Aerated Bread Company
 An Aerated Bread Shop in Highways and Byways of London (1902) |
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| Public | |
| Industry | Bakery, Restaurant |
| Fate | Acquired by Allied Bakeries in 1955 |
| Successor | Allied Bakeries |
| Founded | London, England (1862) |
| Founder | Dr. John Dauglish |
| Defunct | 1955 |
| Headquarters | London, England, United Kingdom |
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Number of locations
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250 tea shops (1923) |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Dr. John Dauglish (Founder) |
| Products | Baked goods, Teas, "Greasy spoon" offerings |
| Owner | Associated British Foods |
Dr. John Dauglish (Founder)
The Aerated Bread Company Ltd (A.B.C.) was a company founded and headquartered in the United Kingdom. Although it is often remembered as running a large chain of tea rooms in Britain and other parts of the world, it was originally established in 1862 by Dr. John Dauglish as a bread baker, with the tea rooms starting in 1864.
The Aerated Bread Company Ltd was founded in 1862 by Dr. John Dauglish (1824–1866). The business was created as an incorporated company listed on the (LSE). When the company was floated, its failure was predicted and its initial public offering was poorly supported. However, its initial £1 shares eventually rose to £5 7s 8d by 1890. By 1898, shares had more than doubled from their 1890 value and were trading at £12 per share and declaring a dividend of 37½ percent. By 1899, A.B.C. shares had increased a further 16⅔ percent and were trading at £14 per share.
Dauglish earned his medical degree at Edinburgh. Having been thoroughly unimpressed by the Scottish bread of the day, he began to make his own, and to study the science associated with the process. When he applied his earlier studies in chemistry to the process of bread making, he determined that it would be possible to produce carbonic acid gas in bread without yeast. He established that if one could instead introduce carbon dioxide to the process—by dissolving it into solution in the water—this would eliminate the need for fermentation, dramatically reduce the need for physical contact with the dough on the part of the workers, and consequently introduce a greater level of cleanliness into the bread making process. Dauglish sought to abolish manual kneading, which he believed was unclean and unhealthy. Some years later, an 1878 issue of the scientific journal, Nature, reported:
As to the perfect cleanliness of this mechanical process for making bread there can be no question; it is immeasurably superior to the barbarous and old, but as Dr. Richardson remarked, not “time-honoured system of kneading dough by the hands and feet of the workman.”
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