Eating Out May Never Be the Same in U.S. After Coronavirus (1)

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.

This is a grim prospect for restaurants that were already struggling with brutal competition for a stagnant pool of customers. To make matters worse, some chains have opted to expand aggressively in recent years, which has over-saturated the market and helped to fuel ...