World-Renowned Hospitality Leaders Share Industry Insights at FRLA’s Marketing + Operations Summit

(Boca Raton, Fla.) The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) is proud to present its annual Marketing + Operations Summit, scheduled for Wednesday, July 27 and Thursday, July 28 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. The two-day event is designed to spotlight hospitality industry leaders who have instituted best practices in their own companies and introduce new business trends to increase sales and customer satisfaction. Featured presenters from Technomic, BRAND USA,The Ritz-Carlton, The Biltmore Hotel, Bloomin’ Brands, World of Beer, Fontainebleau and Smith & Wollensky will share marketing and operation tips and techniques on how to manage your restaurant or hotel more effectively.

“This is a unique opportunity for our colleagues in hospitality to engage with powerful industry leaders, learn innovative techniques and interact with creative suppliers. This Marketing + Operations Summit is a must-attend event, designed to help businesses keep their finger on the pulse of what’s hot in hospitality,” said Carol Dover, President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

For a full schedule of events, including speaker bios, please click here. Media is invited to attend portions of the two-day event and asked to contact FRLA Communications and Marketing Director, Elizabeth Ray at ERay@FRLA.org or 813-469-3311 for confirmation.

WHEN:
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
*Registration opens at 11:00 AM
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM Welcome
12:00 – 12:45 PM General Session: Kelly Frailey Covato, Client Partner-Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook
1:00 – 2:15 PM Keynote: Scott Stratten, President of Un-Marketing
2:30 – 5:15 PM Breakout Educational Sessions

Thursday, July 28, 2016
8:15 – 9:30 AM Breakout Educational Sessions
9:30 – 10:30 AM Keynote: Don Yaeger, Business Leadership Coach
11:00 – 11:45 AM Breakout Educational Sessions
1:00 – 2:00 PM Keynote: John Moore, Branding Expert from Starbucks + Whole Foods

WHERE:
Boca Raton Resort & Club
501 E Camino Real
Boca Raton, FL 33432
561-447-3000

COST:
Pre-Registration: $189
At The Door: $199
Ticket price includes welcome reception, breakfast, dinner and lunch. Hotel accomodations not included. Seating is limited.

For registration and additional information, please visit: http://frla.org/event/summit/. To see photos from last year’s event please click here or to view a video, click here. Additionally, be sure to follow this event live on social media by searching for #FRLASummit.

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About the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association
FRLA is Florida’s premier non-profit hospitality industry trade association. Our mission is to ‘Protect, Educate and Promote’ Florida’s $82 billion hospitality industry which represents 23% of Florida’s economy and more than 1.1 million employees – making it the state’s number one industry. We offer regulatory compliance and food safety training needs (RCS and SafeStaff®); industry developed career-building high school programs (FRLAEF); sponsor the only event in Florida exclusively serving the restaurant and foodservice industry (FR&L Show, September 27-29, 2016 in Orlando); and we safeguard the needs of the hospitality industry by providing legislative advocacy. We represent and serve more than 10,000 independent and household name members, suppliers, and theme parks. For more information, go to www.FRLA.org and find us on Twitter @FRLAnews, Facebook and YouTube.

Florida’s Hospitality Industry Hosts Statewide Dine Out for Orlando United to Support Victims, Families and Community

(Orlando, Fla.) – To help victims and their families in the aftermath of the shooting in Orlando, Florida’s hospitality industry is offering its support by hosting a statewide community event on Thursday, June 30, 2016. Led by the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association in partnership with VISIT FLORIDA, the fundraiser, “Dine Out for Orlando United,” will be a day for Florida restaurants, their employees and guests to make a difference in the lives of those affected by the tragedy. All proceeds raised will be donated to the OneOrlando Fund, which is designed to provide a way to respond to the needs of the local community, now and in the time to come.

“Our hearts and prayers are with the victims and their families. As an industry, we want to continue to rally around them by offering our support, time and resources. Pulse is a member of the FRLA, a part of our hospitality family and we are proud to lend support. We encourage all Floridians and visitors to participate in this Dine Out to help the entire Orlando community,” said Carol Dover, president and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

“The Florida tourism industry stands united as a community. This is a wonderful way for restaurants and Floridians statewide to come together in solidarity with the Orlando community and make a difference,” said Will Seccombe, president and CEO at VISIT FLORIDA.

