The family-owned Joe’s New York Pizza has partnered with Clemson University Athletics and Aramark to serve its pizza slices at Clemson football, basketball, baseball and gymnastics event starting with the 2025 season.
Jeffrey Roberts, who co-founded Robar Restaurant Group, the brand’s parent company, said the Clemson sponsorship is a tribute to his late Robar partner, Darryl Barton, who oversaw all business operations, including payroll, HR and finances.
Barton played a key role in the expansion of Joe’s Pizza, which started out as a single-unit operation and now has three stores in Clemson, Seneca and Central, South Carolina. In fact, Robar Restaurant Group is a combination of the partners’ last names: Roberts and Barton.
Barton died last year at the age of 58 when he was struck in a crosswalk by the impaired driver of a truck. His sudden passing shook the family and the business to their core.
“Darryl was the heartbeat of our back-end operations,” Roberts said. “We were devastated and on the brink of collapse. However, we knew we had to carry on in his honor, ensuring his legacy lives on through our commitment to the community.”
Through the support of its employees and the local community, Joe’s began the long process of healing and rebuilding. “Our team and our customers became our backbone,” said Kasey Roberts, another partner in Robar Restaurant Group. “We wouldn’t have made it through without them.”
Joe’s currently has more than 80 employees. It won the Readers’ Choice Award for best pizza in the Greenville Journal last year.
Cheryl and John Roberts opened Joe’s New York Pizza in 2015, then sold it to Robar Restaurant Group, which was formed in 2021.
Scoring the Clemson deal was not just a lucrative business coup—it was an emotional moment for the company’s founders.
“I’d like to say to all our family, friends and community members who knew what happened and who rallied around us not only to support us but also to support our business…from the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Jeffrey Roberts said. “Kasey and I are incredibly blessed to have such a strong circle of family and friends. And beyond that, we are truly grateful that our restaurants are located where they are—because the people of Clemson, Seneca and Central have shown us a level of compassion and support that is humbling. It’s something rare. It’s something special. And it’s something we’ll never forget.”
