Who or What is JoeysWorldTour?
Joseph Leon Hernandez was born on 22 April 1964, in San Diego, California, USA. He is a chef and caterer, but best known as a personality and for his YouTube channel called JoeysWorldTour. He primarily uploads videos reviewing new releases from top restaurants or fast food establishments in the country. He also occasionally uploads other videos including food challenges, traveling, vlogs, and others.
The Wealth of JoeysWorldTour
As of early-2020, JoeysWorldTour has a net worth estimated to be over $100,000, earned mostly through a successful career online.
While the growth of his channel has also meant more revenue, he has admitted that it isn’t enough for him as a source of income, so he still works as a chef and caterer, which helps in building his still relatively modest wealth.
Early Life, Education, and Career Beginnings
Joey grew up in San Diego and loved it there, and while he moved away for some time, he returned to his hometown as he could find no other better location to live in. At a young age, he loved food and had a strong passion for the culinary arts. After matriculating from high school, he enrolled at San Diego State University.
He didn’t think that a career in the food industry was viable at the start, so he transferred to the El Cajon-based Grossmont College where he took up a degree in Political Science and Anthropology. After a year into his course, he realized that he wasn’t happy, and then fully dedicated himself to food, transferring to Mission College in Santa Clara to complete an associate degree in culinary arts, and after graduating training to become a chef. He then began working full-time in the restaurant industry.
Cooking Career and Online Beginnings
While Joey was good at cooking, he served more in a managerial position at the restaurants he worked at, due to his inherent leadership skills.
He later started a restaurant called The Burrito Factory which he also managed. He also worked as the Kitchen Manager at Charlie Blair’s Pizza & Grill, but also on several actual cooking jobs during his career, including at Trevese where he trained under Michael Miller, and at Manresa where he cooked under David Kinch. Other jobs he took included becoming the pastry chef at The Village Café, and sous chef at Umunhum Food & Wine Restaurant.
In 2008, he wanted to express his love for food even further and not just through a regular job. He created a blog called “Sublime Flavor!”, meant as a way for him to do more with food other than just managerial duties and straightforward recipes.
He did review posts, shared some of his recipes and talked about anything that related to food. He posted some original creations, as well as reviewing nearby establishments. The blog ran for five years until he decided to move away from it, and started a business called Sublime Flavor Catering.
YouTube Career
Joey had already created a YouTube channel in 2007, but didn’t upload any videos until four years later. The channel became a natural transition from his vlog, with similar video content akin to his blog posts. He did cooking demonstrations, vlogs, food challenges, and developed it more like a vlog channel with a strong featureconcentration towards his passion for food.
In 2013 he released his first video, reviewing the KFC Boneless Chicken, and it got a lot more views than expected, leading him to focus on doing more reviews. He often did reviews in his car, and his entertaining commentary as well as his improvisation, made him a favorite among viewers. He was initially accused of copying the style of another YouTuber, Daym Drops, who also similarly reviewed food. He later asked permission from Daym and got his blessing, leading to the two collaborating as a part of #TeamDaym. The growth of his channel was slow, but he managed hundreds of subscribers over the next few years.
As the channel grew in popularity, he began uploading videos more frequently, on a regular schedule of three videos a week.
YouTube Breakthrough
In 2016, YouTuber critics LeafyIsHere and Pyrocynical began doing features regarding Joey’s channel – these channels were known for doing humorous critiques of other channels which have led them into numerous feuds and controversies in the past. However, the opposite was true for Joey, as instead of people hating on him, he gained an influx of new followers, with his channel quickly reaching 100,000 subscribers, maintaining a steady growth over the next few years.
https://t.co/BgGd9Oj2d7
— Joey’s World Tour (@JoeysWorldTour) July 21, 2019
He became a meme, with his energy and enthusiasm for food being the topic among many online.
In 2019, a rapper named Lil JM began making parody songs with references to Joey. His fame even caught the attention of mainstream media outlets, and he was featured in the Comedy Central show “Tosh.0”, and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal also featured him in “Upload with Shaquille O’Neal”. Another program he was featured in was on National Geographic Channel’s “Science of Stupid”, and a local newspaper in San Jose, California also did a feature on him in an article called “Move Over Hollywood, This is the Age of the YouTube Star”.
While he has consistently posted on YouTube since the early-2010s, he maintains his catering business and works as a chef.
Personal Life
There is not a lot of information that has been revealed about Joey’s personal life as he’s mostly just shared about food on YouTube. It is assumed that he is married and has children. Observant viewers noticed that he owns around four cars just based on the different car interiors seen in his videos.
He also mentioned that his earnings on YouTube are not enough, which is why he continues his catering business, indicating that he may be supporting more than just himself.
Responses to him have been divisive, with people enjoying his entertaining improvised content, and others are weirded out by his personality. He’s admitted to being a shy person, and only does his food reviews in private locations when there aren’t any other people around. His strongest following comes from people who enjoy his meme content, often commenting positively or jokingly about his videos.