Manufacturer: McNicol China
User: Biser's, Jacksonville, Florida
Date of plate: circa 1940s – 1960s

1940s ad

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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.

McNicol made china for Biser's on its Paragon gray/blue clay body that is topmarked in the center-of-the-well with the Biser's script font placed above "Famed for Florida Sea Food" and underneath: Howard Biser in a small caps, sans serif font.

For more info:
Biser's Restaurant, by Scammell China
Biser's Restaurant 2, by Warwick 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

Contributors:
Larry Paul: author
Kathleen Lathom: plate photos