“We are grateful for the support and leadership of Florida’s hospitality industry as we continue to work together to help the victims of this tragedy. We want to encourage everybody to dine out on June 30 to help raise money for the families of the victims,” said Buddy Dyer, Mayor of Orlando.

During the event, guests across the state are encouraged to dine at a participating restaurant and/or choose to make a direct donation. Employees can work a shift, choose to volunteer their time or donate a portion of tips. Businesses can join our list of participants and help us promote, organize and/or donate.

To participate, restaurants can:

Donate a portion of total sales
Collect donations received from guests and staff
Donate a portion of total profits
Make a donation for every sale of a specific item
Identify a set donation amount

Media is asked to contact FRLA Communications Director, Elizabeth Ray at eray@frla.org. For restaurants interested in participating in the event, please contact Dan Murphy at dmurphy@frla.org. More information, along with a growing list of participating restaurants, will be available online at http://frla.org/dine-out-orlando/.

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About OneOrlando Fund
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced the formation of the OneOrlando Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to provide a way to help respond to the needs of our community, now and in the time to come, after the effects of the Pulse tragedy. The distribution of the funds will be administered by the Central Florida Foundation. The Foundation serves as the region’s community foundation and is home to more than 400 charitable funds. For information regarding the OneOrlando Fund or to make a wire transfer, please contact info@oneorlando.org.

MIAMI REPORT REVEALS $76 MILLION OF AIRBNB REVENUE IN MIAMI CAME FROM OPERATORS LISTING MULTIPLE UNITS FOR RENT

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) today released a new study that provides a detailed analysis of the rise in commercial activity taking place in Miami on Airbnb, one of the most trafficked short-term rental websites. The study was conducted by John O’Neill, MAI, ISHC, Ph.D., professor of hospitality management and director of the Center for Hospitality Real Estate Strategy in the School of Hospitality Management at Penn State University, and examined activity on Airbnb between October 2014 and September 2015.

The report shows that among the 14 markets studied, Miami has the highest percentage of multi-unit operators on Airbnb and full-time operators, those renting units out full-time.

Key findings:

Full-time operators – those who listed their unit(s) for rent more than 360 days per year – accounted for more than $47 million or nearly 40% of Airbnb’s revenue in the Miami area, a higher percentage than in any of the other cities studied.
Three-quarters (76%) – of Airbnb’s revenue in the Miami metropolitan area (more than $93 million) came from the nearly 30% of operators who listed their unit(s) for rent for more than 180 days per year.
Almost two-thirds (62%, the highest percentage of the 14 cities studied) of Airbnb’s revenue in the Miami region – more than $76 million – came from operators who listed multiple units for rent.
The five Miami-area ZIP codes with the most properties listed on Airbnb accounted for more than $79 million, or 65% of Airbnb’s revenue in the Miami metropolitan area.

“As in many popular tourist destinations across the country, commercial landlords here in Miami are using short-term rental platforms like Airbnb to operate illegal hotel businesses that dodge taxes and duck rules and regulations that were put in place to protect our guests and the communities where we operate,” said Stefano Frittella, owner of the Pelican Hotel in Miami. “Furthermore, by driving up the cost of rent in the Miami area, illegal hotel operators on Airbnb are exacerbating the housing crisis that is hurting so many working families in Miami, making it harder to live and work in our communities.”

“These illegal businesses are not only disrupting Miami’s communities, but they are undermining one of the most important sectors of our economy. Florida’s hotel and lodging industry is an important segment of the state’s economy, employing more than 160,000 residents and generating $5.4 billion annually in state, local and federal taxes,” said Carol Dover, President & CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. “Illegal operators on Airbnb are threatening the business climate that Miami has worked so hard to develop. If Airbnb wants to be a legal player in the lodging industry, they should have to follow the same basic rules as everyone else in order to ensure fairness, respect communities, and protect consumers.”

