Also called: Drive-In Operator, Outdoor Cinema Owner
Owns one of the roughly 300 drive-in theaters left in the US, showing movies on giant screens to people watching from their cars.
In the afternoon you mow the field, test the FM radio sound and fry 200 pounds of fries. At sunset cars line up at the ticket booth, and you run the digital projector from the booth while teens work the snack bar. On rainy nights you lose money; on summer holiday weekends you sell out.
Seasonal income; most profit comes from the snack bar.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. High school diploma; small business and maintenance skills.
Ways in: On-the-job training, Self-taught. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Business Administration, Hospitality Management.
Shrinking. Drive-ins have shrunk from about 4,000 in the 1950s; a few new ones still open.
Low risk for 10 years. Online ticketing and digital projectors help; the snack bar, field upkeep and summer-night experience stay human.
Classes: Business class, Film or media class, Culinary arts.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-1021.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.