Pastries fill the window display with sprinkles, powdered sugar, chocolate and glaze. Customers inside this family-owned store believe this business deserves its royal name: Donut King.
For the first time, Santa Monica High School students can receive a 10% discount at Donut King and other nearby businesses with their ASB card, which also offers benefits like free entry to football games, school events, and more for a $75 purchase.
Just a block from Santa Monica High School, Donut King is open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. Children run around the 30-year-old shop as the staff calls out orders for sandwiches, bagels, boba and doughnuts.
Amid the chaos, employees interact with their customers, calling their regulars by name.
“I have a good time with the students because sometimes when they come here for a long time, we become something like friends,” Linda Lim said.
Lim has worked as a cashier and barista at the shop for two decades.
“I feel sad when they leave because I have known some since elementary school visiting the shop. But when they grow up, some get married and bring their kids back, which is nice.”
During their first decade, Donut King only sold doughnuts, but has now expanded to sell breakfast, pastrami, croissant and bagel sandwiches. At 4 a.m. every day, workers bake doughnuts – hot to the touch for customers who arrive when doors open. During the morning and lunch, Lim and the other staff workers serve them boba drinks and sandwiches or coffee.
“We don’t keep overnight food [the donuts, coffee and sandwiches],” Lim said. “If you want them hot, make sure you come early. Some people buy them half off if they’re OK with slightly older donuts.”
The shop’s recipes and preparation methods are a closely guarded family secret.
Class of 2025 Santa Monica High School student, Victor Collazo, goes to Donut King for their black tea milk boba as their price is well-priced compared to other boba stores. A 20-ounce cup of boba price is $5.95, and the price for a dozen donuts is $17 to $19 for customers.
“But it’s the service, that’s priceless,” Santa Monica High School student Juliett Rojas said.
“I go to Donut King during lunch during or after school as it is such a friendly and comforting environment with kind employees and great food and boba at affordable prices…The staff always starts off by asking how my day was or just complimenting me… It makes the experience feel like you’ve known the staff for a long time.”
Rojas’ go-to order is a Thai tea or passion fruit tea with boba and an egg sandwich because she feels the passion and love within their food.
“Other donut shops do not have food that tastes just as good as something your mother would make when you were little…,” Rojas said. “I remember when it was an after-school day and no one else was in the shop. I was not having the best day, and one of the staff members asked if I was alright. I told her how my day went, and she let me get a free boba, which really made my day.”
As a customer enters the store, Lim calls out to one of her regulars and chats, asking them about their day and catches up with him.
“My lovely customers,” Lim said. “Every day, we’re making fun. They make my life happier.”
