The South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SoBe Fest) has grown into a worldwide culinary event, but far from the glitz and glamour of Miami Beach, its origin was rather humble. The event didn’t even start in South Beach. When it first began in 1997, it was called the Florida Extravaganza, taking place at Florida International University’s (FIU) North Campus in North Miami. Originally a fundraiser for FIU’s School of Hospitality, the event stayed there until 2002, at which point it moved to South Beach.

This first festival was so under the radar that it hardly even made a dent in the archives of news. The Miami Herald only briefly mentioned the second festival in 1998, but it wasn’t until 2002, when the event shifted to South Beach, that it started gaining national attention. It was a turning point because Lee Brian Schrager, the festival director, saw something much larger. “We hope to be on a par with the Aspen festival,” Schrager said at the time, referring to the famous Aspen Classic, considered the gold standard for wine and food festivals.

A Bold Move to South Beach

The decision to relocate the festival to South Beach was strategic. Christina Grdovic, Vice President of Marketing for Food & Wine magazine, a major sponsor of the fest since 2003, shared, “The one thing the Miami Beach festival can do that Aspen can’t is grow.” Miami Beach, unlike Aspen, had no constraints when it came to hotel rooms and accessibility.

However, the transition came with challenges, including crowd control. At the first SoBe Fest, demand quickly outpaced expectations. The waiting line at an $80-per-person Dom Pérignon Champagne tasting tent became unruly. In response, the festival adjusted its format in 2003, expanding its Grand Tasting event to two days and introducing a trade-only session on Saturday and a public tasting on Sunday.

High-Profile Names and Exclusive Events

With its new location came a fresh wave of celebrity chefs and winemakers. The 2003 lineup featured the renowned Alice Waters from Berkeley’s Chez Panisse, who had inspired public cooking seminars and was honored as “the most influential person in the past 30 years of the American kitchen.”

The festival also featured events that broke new ground, such as the “New World Bubble Q,” a champagne and barbecue dinner with chef Norman Van Aken at the Delano Hotel, sponsored by Moët & Chandon.

To promote high-end wines and select wineries such as Au Bon Climat, Krug Champagne, and Beringer Blass Wine Estates, elite wine seminars took place on Saturday at the InterContinental Miami. That evening, 19 select restaurants opened their doors exclusively to wine dinners, where in-house chefs were paired with celebrity guest chefs such as Julian Serrano of Picasso in Las Vegas and Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger in Boston.

Sunday’s Grand Tasting event was all about wine tastings, cooking demonstrations, and panel discussions with culinary greats like Alton Brown, Todd English, Bobby Flay, and Roxanne Klein.

Reinventing a Festival

The rebranded festival was backed by three key organizations: Southern Wine & Spirits, Florida International University, and the City of Miami Beach. Their combined efforts helped transform SoBe Fest into a marquee event that attracted national media coverage.

Schrager emphasized the festival’s growing appeal to high-end travelers. “We hope to make it a destination for people from New York. It takes so long to fly to Aspen or Napa. With South Beach, they could get off work at 2 p.m., be on a plane by 4 and be checked into a hotel here by 8.”

This strategy paid off. The festival drew the attention of national food writers who had previously overlooked it.

Competing with the Best

Despite its rapid success, SoBe Fest still faced stiff competition. The Biltmore Great South Florida Wine Festival, held in April, featured a more exclusive auction benefiting local charities. But with 200 participating wine and spirits producers, two dozen seminars, and multiple high-profile dining events, SoBe Fest was quickly closing in on Aspen’s long-standing dominance.

A Lasting Legacy

The Florida Extravaganza at FIU had always served as a launchpad for the festival, and its legacy remained significant even after the event moved to South Beach. The final FIU-hosted festival in 2001 was a three-day celebration featuring elite wine tastings, black-tie dinners, and seminars led by industry experts.

The evolution of the festival from a niche campus event to a top-tier food and wine celebration reflects the strategic planning and daring vision behind it. What began as a minor fundraiser at FIU has become an annual culinary event, attracting the best chefs, winemakers, and food enthusiasts from across the globe.