“He’s a doughtivational speaker”: Papa John’s worker shuts down critic who mocked his job
A Papa John’s employee has defended his job to commenters who questioned why he was “wasting his talent” working there.
Joe (@d0ughjoe), who has gained recognition on TikTok for his impressive dough handling and spinning skills, defended working for the pizza chain, explaining that they have helped to support him through college.
Commenters flocked in with messages of support, with many praising Joe’s hardworking attitude, while others asked if he was being paid extra by Papa John’s for helping to promote their business.
What happened in the video?
The video was posted to TikTok on Oct. 16, 2025, and quickly amassed over 1.5M views. In it, Joe—known to viewers as Dough Joe—responded to a comment reading, “You’re wasting your talent working for Papa John for minimum wage lmao.”
“I mean honestly, I can understand where you’re coming from. But what a lot of these comments don’t realize is I’ve been working for Papa John's for 6 years now,” he said, while making an Italian Sausage pizza.
“I’ve been able to support myself through college, buy my first car, I’ve been able to do a lot of things thanks to this job. What you might say is a low skill or low-paying job has actually taught me a lot.”
Joe then explained the motivation behind his hardworking attitude. “A wise man once told me—how you do anything, is how you do everything.”
@d0ughjoe It’s never wasted when you keep getting Better!
♬ original sound - Dough Joe
Commenters, including other food brands, were impressed by Joe’s determination and resilience.
“That mentality will take you VERY far in life,” wrote Kimberly.
“He’s a doughtivational speaker,” wrote Slim Jim.
“Can we just normalize not judging people for what jobs they do? It’s such a red flag,” added Brandie.
Others shared their own positive stories of working for the pizza chain.
“I worked for Papa John's for 13 years and I bought multiple cars, a house and graduated college while there,” one person wrote.
Many commenters also tagged Papa John’s in the comments asking them to give Joe a raise, with some admitting that he had influenced them to eat there for the first time in years.
Who is Dough Joe?
As the comment suggests, this is far from Joe’s first video in which he films himself making pizzas at Papa John’s. In fact, the content creator has built a following of 3M, encouraging people “To be on the path to Better”, as his profile description reads.
Joe is known for his ability to effortlessly spin dough, often throwing and catching it while lip-syncing to various songs, as other workers watch on in awe. One of his recent videos, where he spun dough to Nickelback’s How You Remind Me, was reposted by the band themselves.
Naturally, he also has many followers who enjoy his content for simpler reasons, with one commenter writing, “I feel like a female bird” and another asking “Why do I find this so attractive?” In this sense, Joe’s videos could also fall into the broader category of hot chef thirst trap content—which has been heavily discussed online as a subgenre of TikTok.
@nickelback We’ll take four large, thin-crust pizzas with extra cheese and sauce, please ???????? @Dough Joe ♬ How You Remind Me - Nickelback
Joe also has a twin brother, @doughtoli, who posts similar content to an audience of 1.8M. The two are colloquially referred to as the Dough Twins, and even appeared in a Papa John’s commercial which was posted to the pizza chain’s official TikTok page.
As for whether Joe is paid any more by Papa Johns for his recent marketing efforts, a Redditor claiming to be a former colleague of the boys recently held an AMA answering this and other questions.
“Any idea on the compensation Doughtoli has made? Did they get him some franchises or something? He’s been their best ad campaign in years,” asked Blackops606.
OP average-bassplayer replied. “Up until around a year ago they pretty much only got paid for filming commercials for the company but last I checked they're on corporate payroll,” he said of both the Dough Boys.
Salty-employee asked, “Are they good dudes?”
“Yes, they always make sure to help out with orders and clean up after making videos,” OP clarified.
The Daily Dot reached out to Dough Joe and Papa John’s for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
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