed donuts topped with various sweets. It’s $14.99 for a dozen glazed donuts or $17.39 for a “mixed dozen.”
Also on the menu are three varieties of breakfast sandwiches – croissants, biscuits and bagels. Biscuits weren’t part of the original plan, but Pham called an audible to cater to his clientele in Milledgeville, where people love their breakfast biscuits. An egg & cheese biscuit is $2.25, while a sausage, egg & cheese is $3.50. The croissant sandwiches begin at $2.50 and go up to $4.75, while a cream cheese bagel is $1.75 and a sausage egg & cheese bagel $3.99.
Then, there are breakfast burritos and kolaches, which mimic pigs in a blanket. Kolaches are most popular in Texas, which is where Pham lived for several years. On the menu on Tuesday was a boudin kolache, a nod to New Orleans.
Tracey Harper, a local businesswoman, is definitely a fan. “Sam’s great. He helped me out with my scholarship program. He’s really looking to become part of this community,” she said. “The donuts are soooo good. They are so fresh.”
Pham has been in the donut business for more than 30 years. While previously operating a donut shop in Houston, a film maker approached him with a project, and that project ultimately became “Donut People,” a 95-minute documentary that went on to win several film festival awards. The documentary gets into Pham’s family history, chronicling their escape from Cambodia through the jungles of Thailand and away from dictatorship.
Anyone who’s ever spent any time in southern California is familiar with Cambodian donut shops. In Los Angeles County alone, there are more than 1,000 of them.
Milledgeville Donuts & Coffee is open from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week.