The lasting legacy of Duffin’s Donuts
Sit and watch long enough and you can tell what time it is just by who’s standing in line at Duffin’s Donuts.
Weary night-shift workers and long-haul truck drivers, winding down in the soft predawn hours. Office workers tapping furiously on their phones during the workday hustle. Moms with giggling children in tow, grabbing a box of treats before after-school basketball practice. Groups of cooler-than-cool high-school students, there to be seen just as much as to snack. Neighbourhood couples, midway through their postprandial evening stroll. Clutches of university students, refuelling an all-nighter study session with coffee and carbs. Raucous club kids, their laughter lubricated by long hours of drinking.
No matter the hour, affordable comfort food awaits every diner who walks through the door at Duffin’s. This year’s Golden Plates winner for Cheap Eats has been welcoming hungry Vancouverites around the clock since Tony Chhuon and Paula Sim purchased the business in 1987.
“You just feel comfortable. It feels familiar. Our customers know that we’ll always be here,” says Molika Chhuon, eldest of the three daughters who now collectively run the beloved eatery. “Whenever you want a coffee or doughnut, we’ll have it. Maybe you’ll bump into your neighbours. And the people who are serving you, you’ll recognize them. Some of our staff were here five years ago, and some have been with us for 20 years.”
Back in the day, the original Duffin’s location was a Mount Pleasant fixture at Main and 33rd. Buying it was an investment in the future for the Cambodian couple, who fled their home country to escape the brutality of the totalitarian Khmer Rouge regime.
Their harrowing getaway brought them to a refugee camp in Thailand, where Chhuon was born. They moved to Canada in 1983, and two more daughters were added to the family.