[6] The Biff's restaurant chain of the 1940s was a "forerunner to all the modern coffee shops," Naylor told the San Jose Mercury News in 2016.
Those restaurants employed modern architecture in the googie style, and innovations that would be adopted widely through the restaurant industry including open exhibition cooking kitchen, stainless steel counters, refrigerated pie cases, and plate "lowerators" that warmed or cooled plates as needed.
[1] In 2017 Los Angeles magazine food critic Patric Kuh called the longtime restaurant operator "Diner royalty".
[2] Saveur magazine wrote that Biff Naylor created "The best damn coffee shops ever" in their "Saveur 100" list[7] Naylor is the oldest of five brothers [3] who ran American Restaurant Services, Inc. which operated Café River City in Sacramento, California, Tiny's family restaurant in Capitola, California, and seven Cindy's coffee shops in Northern California.
[8] He became chief executive of the Hershel's Delicatessen chain, created by Denny's founder Harold Butler, in 1987.