Dwight Schrute worked seven different side jobs during his time at Dunder Mifflin in The Office. The Office has remained one of the most popular television comedies ever, thanks in part to the hilarious hijinks of Dwight Schrute. The Office is one of the most streamed television series ever, and remains one of the most commonly rewatched shows in the history of television.
Dwight Schrute is a big part of the show’s enduring popularity. He begins his time at Dunder Mifflin as a loyal sidekick to Michael, but his character grows and becomes much more independent over the course of the show’s run. This includes a number of side hustles and different jobs for Dwight, both within and outside Dunder Mifflin. Dwight is an independent thinker, to say the least, and his various other jobs have drastically different results. Some are just hilarious money pits, while others seem hugely lucrative. Here are the seven major side jobs Dwight Schrute held over the course of The Office.
7 Schrute Farms
Dwight’s main side gig is his beet farm, Schrute Farms. He sells beats and various beat based products throughout the show. He also uses his farm as a venue for things like the garden party in The Office season 8, or his and Angela’s wedding in The Office series finale. Schrute Farms has been passed down through Dwight’s family and is a defining part of his character. Dwight’s beet obsession is one of his oddest quirks, but it’s easily explained by his lucrative family farm. All things considered, Schrute Farms is Dwight’s most valuable asset and probably his most lucrative side job.
6 Dwight’s Business Park
One of Dwight’s biggest side gigs in The Office is owning the building that Dunder Mifflin Scranton’s office is in. He presumably makes a hefty amount by renting out the offices in the building. He also shows a desire to save money on the building’s operation by cutting off lights, “deplying” toilet paper, and other absurd things that can save him money. Dwight ends up fighting with Pam about these changes and eventually folds, probably because of Pam and Dwight’s budding friendship. He calls her bluff when she threatens to move buildings, but later secretly helps her win by sending Nate to show her the codes he’s violating.
5 Dwight’s Gym
In The Office season 8, Dwight opens the Dwight Schrute Gym for Muscles in Dunder Mifflin’s building. Dwight owns the building at this point and decides to open a gym below the office. He ends up arguing with Gabe over whether core or upper body strength is more important. Eventually, Dwight and Gabe have a thigh curling competition, which turns out to be part of another of Jim’s pranks. Dwight’s gym is presumably one of his least successful side gigs, considering it’s never seen after this episode. It is also hilariously understocked and lacks most of the comforts of a modern gym.
4 Dwight Sells Exclusive Toys At A Markup
Another hilarious side gig of Dwight’s in The Office is selling toys at a markup. Dwight researches the most popular toys around Christmastime, then buys as many as he can and sells them at a markup after they sell out. Dwight seems to make a tidy sum on this particular scheme, and even catches Darryl in it when he has the only toy Darryl’s daughter wants for Christmas. Overall, this is probably one of Dwight’s more lucrative side hustles. It’s also one of his more ruthless plans, considering he bought all the toys that kids wanted for Christmas and sells them at a price many parents probably couldn’t afford.
3 Hay Place
Dwight also creates what he calls Hay Place, essentially a festival with exclusively hay-based activities. Dwight attracts lots of kids to come play in the hay or ride in the back of the hay truck. He also promises to name a Hay King at the end of the festival, but ends up crowning himself because he never won it as a kid when his uncle hosted. Dwight seems to make a fair amount of money on this scheme because it’s full of customers. It also would not have cost him much, and he did not give out any significant prizes, so he spent next to nothing on this operation.
2 Dwight’s Bed And Breakfast
Dwight also uses Schrute Farms to get into the “agritourism” industry by converting it into a bed-and-breakfast, though he refuses to use that name. It’s a milestone for Jim and Pam when they stay at Dwight’s farm for a night and find it just as strange and creepy as they expected. They also realize how lonely Dwight is without Angela and give him a shining review on Trip Adviser. This turns out to be a great thing because, as Dwight puts it, Trip Adviser is the lifeblood of the agritourism industry. Unfortunately, his bed-and-breakfast is never mentioned again, so it doesn’t seem to be his most successful side gig.
1 Dwight’s Daycare
Another side gig Dwight starts in The Office is a daycare in the Dunder Mifflin building. Luckily, no kids were sent to Dwight’s daycare. When Jim and Pam agree to go on a tour of the facility, they find Dwight plans to lock the children in a room unsupervised, with buckets for food, water, and one for a toilet. They also have an assortment of plastic cutlery to use as toys (though Dwight is embarrassed to find a soy sauce packet mixed in with the utensils).
Unsurprisingly, Dwight certainly did not make any money with this particular scheme. In fact, he ends up locked in the daycare by Jim after he and Pam take the tour. This is just one of the various businesses Dwight tries to start in Dunder Mifflin’s building after buying it, but most of them seem too hair-brained to work. His office gym is just as much of a bust as the daycare, though the daycare probably had even less of a chance of succeeding. Even so, Dwight probably makes enough on the building itself that he can afford a couple of failed business attempts, especially considering the profits he makes from Schrute Farms.
