This summer will see the launch of a new online grocery business in Britain.

Last Minute Solutions, set up by three former Goldman Sachs bankers and two former heads of the M&S food business, appears to have chosen all the wrong business models. It is a "pureplay" - set up to be operated solely online - and the sort of business struggling to survive in the US.

But the business has won a £35m investment from the John Lewis partnership and will have the exclusive right to use the Waitrose brand and branded goods. John Lewis has installed directors at the firm and taken a 40% stake.

The grocery service, as yet unnamed, will start in the summer and LMS is building its first warehouse at an undisclosed location in the south east. The founders believe they can create a huge brand and are modelling themselves on companies like Orange and EasyJet.

"Orange gave the consumer something they wanted", says Jason Gissings, one of the former bankers. "They had an interesting brand and created interest in themselves."

"The LMS approach is based on a unique business model that incorporates the best from the incumbent delivery models - Tesco and Webvan - and combines them to create a model that surpasses both," says the company. LMS insists store picking is "unreliable and inefficient", and economies of scale are the ultimate solution.

It has signed up some big name consultants: Cap Gemini Ernst & Young for technology, Descartes for delivery software, Arthur Anderson for the business blueprint and Interbrand to help develop the LMS brand.