Food has always been a big part of 28-year-old Daniel Marcelin’s life. The Florida International University student, who was born in Haiti and raised in North Miami, was in and around kitchens constantly. Growing up, his parents owned several restaurants.
“I just fell in love with the cooking and fell in love with the aspect of making people happy with one bite,” said Marcelin.
It’s why he decided to pursue cooking and hospitality as a career, and how he ended up at FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. He is now a master’s student and an employee at the school, working as the food and beverage lab manager.
Marcelin is also one of about 1,500 FIU students who are expected to work the four-day South Beach Wine & Food Festival this year. His passion for food, and the thousands of people he gets to serve at the festival, gives him the adrenaline that, he said, all chefs seek.
READ MORE: South Beach Wine & Food Festival leans into diversity, Afro-Caribbean cuisine for 25th anniversary
“We’re feeding about 2,000 people per day. Last year, I think we fed about 7,000 people,” said Marcelin. “Last year we did a pulled-pork slider, the year before that we did a tostone with pico de gallo. The year prior to that, we did a romesco sauce.”
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s roots date back to 1997. It began as a one-day, student-run event called the Florida Extravaganza at FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus — where the hospitality school is located. But 25 years ago the festival rebranded and moved to the sands of South Beach under Lee Schrager, then an executive at Southern Glazer Wine and Spirits.
The festival has grown into one of the country’s most popular culinary events, but aside from the celebrity chefs and tastings, one thing has remained constant: the students. Organizers say FIU students play a major role, filling about 4,300 shifts each year across more than 100 events.
“ The university has made significant investments in ensuring the success of this festival since its founding,” said Michael Cheng, dean of FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. “We have a full-time staff that works with Lee [Schrager] all year round, dedicated to the logistics, securing the talent, sponsorship, ticket sales and all that.”
The contribution goes both ways: To date the festival has raised over $45 million for FIU's Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
This is Marcelin’s third year working the festival. He first picked up different shifts at the festival’s famous Burger Bash and at FIU’s Grand Tasting Village (GTV) booth. This year, Marcelin will return to the booth.
He’ll be leading the makeline as they prepare Cuban sandwich empanadas, a recipe curated by local award-winning chef Michelle Bernstein.
“ It gives you a lot of perspective as to what to expect as a future industry leader,” said Marcelin. “The expectations of the staff there and everybody that comes from FIU really hold other students to a standard. So it’s really informative — very, very hands-on.”
No shift is too small
Hospitality is more than restaurants, hotels and food and beverage. FIU senior Fabiola Quereguan, 21, plans to get an advanced degree in mega events — the hospitality school’s largest masters degree program.
She has already had a taste of running large scale events by acting as a coordinator for the SOBE Wine and Food Festival.
Quereguan, who moved to Miami from Venezuela when she was 10 years old, first worked the festival five years ago as a junior and senior at Cutler Bay Senior High School, through the school’s own hospitality program.
“ I did kind of introductory positions, so basic culinary event support, setting up the event as well as registration, welcoming guests,” said Quereguan. “That gave me a big overview of hospitality itself and what it takes. The small roles that play a really big part in these huge events.”
Her experience there is what convinced her to continue a path toward hospitality.
As a coordinator, Quereguan helps recruit the massive student workforce behind the festival. And then on-site, it’s a lot of logistics: making sure students know where to go and what to do, and training them on their roles.
“Without them, this festival wouldn’t be the huge success it is today,” said Quereguan. “No matter how basic the position, how short the shift, they’re all super necessary in order for this to be as successful as it is.”
This year, Quereguan will be working at the festival’s north venue. That’s where some of the signature events will be held, like the Tournament of Champions with Guy Fieri, and the festival’s closing event on Sunday, 25 years of Legendary Bites.
“Having them work with our celebrity talent, with the different companies, oftentimes also leads towards job offers, internship offers, and then employment after the fact,” said Cheng. “The students from here meet as classmates. They get to work together during the festival, and then next thing you know, they're opening restaurants together.”
For FIU’s hospitality student alumni, like Hialeah native Amanda Fraga, working the festival was a way to display your talents.
Fraga graduated in 2011, and is now the director of beverage for the Genuine Hospitality Group, which is owned by James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Schwartz.
She oversees wine, beer, cocktails and spirits at Michael’s Genuine in Miami’s Design District, and Amara at Paraiso in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood.
“We as students who are about to be graduates that were looking for jobs, we’re gonna be in places around people who could potentially hire us, so I really would take SOBE fest as a way to be like ‘I’m gonna bring my business card, I’m going to bring my best foot forward, I’m gonna meet people and I’m going to network,’” said Fraga.
Now, Fraga might get her own James Beard Award. She was recently named a 2026 semifinalist for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program.
Fraga says she owes a lot of what she knows now to the classes she took at FIU — and it's not just wine classes.
“Accounting and law information on hospitality, you don’t learn that on your own — you have to learn that in a class, and that was really good for me,” said Fraga.
How funds from SOBEWFF helps FIU
FIU’s collaboration with the SOBE Wine and Food Festival has also brought in significant money.
The room where students learn about beverage management, as Fraga did, was remodeled in 2020 and became the Bacardi Center of Excellence.
The school also has a Wine Spectator Lab Restaurant run by FIU’s culinary arts professors and students, and it’s open weekly to the public for lunch and dinner.
According to Cheng, it would not have been possible without the proceeds from the festival, which have benefitted the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
“If you were dependent upon state funding, which is getting lesser and lesser and harder and harder, we would never have a beautiful showcase restaurant like this,” said Cheng. “It provides us the opportunity to not just showcase it, but also for students to gain real-world experience.”
The school has also been able to award over $2.2 million in scholarships, and according to Cheng, there is also an emergency fund for students who may be struggling financially.
“Our students are not privileged. A lot of them are first generation students, working class parents, for them to be able to come to FIU is a great honor,” said Cheng. “They work hard at it and many of them have full-time jobs while they're here in school. We try to lessen the burden as much as we can.”
According to festival organizers, more than 30,000 students have played some kind of role at SOBE Wine and Food Festival over its 25 years.
But the ties between the festival and the FIU students go beyond their time at the university. Many come back as featured chefs and restaurant owners.
“ I think it shows to the hospitality industry that it's possible to dream big,” said Cheng. “As long as you have the vision and the support of the corporations as well as the industry behind it. The opportunity to provide hands-on learning experience is really immeasurable in this instance.”
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