Bobby Flay with Burger Bash and Chefs in 2011. Credit: SOBEWFF

Under the Miami Sun: 25 Years of SOBEWFF

9 Minute read

16 Feb 2026

Amber Love Bond

Writer

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On its 25th anniversary, South Beach Wine & Food Festival looks back at the chefs, students, and defining moments that transformed a beachside fundraiser into a global culinary event.

There’s a particular kind of light that settles over Miami during the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival. The sun is almost always shining, the ocean looks suspiciously calm, and the white tents glow as if they’ve been waiting all year to return. It’s a running joke that the founder of the festival, Lee Schrager, must have sold his soul for that kind of weather, but after 25 years, it feels less like luck and more like tradition.

When the festival debuted in 1997 as a small, one-day fundraiser called Florida Extravaganza, tied to Florida International University, and then reemerged in 2002 on the sands of South Beach under the name we know today, few could have predicted what it would become. Today, SOBEWFF is America’s largest gourmet festival on the beach, drawing chefs, winemakers, spirits producers, and tastemakers from around the world. Yet when Schrager looks back, what surprises him most is deceptively simple: “That we’re still around.”

Longevity is no small feat in the culinary world. As we all know, it’s an industry built on trends and turnover. But SOBEWFF didn’t just endure; it grew alongside Miami itself. As the city transformed from a seasonal playground into a global culinary destination, the festival became both a mirror and a catalyst, introducing national audiences to South Florida’s talent while welcoming the world’s most influential chefs onto its sands.

“What’s never changed is our core mission to support FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management,” says Schrager. This year, the festival will surpass $50 million in total funds raised. These funds have fueled scholarships, facilities, and hands-on education for generations of hospitality students.

Yes, the festival is synonymous with Food Network stars and marquee names, but some of its most meaningful moments have come from spotting people early and giving them a platform before the spotlight fully found them. Schrager still remembers Guy Fieri’s first appearance at the festival, fresh off winning Food Network Star nearly two decades ago, walking the grounds and handing out signed postcards because he didn’t yet have a cookbook to promote. Giada De Laurentiis was signed but not yet on television. On the local side, chefs like Michael Schwartz, Michelle Bernstein, Allen Susser, and Giorgio Rapicavoli helped define Miami’s culinary voice long before it was taken seriously on a national scale. Award-winning chefs from all over the country, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Adeena Sussman, Jonathan Waxman, world-famous butcher Dario Cecchini, Nina Compton, Mark Militello, and the Voltaggio brothers, have been regulars at the festival.

That blend of legacy and emergence has always been intentional. Each year’s roster mixes household names with chefs from small, independent restaurants, many of whom never imagined they’d cook on a stage like this. “I think that's the most exciting thing,” says Schrager. “When we look at the list of new places and new talent that are involved every year, it’s just incredibly rewarding to see.”

Over the years, the festival has also played host to moments that feel almost mythic in hindsight. Securing Alice Waters for an early edition remains a personal highlight for Schrager. “That moment felt huge for us and was so special to me,” he says, adding that it signaled the festival’s growing credibility. So did reuniting the Mondavi brothers, Michael and Peter, who had not spoken in years before sharing the stage at a SOBEWFF event. There were also moments that underscored just how far the festival had come, like welcoming the King and Queen of Spain or cementing a partnership with Food Network at precisely the moment when culinary television, and celebrity chefs, were poised to explode.

Through it all, the festival never missed a year. In 2020, it unfolded just before the world shut down. In 2021, it adapted, shifting to May for one year only before returning to its February home in 2022. That consistency speaks to something deeper than scheduling. It reflects a resilience built on relationships, trust, and an unwavering belief in gathering around food.

Michelle Bernstein. Credit: SOBEWFF

This year’s 25th anniversary feels especially full circle. Michelle Bernstein, a James Beard Award–winning chef whose career is inseparable from Miami’s rise, becomes the first local chef ever honored by the festival. It was a decision Schrager says was already on his shortlist before a call from Bobby Flay came suggesting her. “She was already someone I wanted to honor, and he reinforced what I knew to be right,” says Schrager. It’s a moment that encapsulates the festival’s ethos of honoring the people who helped build the city’s culinary identity while continuing to evolve.

Twenty-five years in, SOBEWFF is still many things at once: a beach party, a professional proving ground, a fundraiser, a reunion, and a launchpad. Above all, it’s a reminder of what can happen when a city, an industry, and a vision grow together under sunny skies, on the sand, year after year.