With restaurants closed, food producers find 'salvation' in social media sales

With bars and restaurants in Catalonia shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, farmers and other primary sector producers have found "salvation" in social media, which provided a shortcut to customers' dining tables.

The hospitality sector is the largest client for meat and dairy farmers, and their closure last Friday has greatly affected the supply chain leaving them with large amounts of unused stock.

Masia Ferreres, a producer of sustainable lamb in the Catalan town of Berga, close to the Pyrenees, usually sends 80% of their products to restaurants and the hospitality industry.

Last week, with the sudden restrictions on bars and restaurants, businesses such as Mas el Lladré, a family company selling dairy and meat products in the province of Girona in northern Catalonia, saw all their orders for restaurants canceled last Friday.