OCADO, the online delivery service for Waitrose supermarkets, has celebrated its first birthday in the county with a promise to create 30 more jobs.

In just 12 months, the New Hythe-based operation with a fleet of distinctive and brightly-coloured pods looking like giant tea caddies has already created 120 jobs and stepped up deliveries to more than 5,000 customers.

The online grocer backed by the John Lewis Partnership, owner of Waitrose, has become a City phenomenon, with annual sales of around £90m a year. It has just celebrated its millionth delivery by sending a Thank You card to all staff.

Three former Goldman Sachs bankers Tim Steiner, Jason Gissing and Jonathan Fairman set up Ocado in 2000 after a pub discussion about the inadequacies of existing delivery models.

They hawked their idea for a high-quality, timed online delivery service around the main supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury's, but it was only John Lewis that warmed to the plan. It now has a 43 per cent stake in the venture.

The Ocado founders opened a huge warehouse - said to be the size of three Wembley Stadiums - in Hatfield and stocked it with Waitrose groceries for distribution across the South East.

They claimed that produce was fresher, was handled by fewer people, that there were fewer substitutions, and the drivers were more customer-friendly.

As demand grew, they looked for regional depots and found the site in Bellingham Way, New Hythe Business Park. It opened for business on August 20, 2003 and delivered to just 16 customers.

Scott Keeley and Simon Haffenden joined as customer service managers to set up the operation and hire staff of all ages with the right personal skills.

Things have gone so well that the depot is on course to make 10,000 deliveries a week. Mr Haffenden, formerly with Brewer's Fayre, the Whitbread pub restaurant brand, said that would mean more jobs. "If we do 10,000 deliveries a week, we will need a total of 150 people," he said.

Ocado operates a fleet of 56 Mercedes vans on to which are loaded the distinctive "pods" that arrive from the Hatfield customer fulfilment centre six at a time on giant transporters.

The pods are filled with racks of boxes. They contain groceries ordered by each customer over the Internet.

Mr Keeley, who used to work for Sainsbury's, said that word-of-mouth was increasing demand. Non-Waitrose customers were also using the service. They seem to like the guaranteed one-hour time slots, with a phone call from the driver if the promised time cannot be met.

The time is fast approaching when Ocado will need another location. "We may have to open another site further down in Kent," Mr Keeley said.

Mr Haffenden added: "It's been an exciting year, setting it up and watching it grow so quickly. The next year will be the most challenging in maintaining the high levels of quality."