“Unregulated hotels operated in residential properties are disruptive to communities and pose serious safety concerns for guests, for communities and for neighborhoods,” said AH&LA President and Chief Executive Officer Katherine Lugar. “In Miami, as in cities around the country, we have seen that Airbnb is unwilling to be transparent with its data and be a partner in creating safe environments for its users and the communities in which it operates. And now we know why: a growing portion of Airbnb’s revenue comes from commercial landlords using the platform to operate unregulated and often illegal lodging businesses. This problem is particularly acute in Miami, where – more than in any of the 14 cities studied – multi-unit and full-time operators drive Airbnb’s revenue. Policymakers in Miami, in Florida and across the country should act to ensure a fair travel marketplace by closing the illegal hotel loophole.”

Miami is the fourth of 14 cities profiled in a series of reports that comprise a second phase of an analysis into the commercial activity being transacted on Airbnb’s platform. The initial analysis (“From Air Mattresses to Unregulated Business: An Analysis of the Other Side of Airbnb”) was released in January 2016.

The full report is available for download on the AH&LA website at www.ahla.com.

Alert: Key Provisions of Overtime Ruling

On May 18, 2016, President Obama and Secretary Perez announced the publication of the Department of Labor’s final rule updating the overtime regulations, which will automatically extend overtime pay protections to over 4 million workers within the first year of implementation.

In 2014, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Department to update the regulations defining which white collar workers are protected by the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime standards. Consistent with the President’s goal of ensuring workers are paid a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work, the memorandum instructed the Department to look for ways to modernize and simplify the regulations while ensuring that the FLSA’s intended overtime protections are fully implemented.

The Department published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on July 6, 2015 (80 FR 38515) and invited interested parties to submit written comments on the proposed rule at www.regulations.gov by September 4, 2015. The Department received over 270,000 comments in response to the NPRM from a variety of interested stakeholders. The feedback the Department received helped shape the Final Rule.

Key Provisions of the Final Rule

The Final Rule focuses primarily on updating the salary and compensation levels needed for Executive, Administrative and Professional workers to be exempt. Specifically, the Final Rule:

Sets the standard salary level at the 40th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region, currently the South ($913 per week; $47,476 annually for a full-year worker);
Sets the total annual compensation requirement for highly compensated employees (HCE) subject to a minimal duties test to the annual equivalent of the 90th percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally ($134,004); and
Establishes a mechanism for automatically updating the salary and compensation levels every three years to maintain the levels at the above percentiles and to ensure that they continue to provide useful and effective tests for exemption.

Additionally, the Final Rule amends the salary basis test to allow employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) to satisfy up to 10 percent of the new standard salary level.

The effective date of the final rule is December 1, 2016. The initial increases to the standard salary level (from $455 to $913 per week) and HCE total annual compensation requirement (from $100,000 to $134,004 per year) will be effective on that date. Future automatic updates to those thresholds will occur every three years, beginning on January 1, 2020.

Although the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has reviewed and approved the Final Rule, the document has not yet been published in the Federal Register. The Final Rule that appears in the Federal Register may contain minor formatting differences in accordance with Office of the Federal Register publication requirements. The OMB-approved version is being provided as a convenience to the public and this website will be updated with the Federal Register’s published version when it becomes available.

For more information from the Department of Labor, including a fact sheet, please click here.

White House Unveils Overtime Rule

The Department of Labor will unveil new federal overtime regulations May 18, the White House confirmed in a fact sheet.

According to the White House fact sheet, the new federal overtime rule will go into effect Dec. 1, 2016. Further details will be available in DOL regulations and technical guidance. The rule:

Guarantees time-and-half pay to any salaried employee earning under $47,476 a year ($913 a week) and who works more than 40 hours in a week. That’s double the current salary threshold of $23,660 ($455 a week).
Automatically updates the salary threshold every three years, tying it to the 40^thpercentile of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-income Census region (currently the South). The first update would be Jan. 1, 2020. Based on current wage trends, the DOL projects a salary threshold of $51,000 by Jan. 1, 2020.
Makes no changes in the duties tests used to determine whether a salaried employee above the threshold is considered an executive, administrative or professional employee and thus exempt from overtime pay.
For the first time, allows certain bonuses and incentive payments to count toward up to 10 percent of the new salary level.

