A former Dunkin' storefront on Pasadena Avenue South is about to get a new sign, a new menu, and a baker who says he came out of retirement simply because he was bored. Serey Siev and his wife, Phiny Long, plan to open a Fray's Donut House at 1200 Pasadena Avenue South in South Pasadena in January 2027, bringing more than 30 kinds of doughnuts to a building that spent years serving coffee and breakfast sandwiches under a national chain name.
According to St Pete Rising, Siev and Long purchased the building for $925,000 last month, and the site will receive mostly cosmetic updates, including a white Fray's sign with red and black lettering, before it reopens. The 2,480-square-foot building sits on a 0.61-acre parcel and was originally built as a standalone restaurant space with a drive-thru, according to LoopNet property records. The site formerly operated as a Dunkin' franchise that took part in local Tampa Bay charitable programs as recently as December 2022, according to 102.5 The Bone.
A Family Trade Spanning Two Generations
Siev's connection to doughnuts goes back decades. His parents immigrated to the United States from Cambodia in 1979 and later opened doughnut shops in San Diego and Lake Tahoe, per the station's report. Siev began learning the trade from his uncle at 15 or 16 and worked in his parents' shops as a young adult, and he has said he has been making doughnuts for 40-something years.
His late mother, Marlene Kim, carried that trade into Pinellas County herself, previously owning and operating the Lighthouse Doughnut Shop in Indian Rocks Beach before her death in 2012, according to a Dignity Memorial obituary. The family's path mirrors a much larger national pattern: up to 80 to 90 percent of independent doughnut shops in California and across the country are owned by Cambodian refugees and Cambodian-Americans, a trend traced back to refugee Ted Ngoy in the late 1970s, as reported by Business Insider.
Stepping Away, Then Coming Back
Siev purchased the Fray's location at 4900 Park Boulevard in Pinellas Park from founder Bill Fray in late 2009 and ran it for roughly 15 years. He sold the Park Boulevard business in 2024 after health problems forced him to step away from work, per the same account. Public corporate filings show Siev and Long had formally incorporated SPL Donuts Inc. in Florida back in 2010 to operate that shop, with Siev listed as president and Long as vice president, according to Florida Division of Corporations records.
Siev said he is returning to the doughnut business after several years away, and that he bought the South Pasadena property simply because he was bored, per the outlet's report. The couple plan to model the new menu closely after what they served on Park Boulevard. Siev has said he is trying to keep as much as possible from that old menu, and that the South Pasadena offerings will be almost exactly the same, though they may differ from other Fray's locations.
What Will Be On The Menu
The South Pasadena shop will serve glazed, chocolate frosted, cinnamon sugar, Boston cream, rainbow sprinkle, old fashioned, cronut, apple fritter, and éclair doughnuts, along with muffins, cinnamon rolls, breakfast sandwiches, espresso drinks, and drip coffee. That lineup echoes the flagship Fray's on Park Boulevard, which opens at 4 a.m. six days a week and serves breakfast sandwiches and deli lunches alongside its honey-dipped doughnuts and signature apple fritters, according to Fray's Donut House's own site.
Each Fray's location is independently operated, with some menu differences from shop to shop. That structure dates back to the chain's founding: Bill Fray opened the original Fray's Donut House at 5236 16th Street North in St. Petersburg in 1993, later expanding with additional locations in St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park, before selling the shops after his wife died in 2001. Several of those locations were sold directly to employees and now operate independently, a decentralized model documented by The Gabber Newspaper. The South Pasadena storefront will become the fourth Fray's Donut House in Pinellas County, joining existing shops on 16th Street North and 34th Street North in St. Petersburg and the Park Boulevard location in Pinellas Park.
A Small, Older Community Gets A New Storefront
South Pasadena is a waterfront municipality of roughly 5,300 residents with a median age of 70, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, making it one of the smallest and oldest communities in Pinellas County. The new shop sits along a commercial corridor near long-standing landmarks including Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish and stops along the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority's SunRunner bus rapid transit route, according to St Pete Rising's sister coverage on the area.
Siev's real estate activity in the region extends beyond this single purchase. Public records link him to a Dunedin property bought in 2024 under PLS Partnership, LLC for $1.35 million, which was later listed for sale in late 2025, according to St Pete Catalyst. The South Pasadena storefront arrives amid other dining changes along the same stretch of Pasadena Avenue South, where Burger Monger recently expanded with new locations.
