NUTS for doughnuts

Daily photos by John Godbey The 1,500 to 2,000 doughnuts made fresh each day at K-May Donuts & Coffee House on Sixth Avenue Southeast include those dipped in chocolate, caramel, vanilla or maple and some topped with nuts or sprinkles. BUY THIS PHOTO (More info)

Cambodian native opens shop in Decatur, continuing hardworking family tradition
By Patrice Stewart
Decatur Daily Staff Writer
Daily photos by John Godbey

The 1,500 to 2,000 doughnuts made fresh each day at K-May Donuts & Coffee House on Sixth Avenue Southeast include those dipped in chocolate, caramel, vanilla or maple and some topped with nuts or sprinkles.

The early riser gets the biggest selection when K-May Donuts & Coffee House opens at 4:30 a.m.

Cambodian native Chy Khoun comes to work at 2 a.m. to start making the glazed, cream-filled, cake and many other types of doughnuts for the month-old business at 1815 Sixth Ave. S.E., across from Gateway Shopping Center.

“I’ve done doughnuts most of my life,” said Khoun, 53, who starts with a mix and adds water and yeast. He has lived in the United States for about 20 years and previously ran doughnut shops in California, Arizona, Arkansas and Mississippi.

“There are about 4,000 doughnut stores in California owned by Cambodians,” he said. “We don’t have other skills, so we do this — and I’m used to working 14 to 18 hours a day.”

He was in high school in the late 1970s when the Communists came and closed the schools and banks, and he was sent to work in the fields and on road construction. They worked hard, with little food, medicine or money, he recalled.

“I still think about that two or three times a week and wonder why they did that,” Khoun said.

“Things were bad, and when I left Cambodia, I had to walk 150 miles to Thailand. After I escaped, I stayed in a refugee camp in Thailand for five or six years. But I am a lucky one.”

About 2 million Cambodians were executed for political reasons or died from starvation or forced labor during a four-year period.

When someone wanted to purchase Khoun’s shop in Batesville, Miss., he drove around to look for his next location and discovered Decatur, where he didn’t know anyone.

He named his shop K-May for Khmer, or the nationality of the Cambodian people.

His wife helps him make doughnuts, and his brother Chhanarith, who moved from Massachusetts, assists with customers.

“I like the river here, because I like to fish,” Khoun said. “I like this town, and the weather is about like Cambodia. I’m tired of big towns now.”

He is also planning to open a doughnut shop in Cullman in May.

The 1,500 to 2,000 doughnuts he estimates he makes every day includes those made with yeast and then glazed or dipped in chocolate, caramel, vanilla or maple. The doughnut holes, an offshoot, often sell out quickly, as do the Long Johns and styles filled with vanilla, chocolate and various fruity creams.

Customers have a hard time choosing from the wide assortment, which also includes pineapple fritters and apple fritters, bear claws, cinnamon twists and cake doughnuts made with sour cream, buttermilk, blueberries or chocolate.

Along with doughnuts and various coffee beverages, they prepare breakfast any time.

“Mornings are busy, and a lot of people are getting omelets, two eggs over easy or breakfast burritos,” he said.

They finish preparing trays of doughnuts at 10 a.m. and then until 2 p.m., they make sandwiches such as Chicken Montana with grilled chicken, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms and melted cheese.

“A lot of people like our sandwiches, because they are different,” Khoun said.

The doughnut shop is open from 4:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.