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Why are doughnut boxes pink? The answer could only come out of Southern California

T

Tripon

Member
The pink box is a distinctly regional tradition, one so ingrained it often requires an outsider to notice. The Northeast has Dunkin’ Donuts and its neon orange and pink box. The South has Krispy Kreme and its polka dot box. But come to Los Angeles and it’s the no-frills pink box, with signature grease marks, that commands counter space in our offices, waiting rooms and police stations.

“Anytime you see a movie or sitcom set in New York and a pink doughnut box appears, you know it obviously took place in L.A.,” says Peter Yen of Santa Ana Packaging, a local manufacturer of the carnation-pink containers that cost about a dime each.
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One thing is certain, though, the pink box phenomenon could only happen here. Southern California is the undisputed epicenter of the doughnut world — a testament to our love affair with junk food you can handle behind a steering wheel. L.A. County alone has at least 680 doughnut shops, according to Yelp, about 200 more than New York City and double the number in Chicago’s Cook County.

Instead of national chains, the Southern California doughnut sector is dominated by mom-and-pop businesses run by immigrants, none more influential than Cambodian Americans.

Landing here as refugees in the mid-1970s to escape the Khmer Rouge, the Southeast Asian community quickly found a lifeline in the demanding doughnut business, giving it an outsized role in the expanding waistlines of countless Angelenos — and the spread of an unsung culinary icon.
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An ambitious Cambodian refugee named Ted Ngoy was building a vast network of doughnut shops and staffing them with hundreds of countrymen whose visas he sponsored. Ngoy (the “g” is silent) started in La Habra and expanded to Fullerton, Anaheim and Buena Park. It wasn’t long before Cambodian doughnut stores spread to L.A. County too, upending a market that had long been dominated by the Winchell’s Donuts chain.

Ngoy grew fantastically rich and bought a 7,000-square-foot mansion in Mission Viejo, a vacation home in Big Bear and a time-share in Acapulco. Then he squandered his wealth gambling in an epic reversal of fortune first chronicled in the Times in 2005.

“Ted could talk a bird out of a tree,” said Chuong Lee, who married Ngoy’s nephew and bought DK’s Donuts in Santa Monica in 1981. “He’s such a good businessman. But every time he’d go to Las Vegas, he’d lose one of his stores.”
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According to company lore, a Cambodian doughnut shop owner asked Westco some four decades ago if there were any cheaper boxes available other than the standard white cardboard. So Westco found leftover pink cardboard stock and formed a 9-by-9-by-4-inch container with four semicircle flaps to fold together. To this day, people in the business refer to the box as the “9-9-4.”

“It’s the perfect fit for a dozen doughnuts,” said Jim Parker, BakeMark’s president and chief executive.

More importantly to the thrifty refugees, it cost a few cents less than the standard white. That’s a big deal for shops that go through hundreds, if not thousands, of boxes a week. It didn’t hurt either that pink was a few shades short of red, a lucky color for the refugees, many of whom are ethnic Chinese. White, on the other hand, is the color of mourning.
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ngeles Times)
How the pink box has persevered so long may be about more than just dollars and cents. Experts say the color triggers an emotional connection to sweetness that makes doughnuts more irresistible than they already are.

“It’s romantic and childlike and it entices you,” said Kimberly Marte, who teaches at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and helped Tesla Motors choose its hues. “It makes you crave sugar.”
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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pink-doughnut-boxes-20170525-htmlstory.html
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
That's cool, I knew about the Cambodian immigrants having a network of donut shops here, but I never knew they also came up with the pink box.

Man I could go for some donuts right now... Places like Krispy Kreme and Yum Yum Donuts are good, but nothing beats a good ol' mom and pop shop.
 
Robot Carnival

Robot Carnival

Member
haha, yeah, the pink donut box really tell you you're in Cali. I've seen it up in NorCal also. cool to know the story behind it. thanks OP.
 
shira

shira

Member
Never seen a pink donut box
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G

Gentleman Jack

Member
hydrophilic attack said:
Am I the only one who thinks doughnuts are pretty overrated
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What?

Who's been banging down your door extolling the virtues of deep fried confections, warping your expectations to the point where the only flavor you experience is bitter, deep resentful disappointment?

It's a doughnut. I thought most people know what to expect of one by now.
 
W

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
Interesting history there. On the subject of pink boxes and donuts PinkBox Donuts are about the best donuts ive had. Bacon donut was amazing.
 
L

Loxley

Member
And in a possibly accidental case of cultural commentary, the donut boxes here in the upper midwest are all white XD
 
U

UrokeJoe

Member
I'm old and pink boxes were always what stuff from a bakery came from in California from my memories and that predates the mid 70's. A little.
 
A

Auron_Kale

Member
Whenever I get doughnuts during my travels and don't see premade pink boxes behind the counter, I always found it weird as yes, I've mostly seen pink boxes all my life.

Sure I've had my fair share of gourmet doughnuts, but nothing beats the local mom & pop doughnuts shops.

Neat story behind the pink boxes actually.
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
god fucking dammit why did i come into this thread. I'm doing heavy diet and exercising and fucking seeing donuts makes me think of them and kolaches and how I'd be willing to suck twenty ding dongs if it meant I could go apeshit on them and not affect my progress.
 
T

TheSkullPrince

Member
Thought it was a Mexican-American thing. Growing up I associated pan dulce/Mexican pastries with the pink boxes since that's what they were boxed in after hand-picking them.
 
W

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
Admiral Woofington said:
god fucking dammit why did i come into this thread. I'm doing heavy diet and exercising and fucking seeing donuts makes me think of them and kolaches and how I'd be willing to suck twenty ding dongs if it meant I could go apeshit on them and not affect my progress.
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im not seeing any donuts in here.
 
Head of Vengarl

Head of Vengarl

Banned
Tagyhag said:
Randy's Donuts are overrated. :D

But I can see where you are coming from. While I like donuts, I never have the urge to eat them by themselves. I always need to have some coffee or tea with them.
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You shut your whore mouth. Randy's Donuts has the best crumb doughnuts I've ever had.
 
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