Dad gets a sweet surprise after son tweets about his new doughnut shop

Satharith By and Billy By.
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/ABC News)

A proud son has turned his father's small Texas doughnut shop into a worldwide sensation.

Satharith By opened Billy's Donuts in Missouri City earlier this month. He came to the U.S. 20 years ago, a refugee from Cambodia, and got his start in the doughnut business in Southern California. On Saturday, Billy's Donuts was empty, and his son Billy By decided to send a tweet to drum up some business from family and friends. "My dad is sad cause no one is coming to his new donut shop," he wrote, adding a crying emoji. Almost immediately, people began responding, asking him where the shop was and promising to come down as soon as possible.

The empty parking lot was soon filled with cars, and customers were lining up to buy doughnuts and kolaches, pastries filled with fruit or cheese. On Sunday and Monday, Billy's Donuts sold out before the day was over. The tweet has been liked more than 718,000 times and retweeted 319,600 times, by people around the world. "You all are amazing," Billy By tweeted. "I can't thank everyone enough for coming out and supporting local businesses. This means so much to my family." Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.