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OCEANSIDE: Sweet retirement for longtime donut shop owners
Couple sells popular store after 24 years
By PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer | ∞
Mill and Bophasy Tan stand in their donut shop on Mission Avenue on Monday. The Tans have sold the shop after 24 years in business. OCEANSIDE ---- For nearly 30 years, the Tan family has lived a life measured by the baker's dozen. But no more.
On Monday morning, Mill and Bophasy Tan hung up their aprons for good, after serving their last bear claws, crullers and twists to a passionate cast of customers.
Tomorrow, Tan's Donuts will open with a new owner behind the counter.
Longtime customers said the shop will go on, but that the Tans are an Oceanside institution that will be hard to replace.
John Trevor-Smith said he has been coming to the small donut shop on Mission Avenue between Foussat Road and El Camino Real for "more years than I can count." There has simply been no better place to get his fix, he added.
"They just make a great donut. It's not mushy or greasy," Trevor-Smith said. "Their prices are far superior to anyone else's around here, and the quality is the best."
The Tans purchased their shop from a previous owner in 1984 after a five-year stint managing a Winchell's donut store in San Jose. Mill Tan said he attended Winchell's "donut school" to learn his skills.
The secret to a perfect donut? Attention to the details.
"You have to know the right time to fry and the right time to glaze," he said.
The wisdom sounds especially sage as Tan peers over the counter through his wire-rimmed glasses. Those eyes have seen more than donuts and cups of coffee. He and his wife left Khmer Rouge-controlled Cambodia in 1979, starting over in America as refugees.
Trained as a civil engineer, Mill Tan said he simply needed a way to feed his family, and donuts were one of the only opportunities available. Seven days a week for nearly three decades, the Tans have come to work at midnight, sometimes 11 p.m. if there is an especially big order, to prepare for the 5 a.m. donut rush.
"Some of our customers come here seven days a week," he said. "It's nonstop from midnight until you go home with the baking, and the serving and the cleaning."
The Tans were not alone in their decision to start frying donuts after leaving Cambodia. A quick Google search turns up dozens of tales of Cambodian immigrants starting in the donut trade after fleeing their homeland in the mid- to late-1970s.
Mill Tan, 67, said 30 years of constant standing ---- to make and serve circles of sweet indulgence ---- has taken its toll on his legs. But the toll is not so great that he plans of sitting at home in retirement.
"We're going to travel," he said.
Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.
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Josephine wrote on Jun 30, 2008 5:07 PM:Your donuts will be missed. They were the best! Hope you taught the new owners a few things to keep the legacy of Tans donuts going.
On behalf of the Oceanside Police Department wrote on Jun 30, 2008 5:34 PM:Thanks for the memories! You have been a true friend! We will miss you!
Melba wrote on Jun 30, 2008 10:58 PM:Mr. and Mrs. Tan kept my Campaign Office in delicious donuts for several months and I wish them the best of luck. I truly have sweet memories of them.
Sgt. Smith wrote on Jul 1, 2008 6:21 AM:me and the boys in the balck and whites are going to miss you Mill!!
FTM wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:07 AM:Hi Melba - I hope your doing well - It's your old arch nemisis FTM.
By the way - the Oceanside Police Department did not write that blog about the donuts (some prankster did)
They are good donuts
Yes I did write that blog wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:42 AM:I do eat donuts! Big deal! I am comfortable with my self and passion for donuts! It's funny! I laugh about it and so should the public! Why does it have to be prankster! They are great donuts! I should! You want a traffic related question or where you can get a great donut and cup a joe; ask a cop! We can tell ya!
Response to Donuts wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:45 AM:Yes Virgina there is a Santa Claus and yes Cops do eat donuts! Cops are to donuts as Popeye is to Spinage! Ha!
Of course cops eat donuts wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:45 AM:Are you crazy! They drink beer too! They are people; people! Geez!
Resposne to FTM wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:50 AM:Lighten up and stop speaking for me! I eat a donut and get a cup of coffee at the beginning of evry shift! What country are you in? Of course cops eat donuts! Cops eating donuts is about as American as you can get! Why change a tradition! Now let's be careful out there! See you on the streets! Good luck to the Tans! We need more citizens like these people! Much like other Oceanside "Mom and Pop's Businesses" They have become a landmark that will be sorely missed!
These type of family businesses are the corner stones of this great city wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:51 AM:I would have hoped they would have pas the business down to a family member! Too bad!
Whats next Paul Place wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:53 AM:Tan's, Paul Place are the police local hang outs for the east side of the city! Let's not loose all our charm! Keep these Oceanside pioneers here and the local people will be happy!
Cops love Donuts wrote on Jul 1, 2008 7:54 AM:I am a cop and I am not ashamed to say it! "I love donuts!" Thanks to the Tan's for 30 years of service!
OK I have wrote on Jul 1, 2008 8:28 AM:had my cup of coffee, bring in the Pilsbury Dough Boy and lets hear all of the jokes.
luvdonuts wrote on Jul 1, 2008 11:29 AM:Tan's, You both will be truly missed. I will never forget how wonderful you have been to this community, to my family and me. I also will never forget you opening your back door at 0400 sharp for me to get my coffee and fresh donut. Although I am happy to see you retire and I am sad that such great "neighbors" are moving on.....Much Happiness
American Dreamin wrote on Jul 2, 2008 7:41 AM:They lived the American Dream. Good for them. I will miss my chocolate raised donut I got there every morning. One more thing it is unfortunate that all immigrants can't be embraced as the Tan's are. Best Wishes!!
Local wrote on Jul 3, 2008 7:48 PM:The Tan's are the nicest people that anyone could ever want to meet. They taught their daughter, who happens to be a UC Irvine grad, the value of an education and the importance of living the American Dream. That is why they have been embraced. The immigrants that come here now don't have the values that the Tan's have. They don't value the American Dream and they don't even value learning english.
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