No. For 2025's event, Stir It Up!  will be unticketed and open to all FMI Midwinter attendees. We're very excited for Stir It Up! to again be Midwinter's opening night event.

The New Product Showcase at Stir It Up! is making its debut at Stir It Up 2025! The New Product Showcase allows supplier and retailer companies with private brands the opportunity to feature new & exciting products within their portfolios.

Hosted alongside the kitchens at Stir It Up!, which tend to feature mainstay and tried and true products, the new product showcase will display new products within branded display towers (2-3 products within a case, per sponsor) and tasting kiosks. ...And customer engagement process extends beyond Stir It Up! New Product Showcase sponsors also get additional visibility in high traffic areas throughout the conference center.

Contact the Stir It Up!  team and we can work with you to reserve a spot or find a kitchen partner.

The program is up to you! You will be able to network with leaders in our industry while tasting their favorite family meals. Stir it Up! is designed as a dine-around without assigned seats so all attendees can move and mingle as they please. Attendees sample dishes from different kitchen hosts, enjoy themed activities throughout the room, and get the chance to sample new products within the 2025 New Product Showcase. We will also be welcoming a mainstage entertainer that you won't want to miss!

Yes, but custom/build-your-own opportunities are limited! Contact us with your goals and objectives and we will be in touch with more details.

Each kitchen's partner will decide on their own menu. Menus often feature mainstay and tried and true products and recipes from the company/companies participating in that kitchen station. The 2025 event theme is What's for Dinner? Dishing Up New Family Flavors, which celebrates the regional cuisine we all know and love. Contact us to lock in your regional cuisine!

Resort casual--leave your ties at home! This is a fun, casual event involving movement as you dine-around and network. 2025's theme encourages you to be creative in your outfits: complement your organization's themed kitchen decor or New Product Showcase kiosk.

No. The hotel will be preparing your team’s menu and will deliver it to your kitchen station. On a case by case basis, we can facilitate food prep stations where your Executive Chef and culinary team can put the finishing touches on your dishes.

Yes! If you are a sponsor at the Premier or Premier+ level, you can bring your chef to do a cooking demo at your kitchen or help plate the prepared food.

2025's event will have less of a focus on competition, more on showcasing the talents and achievements of companies within our industry. We will have a limited number of awards available and the selections will be chosen by the chef team at the JW Marriott Marco Island, the host hotel for the 2024 and 2025 Midwinter Executive Conference.

The meal will be plated in small tasting portions to allow attendees to experience dishes from all of the kitchens. If you have additional questions on portion sizing--including questions on the hotel's food vessels and availability for rented vessels--contact us at StirItUp@fmi.org. 

There will be printed and digital signage around all of the kitchens designating where different companies are located. Assignments for kitchen sponsors' setup will also be sent out prior to the event. Kitchen sponsors may also be featured on sponsorship promotional materials, like the Midwinter Conference's Know Before You Go missive, mainstage graphics and remarks, social media posts, and official floorplans for the event.

Members of FMI that are invited to the Midwinter Executive Conference. This includes retailers, wholesalers, product suppliers, manufacturers, and service providers. If you have any additional questions on eligibility, please contact the Stir It Up! team for details.

Kitchen partner sponsors are able to partner with another company to host a kitchen. Premier and Premier+ sponsors are eligible to host a kitchen on their own.

We are expecting 800-900 attendees, as Stir It Up! serves as the Midwinter Executive Conference's opening night event. So as not to have too much food waste, we plan to serve 500 portions of each dish for the Midwinter audience.