South Beach Wine & Food Festival®

Name

South Beach Wine & Food Festival®

Legal name

South Beach Wine & Food Festival® (operated by Florida International University; trademark owned by SWS Holdings, Inc.)

Website

https://sobewff.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Culinary Festival Events

NAICS

Food Services and Drinking Places (722)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Food, Wine & Beverage Festivals/Expos (MPAGAFAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Food Festivals & Culinary Events (Ticketed Tastings, Pop-ups) (THAJAGAL)

Keywords

• Culinary festival events
• Wine and food tastings
• Celebrity chef experiences
• Corporate event sponsorship
• Charity fundraising events

Headquarters

HQ city

Miami Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue generated from selling tickets to individual festival events including the Grand Tasting, Burger Bash, BubbleQ, Best of the Best dinner, and other culinary experiences.
2. Corporate Sponsorship: Sponsorship packages including presenting sponsor, official bank & credit card, host hotel, official airline, official ETF, official luxury vehicle, and official artwork designations.
3. Auction: Annual auction generating additional charitable contributions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival® (SOBEWFF®) is an annual four-day culinary destination event held in Miami Beach, Florida. The festival offers 105+ ticketed events featuring 500+ wine and spirits producers, chefs, and culinary personalities, including signature events like Burger Bash®, BubbleQ®, Grand Tasting, Best of the Best, and Foodiecon. Revenue is generated through consumer ticket sales, corporate sponsorship packages, and an annual charity auction benefiting Florida International University.

Product overview

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival® (SOBEWFF®) is a single, unified event product — a premier four-day culinary and wine festival in Miami, Florida. The core offering is the annual festival itself (February 25-28, 2027), which features 105+ events with 500+ culinary experts. Supporting products include the Festival Auction, Sponsorship Opportunities (offering Premier, Official Bank, Official Airline, Official ETF, Official Luxury Vehicle, and Official Artwork tiers), Marketing & PR Services for sponsors, the Juicy Tidbits newsletter (400,000+ subscribers), the Festival Gallery of event photos, and Student Programs. The festival has raised $46M to date and is hosted by Florida International University.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Burger Bash®: Popular signature event featuring burger competitions and tastings.
• BubbleQ®
• Grand Tasting
• Best of the Best
• Foodiecon

Products and services

• SOBEWFF Annual Festival A four-day national culinary destination event held February 25-28 in Miami Beach, featuring 105+ events with 500+ wine and spirits producers, chefs, and culinary personalities. Ticketed experience for food and wine enthusiasts.
• Festival Auction Annual auction offering exclusive wine, spirits, culinary experiences, and related items, generating additional charitable contributions for Florida International University.
• Corporate Sponsorship Packages Tiered sponsorship offerings for corporate brands, including Presenting Sponsor, Official Bank & Credit Card, Host Hotel, Official Airline, Official ETF, Official Luxury Vehicle, and Official Artwork designations, with corresponding branding placement across festival materials.
• Juicy Tidbits Newsletter Email newsletter with 400,000+ subscribers providing updates on events, special offers, celebrity appearances, and festival news.
• Student Programs Educational programs and opportunities for students, delivered through the festival's partnership with Florida International University.

Quantifiable outcome

• $46M raised for Florida International University

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Florida International University (FIU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFlorida International University is the host and beneficiary of SOBEWFF. The festival benefits FIU and its programs, with © 2026 by Florida International University. FIU provides institutional backing and academic integration through student programs.
• SWS Holdings, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSWS Holdings, Inc. owns the SOBEWFF® trademark and related festival trademarks (Burger Bash®, BubbleQ®, SOBEFEST®). The company licenses the trademark to FIU for the festival.
• Official Bank & Credit Card SponsorminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPresented as Official Bank & Credit Card with prominent branding placement including header position on corporate website footer.
• Host Hotel PartnerminorGTM or Marketing PartnerDesignated as Host Hotel with branding placement in festival marketing materials and website.
• Official Airline PartnerminorGTM or Marketing PartnerOfficial Airline sponsor providing travel partnerships for festival attendees and talent.
• Official Luxury Vehicle PartnerminorGTM or Marketing PartnerOfficial Luxury Vehicle sponsor providing transportation services for festival operations and talent transport.
• Official Artwork PartnerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial Artwork By partner contributing artistic branding elements to the festival.
• Premier SponsorsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPremier tier sponsors receiving highest branding prominence throughout festival materials and events.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Cochon 555: Touring heritage-pig culinary competition series featuring chef tastings, wine pairings, and destination events — overlapping programming and audience with SOBEWFF but at smaller individual-event scale.

Direct peers

• Food & Wine Classic in Aspen: Premier destination culinary festival held in Aspen, CO, operated by Food & Wine magazine. Comparable in star-chef programming, wine/spirits tastings, ticketed seminars, and corporate sponsorship structure.
• Pebble Beach Food & Wine: Luxury multi-day destination culinary festival on California's Monterey Peninsula featuring celebrity chef dinners, wine tastings, and premium sponsorship tiers — directly comparable event format and audience.
• Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival: Largest and most directly comparable U.S. culinary festival: a multi-day destination food & wine event featuring celebrity chefs, wine/spirits tastings, and corporate sponsorship tiers, serving a similar affluent national audience.
• Taste of Chicago: Large-scale food and beverage festival showcasing tastings, chef demonstrations, and culinary experiences — comparable consumer-facing festival format, though publicly produced and more mass-market in audience.
• Charleston Wine + Food Festival: Multi-day destination festival in Charleston, SC featuring celebrity chefs, wine/spirits tastings, and ticketed experiential events — closely analogous structure to SOBEWFF with similar revenue model and audience.
• Atlanta Food & Wine Festival: Regional destination culinary festival in Atlanta featuring celebrity-chef-led tastings, wine and spirits programming, and ticketed experiences; smaller in scale but directly comparable format.
• Vegas Uncork'd by Bon Appétit: Multi-day culinary festival in Las Vegas featuring celebrity chef dinners, wine/spirits tastings, and grand tastings — direct structural and revenue-model peer to SOBEWFF.

Regional players

• Melbourne Food and Wine Festival: Long-established destination food and wine festival in Melbourne, Australia — same destination-festival model and category, but operating in a different geography. Useful international comparable.

Broad incumbents

• Salon du Chocolat: Internationally established chocolate and culinary exhibition brand operating multi-city destination events; broader in scope but demonstrates how destination culinary event IP can scale globally — useful benchmark for international SOBEWFF expansion.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SOBEWFF
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sobewff

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about South Beach Wine & Food Festival®