National Restaurant Association reaction

The NRA noted in a statement that we are appreciative that the DOL appeared to listen to restaurants’ concerns and did not include the burdensome “long” duties test that would have led to increased contentious disputes and litigation–something the DOL stated it wanted to avoid. However, the threshold for exempt employees in the final regulations is still too high.

Restaurants operate on thin margins with low profits per employee and little room to absorb added costs. More than doubling the current minimum salary threshold for exempt employees, while automatically increasing salary levels, will harm restaurants and the employer community at large.

More than 80 percent of restaurant owners and 97 percent of restaurant managers start their careers in non-managerial positions and move up with performance-based incentives. These regulations may mean that salaried employees, who have worked hard to get where they are, could be subject to becoming hourly employees once again.

Opposition will continue

The DOL moved ahead with these regulations despite widespread opposition. Hundreds of lawmakers have joined with employer and nonprofit groups in criticizing DOL for failing to accurately estimate the rule’s impact. We expect immediate legislative efforts to defund, block or nullify the rule, as well as possible litigation against the DOL over its process for issuing the final rule and some of its mandates. The NRA has been a leading force in D.C. on this issue and will continue to use all available legislative and legal options to block a damaging rule.

NRA analysis and webinar

We will provide our members with an initial analysis of the rule this week, followed by a webinar Thurs., May 26, 3 p.m. ET. The webinar will be hosted by attorneys Angelo Amador, senior vice president and regulatory counsel at the NRA, and Alex Passantino, partner at Seyfarth Shaw and former Acting Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Information on how to register for the webinar will be provided on Restaurant.org as soon as it is available.

At Attorney General Bondi’s Request, Hotline Established for Frontier Customers

Frontier Communications acquired Verizon’s wireless properties in parts of Florida earlier this year. Since then, more than 700 consumers have contacted the Attorney General’s Office with complaints about internet, security, phone and television services. At the request of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Frontier Communications Corporation is now committed to improving communications and customer services in Florida.

If you are a Frontier customer experiencing problems, you can file a complaint with the Florida Attorney General’s Office by visiting MyFloridaLegal.com or calling (866) 9NO-SCAM.

Attorney General Bondi met with Frontier Executives last week and now the company has agreed to several changes to improve services. Frontier executives agreed to the following:

Frontier Communications will immediately prioritize addressing complaints regarding seniors and medically disadvantaged individuals;
A new Florida-based customer service number, (888) 457-4110, has been established that will be answered by live representatives from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The company also has set up a Chat Live platform for those able to go online;
Frontier has instituted a “SWAT Team” to coordinate the rapid response to customer escalations and service outages; and
Every customer who reported any out of service issue will be given a credit. The credit will be reflected on the customer’s bill no later than the end of June with no contact necessary with the company to receive this credit.

In a letter sent by Attorney General Bondi to Frontier’s CEO, the Attorney General outlined the serious service disruptions being reported to her office by Frontier customers. Customers complained of lost access to essential 911 services due to no phone service, lost internet service, extended waiting periods on customer service lines, missed service appointments, and no automatic billing credits for customers who lost service. To view the letter, click here.

At the meeting, Frontier provided the Attorney General with a written response to her letter addressing many of these issues. To view Frontier’s response, click here.

FRLA Offers Interactive and Innovative Training Program for Local Businesses

(Tallahassee, Fla.) The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA), in partnership with Charthouse Learning, is proud to offer an innovative training program to businesses across the state. The interactive event, titled “A Fish! Experience,” which was inspired by Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market, is designed to improve teamwork, customer service, employee engagement, leadership and retention. The program, built on the “FISH! Philosophy,” is scheduled to take place in Fort Myers and Sarasota on Tuesday, May 10. The following day, Wednesday, May 11, it will be offered in St. Petersburg. The final opportunity to participate will be in Orlando on Thursday, May 12.

