Have you ever stopped to think about how a guy who started washing dishes in the US ended up revolutionizing the delivery market in Brazil? This is the story of Robinson Shiba, the founder of China in Box — and honestly, it’s much more interesting than it seems.

Shiba was born in Maringá, Paraná, of Japanese descent. He had all the makings of a dentist (father a dentist, studied dentistry, and so on), but life had other plans. In 1986, when he traveled to the United States to study English, things changed. Without money, he started working in restaurants — washing dishes, making deliveries. It was there that he saw something Brazil still didn’t have: the incredible potential of delivery and fast food. While here we barely knew this model, in the US it was already routine.

In 1992, Robinson Shiba opened the first China in Box unit in Moema, São Paulo. The idea was simple but brilliant: Chinese food in boxes, quick delivery, and here’s the differentiator — open kitchen for everyone to see. This was very important at the time because many people had prejudices against Chinese cuisine. Seeing the preparation process broke down a lot of that resistance.

The growth was exponential. Instead of trying to manage everything alone, Shiba heavily invested in franchises. Smart strategy — while he expanded, other entrepreneurs handled operations. Result? Dozens of units spread across São Paulo, then throughout Brazil. The timing was perfect: expansion of urban delivery, growing middle class, demand for ready-to-eat food.

But Shiba didn’t stop at China in Box. He created Gendai to explore the Japanese food market in a fast casual format. Later, in 2008, he consolidated everything into the TrendFoods group. The strategy was clear: occupy shopping malls, focus on the middle class, grow through franchises, gain scale.

In 2016, he appeared on Shark Tank Brazil and became an even bigger reference. His journey started to be studied in entrepreneurship cases — how to identify global trends, adapt international models, scale businesses. But in 2019, a serious motorcycle accident took him out of the game for a while. Months in a coma, long recovery. When he returned, he began sharing his recovery journey on social media — and that only reinforced the image of someone resilient.

What makes Robinson Shiba’s story relevant? He took a simple observation (the potential of delivery) and turned it into one of Brazil’s biggest franchising cases. He showed that difficult experiences can become transformative opportunities. Today, China in Box is a reference in Latin America, and Shiba remains one of the most influential names in the Brazilian food sector. The story continues to inspire those who want to build scalable businesses connected to changing consumer behaviors.