Manufacturer: Warwick China
User: Biser's, Jacksonville, Florida
Date of example: circa 1920s – 1930s

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Notes: Howard Biser began his restaurant career around 1910 as a waiter. Around 1920, Biser partnered with a Mr. Bingham to open Bingham & Biser's restaurant at 211 W Forsyth Street in Jacksonville. After Mr. Bingham departed, the restaurant was renamed Biser's. As the business grew, so did the restaurant, until it filled almost the entire block. In 1939, Biser's moved to Julia and Duval Streets.

In the 1940s, the restaurant relocated to 2300 Kings Avenue (US Rt. 1). By that point it was a 300-seat restaurant that specialized in serving fresh Florida seafood. In addition to the main entrance at the front of the restaurant, customers could enter through the back door and walk through the kitchen and watch food being prepared.

After Howard Biser died in 1953, the restaurant was operated by Leslie Seitz. In 1965, Biser's moved to the Heart of Jacksonville Motor Hotel at State and Main Streets.

It closed in 1968.

Warwick produced a china service that is crested with "Biser's" in a vertical green rectangular frame. In the logo a fish emerges from the lower part of the frame. Red and green pin lines with curled ends flank the crest, mid-rim, and there is a green line at the rim. The Warwick helmet backstamp dates to use in the 1920s and 1930s. This may be the first china service used by Biser's because the crest is similar to a sign on the window in the downtown location.

For more info:
Biser's Restaurant, by Scammell China
Biser's Restaurant 3, by McNicol China

Sources:
The Florida Times-Union, article by Sandy Strickland, March 25, 2018. History of Biser's restaurants
vintagejacksonville.net – March 26, 2013, restaurant history
The Coastal (@thecoastaljax) Instagram promo of November 2019 history and photographs
Restaurant China Volume 2, by Barbara J. Conroy – page 555, Warwick information.

Contributor:
Larry Paul: author