Florida International University Search Famous South Beach event started at FIU by legendary professor South Beach Wine & Food Festival® marks its 20th anniversary This year, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival ® celebrates its 20th anniversary on the sands of South Beach. But did you know before the Festival blossomed into the world-renowned event it is today, it got its start five years earlier at FIU's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management on the Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC)? The roots of SOBEWFF ® started in 1997 when late FIU hospitality professor Patrick "Chip" Cassidy brought founder Harvey Chaplin and Mel Dick of Southern Wine & Spirits and Marvin Shanken of Wine Spectator Magazine in to sponsor the one-day wine and food festival called the Florida Extravaganza.