What Bills Cafe does

Bill's Cafe is a family-owned breakfast and lunch restaurant chain headquartered at 2089 The Alameda in San Jose, California. The company operates under Bill's Cafe Inc., a California corporation, and was founded in 1977 by the Zafiris family. It has remained closely held with no disclosed institutional investors, venture capital, private equity, or parent company relationships, and the Zafiris family continues to operate the business, as evidenced by the corporate sign-off 'All the best, THE ZAFIRIS FAMILY.' The chain's core offering is daytime dining — all-day breakfast plus lunch — built around homemade preparations including fresh-squeezed orange juice, fresh fruit slicing, scratch-made soups, and baked bread pudding, with signature items such as Greek Lemon Soup, Chilaquiles, and Chorizo Scramble tied to family and staff heritage.

The company runs 9 dine-in locations across the Bay Area, concentrated in San Jose (Willow Glen, Rose Garden, San Jose/Santa Clara on The Alameda, Cottle Road, Kooser Road, King Road, Stevens Creek Blvd) and extended to Palo Alto (currently temporarily closed), Pleasanton, and Fremont. Distribution relies entirely on physical storefronts with all locations offering in-person service; online ordering and carryout are enabled through the Toasttab platform at most sites, while event catering is delivered through the EZ Caterer marketplace on a Monday-Friday-only basis. Gift cards are sold in-person at any location. The website, built on Squarespace, integrates the UserWay Web Accessibility Widget for WCAG 2.1 compliance, and the company publishes CCPA-compliant privacy disclosures.

The business model is consumer-direct via dine-in traffic, supplemented by three add-on streams: online carryout through Toasttab (transactional), weekday event catering through EZ Caterer (professional services/channel), and in-person gift card sales. The company has no public pricing transparency, no app, no disclosed headcount, no funding history, and no M&A activity. Customer acquisition is driven primarily by 45 years of brand presence, location-level organic social media (per-location Facebook and Instagram pages), and word-of-mouth in Bay Area communities. The operating model is single-brand, single-format, single-daypart (breakfast and lunch), with no evidence of diversification into new dayparts, cuisines, geographies, or service models.

Name

Bills Cafe

Legal name

Bill's Cafe Inc.

Website

https://billscafe.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bill's Cafe is a family-owned breakfast and lunch restaurant chain, founded in 1977 by the Zafiris family, operating 9 Bay Area locations across San Jose, Palo Alto, Pleasanton, and Fremont, with online ordering via Toasttab and weekday catering via EZ Caterer.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Casual Dining Restaurants

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Caterers (722320)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

All-Day Dining Restaurants (THAFACAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Family-Style Restaurants (THAFACAC)

Keywords

• Breakfast restaurants
• Family dining
• Cafe services
• Catering services
• Online food ordering

Headquarters

HQ city

San Jose

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices10 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Dine-in and Takeout: Revenue from serving breakfast and lunch at 9 Bay Area restaurant locations, with online ordering and carryout options available at all locations
2. Catering Services: Catering orders placed through EZ Caterer platform for events; catering available Monday through Friday only (not on weekends)

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Bill's Cafe is a family-owned breakfast and lunch restaurant chain operating 9 dine-in locations across the San Francisco Bay Area. The core offering is all-day breakfast and lunch service prepared from scratch in-house, featuring hearty portions, fresh-squeezed orange juice, fresh-cut fruit, baked bread pudding, scratch-made soups, and signature items including Greek Lemon Soup, Chilaquiles, and Chorizo Scramble. Operations are supplemented by carryout/online ordering through Toasttab and weekday catering through EZ Caterer.

Product overview

Bill's Cafe is a single-brand family-owned restaurant chain offering dine-in breakfast and lunch services across 9+ Bay Area locations since 1977. The core product is all-day breakfast and lunch dining with hearty portions and fresh ingredients. The service portfolio includes in-restaurant dining as the primary offering, supplemented by online ordering through Toast Tab, catering services via EZ Cater, and gift cards. The restaurant emphasizes homemade items including fresh fruit slicing, fresh-squeezed orange juice, bread pudding, and soups made from scratch. Signature items include Greek Lemon Soup, Chilaquiles, and Chorizo Scramble reflecting family and staff influences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• In-Restaurant Dining (Breakfast and Lunch) Dine-in breakfast and lunch service at 9 Bay Area locations, featuring all-day breakfast, hearty portions, scratch preparation of fresh-squeezed juice, fresh-cut fruit, soups, and bread pudding, plus signature items like Greek Lemon Soup, Chilaquiles, and Chorizo Scramble. Targeted at Bay Area families and individuals seeking traditional daytime dining.
• Online Ordering and Carryout Online ordering and carryout service available at most Bill's Cafe locations through the Toasttab platform, allowing customers to place orders remotely for pickup. Available at locations including Willow Glen, Rose Garden, San Jose/Santa Clara, Cottle Road, Kooser Road, Pleasanton, King Road, Stevens Creek Blvd, and Fremont. Targeted at local customers who prefer pickup over dine-in.
• Catering Services Event catering service ordered through the EZ Caterer marketplace, including full breakfast and lunch menu options. Available weekdays only (not weekends). Targeted at offices, events, and group gatherings needing breakfast or lunch catering.
• Gift Cards Physical gift cards sold in-person at any of the Bill's Cafe restaurant locations. Targeted at customers seeking gift options redeemable at the restaurant chain.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• EZ CaterercoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEZ Caterer serves as the catering platform for Bill's Cafe, enabling customers to order catering for events through the EZ Caterer marketplace. Bill's Cafe uses this partnership to reach corporate and event catering customers. Catering is available Monday through Friday only.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Toast Inc. Restaurant technology platform that powers Bill's Cafe online ordering through Toasttab. An enabling technology vendor rather than direct competitor, included as an ecosystem participant.
• EzCater: Catering marketplace through which Bill's Cafe sells event catering. A distribution channel partner rather than a competitive operator.

Broad incumbents

• Denny's: National all-day breakfast and casual dining incumbent. Overlaps with Bill's Cafe on all-day breakfast positioning and family-friendly value proposition at larger scale.
• IHOP: National breakfast-focused full-service chain that competes in the same core daypart as Bill's Cafe. A broader incumbent with significantly larger scale and broader geographic reach.

Direct peers

• Black Bear Diner: Family-style breakfast-focused casual dining chain operating in California. Closely comparable to Bill's Cafe in family-owned heritage, breakfast/lunch focus, and multi-unit regional operations.
• First Watch Restaurant Group: Public daytime-dining chain specializing in breakfast, brunch, and lunch — directly comparable to Bill's Cafe in daypart, menu focus, and full-service casual dining model.
• Mimi's Cafe: Casual daytime-dining concept serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with French-influenced family recipes. Comparable in dining format, breakfast daypart focus, and family-friendly positioning.
• Hash House A Go Go: Breakfast and brunch concept known for hearty portions and creative breakfast specialties — directly comparable to Bill's Cafe in daypart and portion-driven differentiation.

Regional players

• Original Joe's: Long-standing Bay Area family-run Italian-American restaurant chain with comparable multi-generation ownership and strong regional brand recognition.
• Stacks Restaurant: Bay Area-based breakfast and brunch restaurant competing directly with Bill's Cafe in the same primary geography for similar daytime-dining customers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/billscafe
• Instagraminstagram.com/billscafewillowglen
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bills-cafe

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bills Cafe