Guest speaker Deena Ebbert will inspire business owners and employees to start their own attitude epidemic. Insightful, with a knack for finding fun and delight in the world around us, Ebbert has a passion for performance, as a former professional opera singer and longtime member of corporate America, where she led many top-performing teams. She understands how to motivate teams through compassion and trust. Ebbert invites participants to begin seeing their jobs as a tool to make their lives complete, and The FISH! Philosophy as a way to build a common language for success.

Media is invited to attend. Event details are as follows:

WHAT:
FRLA Presents “A FISH! Experience”

WHEN:
Tuesday, May 10
8:00 – 11:30 AM Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center
1:30 – 4:30 PM Hyatt Regency Sarasota

Wednesday, May 11
8:00 – 11:30 AM St. Petersburg Marriott Clearwater

Thursday, May 12
8:30 – 11:00 AM The Ritz-Carlton Orlando

COST:
$40 for FRLA members
$45 for non-members

For registration and additional information, please visit the following links for the events in Fort Myers, Sarasota, St. Petersburg and Orlando or contact FRLA Regional Director, Dannette Lynch at 727-642-3404. Media is asked to contact FRLA Communications Director, Elizabeth Ray at ERay@FRLA.org or 850.224.2250 x255 for confirmation.

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Safer Dining Is the Exclusive Food Allergy Training Provider for Regulatory Compliance Services

Safer Dining, the leader in food allergy training and Regulatory Compliance Services (RCS), a subsidiary of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA), announced an agreement enabling Safer Dining to be the sole food allergy training provider for RCS. This partnership assures RCS can provide Safer Dining food allergen training options as requested by business owners. RCS will also include Safer Dining as an additional training option during employee food safety training and certified food protection manager classes.

Safer Dining’s alliance with RCS underscores their continued dedication to providing food allergy awareness and education to both distributors and consumers alike. Business owners across Florida can now rest assured that they and their staff would be able to safely serve patrons with food allergies. Through Safer Dining’s training, they will be equipped with the knowledge to not only prevent potential cross contamination but also how to handle an allergy situation should one arise and how to better manage liability.

“I’m excited to embark on this partnership with RCS and expand the resources available in the food allergy training to better meet the growing needs of food and hospitality organizations across the state,” said founder of Safer Dining, Dr. Jordan Maeson.

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About Safer Dining: Having been trained in nuclear medicine, Dr. Maeson combined her food service knowledge, medical expertise and personal experience to create a unique consulting firm in 2011, which strives to educate and train businesses across all genres of the food handling industry in safely serving the millions of people worldwide who suffer with life threatening food allergies.

Safer Dining provides intensive food allergy consulting and educational services that strive to enhance both the awareness and advocacy for food handlers so that they can reach out to millions of food allergy sufferers, offering a safer and more enjoyable diningexperience.

About Regulatory Compliance Services: Founded in 1984 and a subsidiary of the FRLA, RCS is Florida’s leader in providing risk management and regulatory compliance training programs to the state’s hospitality industry. Utilizing the SafeStaff® educational training materials and harnessing the resources of FRLA industry experts and former regulators, RCS is the largest and most respected firm of its kind in Florida. With training managers from Pensacola to Key West, RCS stands ready to serve Florida’s hospitality industry. RCS offers training programs for Responsible Vendor Training, Food Safety Training for Employees and Managers, Sexual Harassment/Workplace Discrimination Prevention Training, and Professional Development Training. These training programs are fully administered by RCS leaving the restaurant manager to attend to other operational matters. For more information, please visit: http://www.regcomplianceusa.com.

Gainesville’s Eastside High School Wins Second Place at High Stakes National Culinary Arts and Restaurant Business Competition

(Tallahassee, Fla.) – High school students from Gainesville and Tampa, who are enrolled in the Florida ProStart program, tested their mettle in a sophisticated, real-world culinary and business management competition focused on the restaurant and foodservice sector. Held April 29-May 1 in Dallas, Texas, the National ProStart Invitational challenged student teams from secondary schools across the nation to create a three-course meal, while corresponding teams presented business proposals for an original restaurant concept.

