Dining

Eating Out May Never Be the Same in U.S.

  • Oversaturated restaurant market now faces sharp revenue drop
  • ‘You’re going to see a lot of bankruptcies,’ one analyst says
The Brooklyn Diner restaurant stands empty in the Times Square neighborhood of New York on March 16.Photographer: Gabriela Bhaskar/Bloomberg

Coronavirus is sending Americans back home for dinner, creating a crisis for a restaurant industry that was already slowing down.

The viral outbreak is wreaking havoc as diners isolate themselves at home and states restrict operations to carryout and delivery only. Large swaths of the industry are facing weeks, or perhaps months, with reduced or nonexistent revenue.