Kingsfood Sunnybank: Asian Restaurant Owners oral histories project

Dr Eun-ji Amy Kim and Dr Aaron Teo - 2024 John Oxley Library Honorary Fellows

The following is a brief snapshot of the first of a series of oral history interviews with Robin Yu run by Dr Aaron Teo and Dr Eun-Ji Amy Kim as part of their 2024 John Oxley Honorary Fellowship project titled, Culinary Crossroads: History of Asian-Australian eateries and migration policies in Queensland.

Robin Yu is the owner of the Kingsfood Sunnybank. Originally from Beijing, China, he moved to Queensland as an international student in 1998 along with his wife, Linda, and daughter, Katie, to complete his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Griffith University. At the end of 1999, he finished his MBA and returned to China for a year to “explore the world” and potential job opportunities.

At the end of this year, with Katie in tow, Robin and Linda decided to return to Australia because they preferred the lifestyle in Queensland. They were also particularly keen on having a second child, which was not possible in China at the time due to the one-child policy. As such, in 2001, he migrated to Australia as a Permanent Resident with Linda and Katie, and in the same year, Robin and Linda welcomed their second child, Ryan.

Robin found the permanent migration process quick and seamless, receiving his visa in a brief three to four months. Indeed, this was consistent with the sharp increase in Australia’s planned immigrant intake compared to the preceding decade (60,800 net permanent migration in 2001), as well as an upward trend in ‘Asian’ migration (14,881 arrivals from Northeast Asia in 2001).1 However, the migration experience was significantly more challenging. In Robin’s words, it was “very tough” in the beginning as he tried to establish himself in Queensland. Despite being a clinical resident surgeon for three years in Beijing, there were material challenges in securing employment once moving here. He was locked out of the medical and pharmaceutical job market due to a “lack of local experience”. Even though he had excelled academically in his MBA, this was nullified because of scarce local connections and the fact that he came from a different racial and linguistic background. This meant that, in the early days, there were real concerns around survival and sustenance for both Robin and his family.

Because of this, at 31 years of age, Robin decided to start from scratch. He took any job opportunities that came his way and eventually ended up in real estate. He started as a sales agent for RE/MAX in Sunnybank – something he never foresaw himself doing – and quickly grew into this new position. Even though it had nothing to do with his medical background, the position drew on his prior MBA training in business management, marketing, and finance. This meant that Robin not only enjoyed, but also excelled at, the role. By 2003, Robin became a Principal agent at RE/MAX. He continued to thrive in this capacity until 2009, at which point he decided to extend his career beyond just real estate.

As it turned out, Kingsfood – which was right beside his RE/MAX office in Sunnybank’s Market Square and consequently, a regular haunt for workday meals – was up for sale in 2009. Robin saw this as an opportunity to broaden his horizons and the rest, as they say, was history.

The full collection of digital stories from the Asian Restaurant Owners Oral History Interviews project will be available sometime in 2025. In the meantime, enjoy a preview of the Kingsfood digital story below, along with Dr. Kim and Dr. Teo's Research Reveals talk, where they discuss their project and findings.

Read more blogs about this project by Dr Eun-ji Amy Kim and Dr Aaron Teo.

Read more blogs by State Library's Queensland Memory Fellows.