Food Makers Get Shot of Reality Now that Panic Buying Has Waned

Some of America’s largest food companies are finally feeling the pinch with restaurants across the U.S. remaining closed for weeks as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

After weeks of consumer hoarding, panic buying is abating and the lack of demand from shuttered restaurants, schools and coffee shops is starting to set in. Sanderson Farms Inc., the U.S.’s third-largest chicken producer, is slowing production at plants that supply restaurants, and protein giant Cargill Inc. has idled an egg facility due to the lack of demand from the food services industry.

Chairs sit on tables in a closed restaurant in New Orleans on April 8.

Photographer: Sophia Germer/Bloomberg

Americans spend more than half of their food budget ...