A.B.C. operated a chain of self-service A.B.C. tea shops. These grew from A.B.C. opening a tearoom in the courtyard of London's Fenchurch Street Railway Station in 1864, two years after the company's founding. The idea for opening the tearoom is attributed to a London-based manager of the Aerated Bread Company who had been serving free tea and snacks to customers. The motivation for the company acting upon the manager's suggestion was to supplement the income derived from bread manufacture, which was not sufficient to pay a dividend to shareholders.