Greater Fort Lauderdale has lost its crave series

South Beach Wine and Food Festival reduces 2021 lineup of events in Broward County

The South Beach Wine and Food Festival plans to shrink its Broward County footprint when the roving, celebrity chef-studded bacchanal returns to South Florida Feb. 24-28, 2021.

The Crave Greater Fort Lauderdale series is gone. Instead, SOBEWFF’s presence north of Miami-Dade County will include just five events: one in Fort Lauderdale, four in Hallandale Beach and none in Palm Beach County, festival founder Lee Brian Schrager told the Sun Sentinel on Monday. That’s fewer than the 2020 edition, which saw 10 events staged in Broward and two in Palm Beach County.

The sprawling bash is going leaner overall, with 57 total events (half of 2020’s lineup) spread across five days of top-flight eats and Food Network personalities, Schrager says. All events will be hosted outdoors and total attendance will stop around 20,000 visitors (about a third of 2020). Tickets will go on sale Dec. 14 via SOBEWFF.org.

“There is no Fort Lauderdale series and, short of a miracle happening between now and February, nothing else will change either,” says Schrager, who sent out the first festival invites to Broward chefs last week. (The 2020 Crave Fort

Lauderdale series included a Sandwich Showdown with Food Network chef Jeff Mauro and a Drag Brunch at the W Fort Lauderdale.)

Broward’s events are still being finalized but will include an intimate Fort Lauderdale chef dinner and two more dinners in Hallandale Beach. There will also be an event called Fun and Fit as a Family, a wellness event featuring Food Network and Cooking Channel guests, and the return of Hallandale Beach Food and Groove, a tasting with 20-plus restaurants at Gulfstream Park that drew 500 visitors to its inaugural February event. Schrager plans to unveil the full program of dates and prices Dec. 7 on the festival’s website.

Trimming his popular festival was necessary as COVID-19 cases continue to surge this fall, says Schrager, who recently programmed

October’s New York Wine and Food Festival. The South Beach festival will require masks except while seated at tables, mandatory temperature checks and one-way lines at all events. Only guests who order tickets together will sit together.

Larger tented affairs, such as Grand Tasting Village and the beachside Burger Bash, will be divided into two timed-ticket sessions instead of one, he adds.

“We learned some lessons in New York, but we’re stuck to them,” Schrager says. “We know that plans can change again if COVID gets worse.”

Much of Broward’s events are in Hallandale Beach because that city’s Community Redevelopment Agency agreed to contribute $100,000 to Schrager’s festival, he says. Much of this funding pays for venues and travel and hotel accommodations for TV personalities, chefs and other talent. The remainder is donated to Florida International University’s culinary and hospitality school.