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association’s Educational Foundation is thrilled to announce Gainesville’s Eastside High School placed second in the nationwide competition. The school’s management team developed a business proposal for opening and operating a restaurant, and were asked to solve the types of daily challenges faced by restaurant managers. The team was evaluated by an expert panel of industry judges. Tampa’s A.P. Leto High School participated in the culinary portion of the competition, showcasing their creative abilities through the preparation of an appetizer, entrée and dessert in 60 minutes.

“We are so proud of our students who are incredibly talented, passionate about hospitality and worked tirelessly all year,” said Carol Dover, President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. “They are Florida’s all-stars and certainly proved they can compete on the national stage. We are glad to support these students, the future of our industry.”

Participating teams were as follows:

Eastside High School’s Management Team
Instructors: Billie DeNunzio and Pam Bedford
Students: Jayla Herring, Isaiah Smith, Erin Livingston, Kelsey Nimmons and Brandon McDonald

Leto High School’s Culinary Team
Instructor: Debra Hladky
Students: Angel Nieves, Juraima Pena, Alexandrea Vargas, Elissia LaPorte and Fernando Hernandez

In total, there are 238 schools who participate in the Florida ProStart program, a program crafted by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF). ProStart unites industry and secondary school classrooms to train students with the skills that help them achieve long-term and rewarding careers in the restaurant and foodservice industry. Research indicates that students and educators agree that ProStart is effective in teaching culinary skills as well as restaurant management theory and practice, including critical employability skills such as teamwork, communication and professional behavior. 70 percent of students enrolled in ProStart programs indicate they plan to pursue post-secondary education.

For more information on the National ProStart Invitational, visit http://www.nraef.org/ProStart/Invitational. For more information on Florida’s ProStart program please click here.

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Nashville’s Top Songwriters to Perform in South Walton to Raise Money for Children’s Charities

(Miramar Beach, Fla.) – The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is proud to highlight nationally renowned songwriters at the South Walton Beaches Wine and Food Festival. As a founding partner, FRLA is thrilled to participate in the fourth annual charity event scheduled for Thursday, April 28 through Sunday, May 1 in Grand Boulevard at Sandestin. During the four days of lively tastings, seminars, winemaker dinners and musical performances, the festival will showcase more than 800 wines. The FRLA will sponsor the songwriters in conjunction with BMI, a leader in music rights management, as part of its Great Florida Events program which is designed to boost local tourism across the state.

“A combination of fantastic tunes and tastes, this must-attend event showcases Florida hospitality at its finest,” said Carol Dover, President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. “This year’s set list of songwriters features industry all-stars and we are proud to partner with them to reel in more visitors who can help us raise money for children in Northwest Florida.”

Last year, 4,000 wine and food lovers participated in the event, and contributed to raising more than $2.3 million for the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation (DCWAF) at an auction held during the festival. Proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to DCWAF, which has affected the lives of over 60,000 youth, including those afflicted by health issues and abuse.

Throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, the songwriters will perform and tell stories about their biggest hits written for the stars of the music business, including Jake Owen, George Strait, Luke Bryan, Miley Cyrus, Tim McGraw and many others. The featured songwriters include nationally renowned BMI artists: Dylan Altman, Marshall Altman, Aaron Barker, Brent Cobb, Jon Mabe, Kendell Marvel, Billy Montana and Matt Warren. The songs written by the songwriters include “Baby Blue” made popular by George Strait, “The Climb” written for Miley Cyrus and Garth Brooks’ “More Than A Memory” to name a few.

Please go to www.sowalwine.com for the festival schedule and a full list of songwriters who will be performing.

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About South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival
South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival is an annual charity event held the last weekend of April. The festival features a stunning showcase of the best wines the world has to offer. Celebrity wine producers and chefs present fine wine and food pairings from the world’s most famous appellations. The Savor South Walton Culinary Village offers a sumptuous array of foods to taste, wines to pair, as well as wine and food tasting seminars and live entertainment. The event is a major fundraiser for Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation, which benefits children in need in Northwest Florida. For more information, including a list of attending winemakers and to purchase tickets, visit www.SoWalWine.com.