Casual dining foot traffic tumbles amid coronavirus outbreak

Yahoo Finance’s Heidi Chung joins Zack Guzman to break down how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting Americans' eating habits, as many are forced to stay at home.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance, live market coverage. As we continue to discuss the way that Americans are responding to the growing coronavirus cases, one way that people are shifting their needs in their homes is what food they're bringing in. And right now, of course, a lot of restaurants aren't allowing Americans to eat in their restaurants, and a lot of shifting to take out and delivery. And for more on that that's impacting the way that Americans are eating, we're bringing on Heidi Chung to discuss the numbers that we're getting. And, Heidi, it sounds like Americans are getting sick of fast food.

HEIDI CHUNG: A little bit, Zach. So we have location-tech-company Foursquare out with some new data that really underscores the consumer trends that we have been seeing, which is, of course, declining foot traffic to casual and fast-food restaurants. We have seen so many different social-distancing measures as well as city and statewide mandates to shelter in place. So people just frankly aren't leaving their places, which leaves a lot of these restaurants relying strictly on delivery and takeout.

So according to the data compiled by Foursquare, foot traffic to casual-dining restaurants was down 47% for the week ended March 20, and that's compared to the week ended February 19-- so just about a month's time there.

San Francisco saw the steepest decline of 59%. Seattle was down 56%. New York City fell 55%. And LA sank a whopping 52% for that time period.

And it's not much better for fast-food restaurants, Zack. The last batch of data showed an uptick in fast-food visits, but the tide has essentially turned. Fast food saw the steepest decline between March 13 and March 14 where visits fell a whopping 10% just over that two-day period.

Now nationally, foot traffic to fast-food restaurants is down about 11% from the week ended February 19 to the week ended March 20, and a lot of this is reflected in the commentary that we've heard from these companies as well as just stock performances. You take a look across a lot of these restaurants. The stocks are getting absolutely crushed. Whereas on the flip side, if you look to grocery stores and warehouse companies, those stocks are outperforming the broader market's decline. So we're really seeing the shift when it comes to consumers, more people choosing to cook at home, which is why we're also seeing companies like Blue Apron perform quite well at these times.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah. And as more and more Americans shift away from that too-- I mean, I did a nonscientific poll here as well just looking at what cuisines they prefer. Mexican not very high up there, Heidi, which is surprising considering your love for Chipotle and the queso as well there, but apparently not seeing a lot of Americans prefer that.

But for now, Heidi Chung, thanks so much for bringing us that. Appreciate it.