Debut of Globe Cheese Boats

One of O.K. Leonard's obituaries hints that he operated theaters in both New Mexico and Arizona.  It appears he was savvy to the "tricks of the trade".  He put Globe far ahead of the national curve by opening a drive-in theater in 1950.  O.K. must have known and trusted the drive-in theater movie business model.  He must have known the "real money" was made at the concession stand and not merely by admissions.

It has been said the concession stand revenues were The Cash Cow of Drive-In Theaters, generally bringing in 40-50% of the gross income.

We surmise the creation of Globe Cheese Boats would have been a logical business decision by O.K.  We surmise he would have sought out someone to create and deliver these culinary delights to the Apache Drive-In Theater concession stand. The drive-in movie concession stand staples were hot dogs, popcorn, ice cream and bottled sodas.  The idea of "something different" probably caught O.K. Leonard's attention and he decided to give it a try.

Globe Cheese Boats would have been an attractive concession stand item for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, the unit cost of each Cheese Boat would have been low, possibly under 25 cents each.  Colby cheese sold for about 50 cents a pound and each Cheese boat would have used about a nickel's worth of cheese.  The other ingredients would have been measured in pennies as well.  It's entirely possible early Cheese Boats could have been a "double yer money" concession stand sales item.  Plus they were wrapped in foil and required no special handling at the point-of-sale.

The concession stand itself was far too small to contain a kitchen big enough to create the untold 100's of dozens of Globe Cheese Boats that would have been sold.  We surmise the Boats were created "offline," so to speak, and then brought to the concession stand.

Drive-in movie concession stands were notoriously cramped and crowded.  The projection booth shared space in those old concession stands.  Owners hired young people to run the concessions and they were tasked with easy-to-do sales chores.

Grabbing a hot, foil-wrapped Globe Cheese Boat would have been EZPZ for the concession kids.  Popcorn, hotdogs, ice cream sodas, candy bars and Globe Cheese Boats!  A Match made for Drive-In Heaven!

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