Fresh Donuts & Deli
Address: 2699 South State Street
Telephone: 801-467-8322
Website: instagram.com/donutanddeli
District: South Salt Lake
“I get here at two in the morning, start baking, and by five, there’s already a line. But every day, I feel grateful. I see the same smiling faces, and they make me smile, too.” Brenda Le’s joy behind the counter at Fresh Donuts & Deli is unmistakable.
For more than two decades, Brenda and her husband Wilson have run this beloved Salt Lake City shop - waking at 1:30 am, working in a tiny kitchen, and selling 4,000 to 6,000 donuts a day. And even when there are only a few left on the tray by late afternoon, people still walk in, smile, and select whatever remains.
The story of how they arrived here is nothing short of remarkable. Even their names carry stories. Brenda, whose name is Nian, chose hers during ESL class. “My Cambodian name was hard for people to remember,” she said. “The teacher told us to pick a name from the jar, and I picked Brenda. It just felt right.” Khmer was her husband's birth name. He, too, changed his name to Wilson out of admiration for an American political figure.
Both Brenda and Wilson were born in Cambodia. Brenda explained that her husband grew up near the Vietnam border. During the Khmer Rouge regime, from 1975 to 1979, his family fled to Vietnam to escape the violence. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, they returned to Cambodia.
Eventually, Wilson and three of his siblings decided they wanted to come to the United States. His oldest brother was the first to reach a refugee camp in Thailand and made it to the U.S. in 1981. The brother later sponsored the rest of the siblings, including Wilson. However, due to political issues, including interference from Cambodia’s then-leader King Sihanouk - who reportedly discouraged young people from leaving the country because they were needed for the military - her husband ended up stuck in the refugee camp for ten years. It was not until the camp closed, and he was finally allowed to leave, that he was able to come to America in 1991.
Wilson first joined his brother in Missouri but did not stay long. He had cousins in California who owned donut shops, and the pull of independence and a new skill drew him west. He began learning the craft of donut-making in shops from San Jose to San Francisco, working long hours in the back kitchens of family-run bakeries.
Then came the return to Cambodia - twice. On the second visit, in 1997, he met Brenda. They married almost immediately, and six months later, Wilson sponsored her to come to the U.S. “When I arrived, I didn’t know the language or understand the culture,” Brenda said. “But I wanted to work hard. I wanted to help.”
Brenda and Wilson lived in San Francisco for two years before deciding it was time to open something of their own. That dream brought them to Utah in 1999, where they took over two small donut shops with one located in Provo. “We tried to run them both, but it was too much,” Brenda said. “Just the two of us - it was a real handful.” They sold these shops and purchased Winchell's Donut House on South State Street and began raising their family in the back rooms of their little business. William was born in 2000, followed by Jeffrey in 2002. In those early days, Brenda juggled motherhood and the front counter.
Explaining the origin of the shop name, Brenda laughed and related, “We didn’t understand English very well, and we didn’t really know what ‘deli’ meant. We thought it meant ‘daily,’ like we would make fresh donuts daily.” But as it turned out, the name Fresh Donuts & Deli stuck - and they leaned into it. Brenda, who had worked at Burger King and a sandwich shop when she first arrived in America, took the lead on the deli side. “I already knew the kitchen. I knew how to make sandwiches,” she said. Today, customers still stop in for turkey clubs, pastrami melts, tuna sandwiches, and classic BLTs - served on croissants or toasted bread with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion.
Still, as Brenda says with a grin, “The donuts always win.” Their menu features all the classics: glazed, chocolate, maple, strawberry, powdered sugar, and crumb. But Wilson, ever the perfectionist, spent nearly a decade experimenting with different flours and ingredients until he found the one with just the right balance of richness and lightness. “It costs more,” Brenda said, “but that’s what makes them so good.” And their customers know it. “If we have to change something - even a different oil - they notice. They call me and ask, ‘Brenda, what happened?’”
Their son William, now in his twenties and figuring out what he wants to do next, works part-time. “I just grabbed him,” Brenda said with a wink. “He’s been helping since he was eleven - cleaning trays, boxing donuts. He knows the shop, but who knows what he or his brother will decide to do next?”
Twenty plus years later, Brenda and Wilson are up before sunrise, still working in the shop every day, and although they admit it is exhausting, they find strength in the love that the community shows them. “They’ve supported us for so long. It makes all the early mornings and hard work worth it. Together, this wonderful family has built a following of loyal regulars: early risers, retirees, coworkers, bowling groups, golf buddies, and local businesses placing standing orders by the dozens. "I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported us from the very beginning.”
