Overview The South Beach Seafood Festival is a four-night run of seafood events in Miami Beach timed to the opening of Florida's stone crab season, and it ends on a Saturday on the sand at Lummus Park where 40-plus South Florida restaurants serve and the crowd votes one of them Best of the Fest. The week opens with chef dinners, and Friday is the VIP Chef Showdown, where chefs battle head to head on stage. It began in 2011, the 2026 festival is the 14th, and CI Management produces it as a 501(c)(3) with proceeds going to the CI Foundation's EAT SMART program, which provides healthy meals and nutrition guidance in Miami-Dade public schools. On site Wednesday and Thursday are seated dinners at Miami Beach restaurants, paired with wine or spirits. Friday's Chef Showdown runs 7 to 11 p.m., 21 and over, in a half-block VIP Hospitality Village: chefs pair off by dish, from tuna and ceviche to surf and turf, serve samples at battle stations for guests to vote on, then cook live in front of a judges' panel, with a DJ on the main stage and bartender contests behind the bars. Saturday's Seafood Slam runs 1 to 5 p.m. Restaurants each serve two or three dishes, a showcase kitchen runs chef demos and a home-cook competition, and a stone crab pavilion sells the first crabs of the season at festival prices. Tickets cover the food and drinks, except the stone crabs. Audience Guests eat, drink and judge: every Friday and Saturday ticket comes with a vote. Saturday falls in college football season and carries a watch party on the sand. Many come for the whole weekend, and the 2026 Friday-and-Saturday package for two with a room at the Loews Miami Beach, the host hotel, sold out before the festival. Talent and Influencers The Chef Showdown is cooked by South Florida restaurant chefs, from hotel kitchens to crab shacks. Its 2025 battle winners included Generric Kyles of Golden Rule Seafood in shrimp, Sharon Fernandez of Lime Fresh Mexican Grill in tacos and Ryan Leonard of American Social in salmon. Track record The 2025 festival counted 50-plus restaurants and more than 30 wine and spirits brands. The festival cites USA Today, which named it one of its top five specialty festivals, and Travel and Leisure put it on its list of places to travel in October 2026. Brand presence Sponsors are sold in tiers from entitlement and presenting partners down to hosting, corporate, media and community partners, and each event carries its own names. Brands build their own bars, pairings and pavilions inside the events; the festival's activation gallery shows a Herradura bubble bar and a GOYA pavilion lit after dark. The City of Miami Beach hosts the Saturday, and Breakthru Beverage and its partners pour the wine and spirits.