Sweet toothed shoppers on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca are stripping supermarket shelves of cakes and pastries during Covid-19 lockdown

Sweet toothed shoppers in Spain’s Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol are stripping the shelves of pastries during lockdown, with Lidl announcing it has had to double its bakery production to meet the demand.

THE German supermarket chain said it is selling out with more than 1,000 cakes being bought each day in each store.

In addition to pastries, baking tins and mixers are selling like hot cakes, with market research firm Nielsen confirming flour sales have gone through the roof since the pandemic began, soaring by 130 per cent.

A Lidl spokesperson said the “bakery pastries have never sold out so quickly,” with “make your own at home” baking products disappearing as soon as they are restocked.

“We replenish these products every few days and usually all the items are sold out almost immediately.”

Another big-seller are waffle machines.

Nearly 13,000 Lidl employees in Spain work in the firm’s shops, warehouses and offices, And while the chain is keen to meet the demands of customers, it has also set up a credit line for staff to allow them to access the equivalent of a month’s salary in advance, to help them get through the Covid-19 crisis.

They will be given 18 months to pay the money back without interest.

Lidl said: “The aim of the measure is to help those families who currently need economic relief due to the cessation of part of their work activity.”

In addition to the loans, the company is giving its employers a €160 bonus this month, which together with other initiatives, will mean an extra €250 each.

These measures represent a total €4.5 million assistance for its workforce.

It is estimated almost 90 per cent of Lidl staff will be eligible for the loans, (with the exclusion of managers and middle managers) regardless of their salary and working hours.

Lidl has made available to all its staff an app for consultations with different medical specialists, as well as a 24-hour psychological care service for workers and their families.