Serving the High Plains

Donut shop to reopen by early August

Tucumcari Donuts will reopen by early August under a new name and manager after it closed more than 18 months ago and its previous operator was accused of stealing its equipment.

Rotha Chhin, an immigrant from Cambodia who became a U.S. citizen about six years ago, in recent days has been preparing the building at 600 E. Tucumcari Blvd. He said last week he was awaiting a health inspection and additional equipment before he reopens it as a Donut Pro.

Chhin also is a manager of a doughnut shop in San Angelo, Texas, and recently sold another doughnut shop in nearby Eden, Texas.

He said after arriving in America in his early 20s, he worked at Asian restaurants, including Panda Express, and eventually learned the doughnut trade from a friend in Kentucky.

He said he would have considered a doughnut shop in California, except many of those operate 24 hours a day. Chhin said a doughnut shop further east enables him to “start small so I can do all of this by myself” in not as many hours.

He said he knew the Tucumcari Donuts building owner, Bunneary Kim of Friona, Texas, and she contacted him to gauge his interest when it became available. He was.

Chhin said Donut Pro would stock the classics — such as glazed doughnuts — along with other doughnuts in a variety of toppings. He said he also would offer cinnamon rolls, bearclaws and kolaches, better known as pigs in a blanket. The kolaches will be offered with sausage, including boudin, a French Cajun specialty. Also offered will be croissant and biscuit sandwiches.

Chhin said he was aware the previous operators of Tucumcari Donuts suddenly closed in January 2019.

“Hopefully, I can do better than they did,” he said.

Tucumcari Donuts’ operators resurfaced in Santa Rosa, then closed that one as well. In April 2019, police in Kentucky arrested Chhaya Yun, 35, on a felony larceny charge after he was accused of stealing $26,000 in doughnut-making equipment and other tools from Tucumcari Donuts.

A manager of a storage-rental facility in Georgetown, Kentucky, grew suspicious when Yun double-locked his unit against facility policy. The manager also noticed Yun matched the description of a fugitive from New Mexico.

Yun’s larceny complaint is a second-degree felony that could lead up to nine years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Yun’s case still is working its way through Tucumcari district court, partly because of the difficulty in finding a Cambodian interpreter for him. According to online court records, Yun will appear in court for a status hearing Aug. 11.

Kim said during a telephone interview last week she was able to get back much of the stolen equipment.

 
 
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