For over 40 years, GBQ has celebrated St. Patrick’s Day as only savvy accountants and consultants can do…with green bagels.
The annual green bagel tradition dates back to the 1980s when the idea was presented to our three founding partners – Morris Groner, Jack Boyle and Ron Quillin. Embraced and encouraged by Boyle and Quillin, both of whom were of Irish descent, that’s how GBQ Green Bagels and our unique way of having a wee bit o’ fun expressing client appreciation and celebrating St. Patrick’s Day came to be.
In the early years, GBQ associates hand-delivered “Irish Six Packs” (a half dozen green bagels, complete with a St. Patrick’s Day poem and all the proper bagel fixings) to clients and friends of the firm. As the firm grew, so did our bagel order. We eventually hired outside help and engaged a courier service (GBQ “leprechauns,” if you will) to assist with delivery and spread a little luck around the community. At our peak in the early 2000s, we delivered more than 700 green bagel six-packs on St. Patrick’s Day!
Here is a link to an article that appeared in The Columbus Dispatch recapping this GBQ tradition.
In 2010, we put a new twist on an old tradition, and our Green Bagel Open House was born at our Columbus office. Since then, clients and friends of the firm have been invited to join our associates for breakfast, networking and the same (now legendary) Green Bagel six-packs to take home. Click here to visit our Facebook page and check out photos from past events.
Even though St. Patrick’s Day is in the middle of our busiest time of year, this tradition has always been a welcomed break for our associates. As GBQ continues to grow with new offices, so does the Green Bagel tradition. In 2015, we expanded our love for green to our Cincinnati office. While COVID-19 kept us socially distant for a couple of years, we hosted our inaugural event in Toledo on March 17, 2022.
Lots o’ luck will come your way if you join us on Green Bagel Day. (You can count on it!)
