If you’ve ever scrolled past a video of a teacher sitting in his classroom, letting his students pick his DoorDash order and then dramatically grading the meal, there’s a decent chance you’ve already met Joey Hall.
You just didn’t know he also taught the neighbor kid’s U.S. government class.
Hall is a social studies teacher at Lehi High School by day, and a TikTok creator with 2.2 million followers by, well, still day — he usually posts after school before he picks his own kids up.
“I just did it to connect with my students,” Hall said. “I never thought anything would come out of it. I just wanted to relate to them.”
Six years later, that “just for my students” account, @bettercallhall, has turned into a platform big enough to get him recognized across the country.
@bettercallhall Eating what my students order me on DoorDash! #teacher #foodie #food #highschool #foodreview ♬ original sound - Joseph Hall
The beginnings of his social media
Hall posted his first video in 2019, during his first year of teaching. Prior to that, he never put much attention to TikTok. His students, however, encouraged him to start his own page.
“I’m never gonna do that,” he remembers thinking.
A conversation with a friend who worked in social media finally convinced him to try. He posted a few videos — and didn’t tell his students he had started.
It didn’t matter.
Within 14 days, he already had a video with 1.1 million views. “People were finding it pretty quick,” he said.
By the summer after COVID-19, he said he had passed 100,000 followers. Every time things slowed down, he’d try something new — skits, making strange waffles in class, upgrading his desk and eventually food reviews.
How a DoorDash idea turned into a series
The videos most people know him for now are simple: A student orders his lunch order on his DoorDash, he gets the order, and then films himself trying it and grading it in a way only a teacher could.
It started with a random thought in November 2023.
“(It) would be fun if I just had a student choose what I ate,” Hall said.
The first student ordered him a Shaq-a-roni pizza from Papa John’s. The video did well, now with 5.4 million views and half a million likes. Hall did another. And another. Now, he’s in his third year of the series.
@bettercallhall Eating what my students ordered on doordash 🍕#teacher #highschool #cookinginmyclassroom #foodie ♬ original sound - Joseph Hall
Sometimes a student asks if they can choose his food that day. Sometimes he’ll say, “Any of you want to order my food?” Sometimes random students in the hallway yell recommendations at him and he adds them to a list that he has on the notes app on his phone.
When a student orders his food for him, he hands over his DoorDash app, gives them the budget, answers a few questions so they don’t repeat recent places, and they order something they think he’ll like — or hate. One time, a student ordered him the Buffalo Wild Wing’s “blazin’ challenge” — chicken wings made with “nine of the hottest peppers.”
He films the video in his classroom during his lunch break. Filming, eating, editing and posting takes him 30 to 40 minutes total, he said.
His favorite order?
“Slim Chickens’ shaken honey barbecue tenders ... with fries, their toast and a drink,” he said.
The TikTok teacher who actually makes you do homework
“I think some people take my class and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s just the TikTok teacher,’” he said, adding: “They don’t realize that I’m an actual teacher and I love my job and I take it seriously.”
They see his videos — “two to three minutes of my life, twice a week” — but not the grading, planning and holding students accountable.
To minimize distractions, Hall doesn’t film during class time and doesn’t put students in his videos.
He used to have one rule, though:
“If I ever caught you watching my videos in class, I would tape your phone to the wall,” he laughed. “I don’t do that anymore. I’d probably get in trouble for it now.”
Still, his online presence has opened doors in real life — especially with quiet students who might not otherwise talk much.
“There’s a lot of times where our students are just very quiet,” he said. “Then a random day, they’ll come in and be like, ‘Mr. Hall, I saw your videos on my ‘For You Page.’ My parents and I watched them for 45 minutes.”
3 jobs and a 3 p.m. posting
Hall is a teacher. He’s also the head lacrosse coach at American Fork High School. And at this point, social media is a third job.
How can he balance so much?
Honestly, he says, partly by keeping things simple.
“Literally, this is my tripod,” he said, holding up an old speaker he uses to rudimentarily hold up his phone when he films.
He doesn’t spend hours on editing or lighting. Doing this for six years has taught him what works for his style.
“I feel lazy because I look at all the work that other people put into their videos,” he admitted. “But ... I’ve learned that if you have something people want to watch, people are going to watch it.”
He also tries to make sure each thing he does stays in its own lane.
“I try to do all my grading ... at school,” he said. “When I’m doing lacrosse stuff, I’m doing lacrosse. When I’m with my family, I’m with my family.”
That’s why he almost always posts at the same time.
“I always try to post at 3 p.m. because I pick my kids up at 3,” Hall said. “Once I’ve posted, I’m done. I don’t have to worry about it. I can be with my kids.”
Yes, he makes money — but he won’t quit teaching
Hall doesn’t share exact numbers publicly, but he doesn’t dodge the question, either.
“I do make more on social media than I do as a teacher,” he said. “And I work 10 times harder as a teacher than I do at social media.”
Most of his social media income comes from brand deals and creator programs.
But for him, the money isn’t the point — and it’s not enough to pull him out of the classroom.
“People have asked, ‘Would I ever consider quitting?’” he said. “I’ve always said no, because I just love teaching. ... Like yeah, the kids are kids, but that really is my passion.”
Using the apps he warns students about
Hall will occasionally talk about social media in class.
“When I teach government, we talk about the dangers of social media and where we’re getting our news, how to be critical thinkers and not just accept everything we see on social media,” he said.
He has also given students social media-style assignments — a reel, a post, a short-form explanation — instead of a traditional worksheet.
A platform built on connection
For Hall, the best parts of social media aren’t the views or the brand deals. They’re the human moments.
Parents who come to conferences and say, “We love your videos.”
Students who binge-watch his content with their families.
Or one particular conversation he still thinks about.
A student came to parent-teacher conferences with his grandparents. His mother had recently died.
“They were like, ‘We just want to let you know that his mom loved your videos,’” Hall said. “(The student) would watch the videos with his mom.”
“That’s been the No. 1 thing,” he said. “Just awesome ways to connect with my students.”
What he wants people to know about teachers and TikTok
“Teachers are normal people,” he said, adding: “We have jobs, we have feelings, we get mad, we get happy — and we really care.”
He wishes people could see what he sees: Teachers learning about the apps their students use, not because they love TikTok, but because they love teenagers.
“A lot of the time, teachers will start doing social media for the connection,” he said. “We want to learn what they’re doing, what they think, why they’re saying the stuff that they’re saying that makes no sense to us.”
And as for social media itself?
“When we teach our students, our kids — whether it’s in the home or the classroom — how to properly use it, how to go through their sources to think critically, set boundaries, set time limits ... it’s an extremely useful tool.”