Chef
Biff Naylor
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Los Angeles, California, United States
i. Biography
Coming Up
Pennsylvania State University is the schooling on record before Biff Naylor’s long run in Southern California hospitality. The work that followed was built in family dining and roadside service, starting as proprietor of Tiny Naylor's at Tiny Naylor's (1959–1999). The lowercase house name and the better-known drive-in lineage point to the scale of the operation: practical service, steady volume, and food meant to hold a crowd day after day. The next phase moved from one dining room to the business side of the trade. As board member at California Restaurant Association (from 1983), Naylor sat in the industry conversations that shaped restaurant culture in Southern California. In 1987, he became chief executive at Hershel's Delicatessen (from 1987), taking that operator’s discipline into a different casual-dining format. He later served as chairman at National Restaurant Association, a role that reflects a career spent moving between local institutions and national leadership. Ownership at Du-par's Restaurants & Bakeries (2004–2018) closed the dated record here. Across those years, the pattern stays consistent: restaurants built on repeat business, familiar offerings, and the kind of reliability that turns a meal into routine.
Where They Are Now
There is no present-tense role to state; the latest dated position ended in 2018. The record here closes with that ownership at Du-par's Restaurants & Bakeries (2004–2018), leaving the career defined by the long view rather than by a current title.
Signature
The signature dish on record is the Deep-fried Monte Cristo sandwich. Read as a piece of American casual-dining shorthand, it favors richness, familiarity, and immediate recognition. At Tiny Naylor's Drive-In, Biff Naylor kept it in place as an authentic family tradition, which tells you more about continuity than novelty. It is the sort of item that marks a house style by repetition, not reinvention.
Honors
No awards are cited. The cited industry note is the Deep-fried Monte Cristo sandwich at Tiny Naylor's Drive-In, preserved as an authentic family tradition.
Profile updated August 2026
FAQ
Asked of Biff
Where did Biff Naylor train or study?
Biff Naylor trained at Pennsylvania State University.
