Fresno’s new drive-in theater is selling out tickets — with plans to expand past pandemic

In another timeline, Brandon Knight would be running a restaurant in Berlin, not a drive-in theater in Fresno.

Because that was the plan: He’d move back to Fresno, his hometown, and find funding for the venture in Germany.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and other plans fell into place.

“The way we do things now, because of COVID, is like leaning into your intuitions,” says Knight, who runs the popular food truck Barb’s Soul Food and just this month launched Barb’s Drive-In.

“We have to learn to be more adaptable.”

Barb’s plays on the nostalgia of the old drive-in model — Knight remembers going to the theater out near River Park as a kid — with the feel of a guerrilla pop-up event.

The movies are screened after hours on a 40-foot blow-up screen in a downtown parking lot between the Crest Theatre and Chukchansi Park.

It’s the same parking lot where he takes his food trucks to be inspected.

In place of a concession stand, Barb’s partnered with Fresno Street Eats to bring in an array of food trucks. A DJ performs a mini-set with each showing and outro music is played as people leave.

The movies are curated with special attention to Black actors, directors and culture. This week’s schedule includes the Jay-Z produced crime drama “Paid in Full” and Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog.”

Another viable business for downtown Fresno

While the drive-in might feel like a pop-up event in its design and marketing, it’s anything but.

Knight signed a two-year lease on the parking lot and is already looking to expand, building a bigger screen held up by shipping containers; and possibly finding a second location. The drive-in currently operates Friday and Saturday nights, but Knight has plans to add a Sunday screening in January and hopefully a Thursday-night screening by March.

The drive-in sold out its first two weekends with 120 cars, using every other stall.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” Knight says.

“People are keeping social distance, wearing masks,” having a good time without having to compromise their health, he says.

And already, the business is getting attention. It was named as one of nine finalist in the Create Here Business Plan Competition put on by the Downtown Fresno Partnership. Five winners will share $25,000 in cash prizes, with a grand prize of $10,000.

Not that it was an easy sell, Knight says. He spent six months trying to line up a proper location. He looked at spots at River Park and in Clovis, even the old Sunnyside Drive-In at Olive and Clovis avenues.

“I got a lot of no’s,” Knight says.

“I guess it was just persistence.”

Tickets for Barb’s Drive-In are $20 per vehicle and available online. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the movies start at 7:30.

This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 1:30 PM.