Fuel10K co-founder Barney Mauleverer has taken charge of the Food & Drink Exporters Association in an ambitious bid to drive industry annual exports to £35bn by 2035.
The export target equates to adding an extra £1bn in new overseas sales every year for the next 10 years.
Mauleverer will spearhead a four-strong team as chairman of the not-for-profit organisation.
He is joined by the rest of the team behind the Future of Food competition, set up by Mauleverer in 2024 to provide innovative brands with a platform to showcase the changes they are making to the food & drink industry.
Katie Birrell, former head of international sales at Nairn’s Oatcakes, assumes the role of managing director. Paul Abley, an ex-civil servant in the Department for Business & Trade, joins as director of community, events and partnerships, and Alice Hall takes on the role of communications lead.
The team have unveiled a complete rebrand and overhaul of the FDEA this year, launching a new website in partnership with the Future of Food.
Mauleverer said he saw the two organisations as intrinsically linked, with the annual competition, held in November each year, to help amplify pioneering UK brands on the world stage.
A separate online platform has also launched to bring together exporting stakeholders in the industry. Mauleverer pitched the FDEA Collaborative portal as a more positive and useful version of LinkedIn.
“We can’t rely on influencing political support, competitiveness, geopolitics or inflation,” Mauleverer said. “But we can unite trade bodies, devolved nations, export experts, buying teams and the teams behind the brands to spotlight true innovators and pioneering products that lead on the world stage. By being better together, we’ll break down silos and barriers, introduce sellers to buyers and forge real collaboration.”
The FDEA evolved from the ashes of government quango Food from Britain, which was defunded by Defra and closed in 2008 after 25 years in operation. The association stepped in as an independent body, led by the private sector, to fill the void left by government.
The new iteration of the FDEA, led by Mauleverer, has launched with a four-point strategy to connect, learn, grow and collaborate.
“This is about empowering UK innovators to thrive globally,” Birrell added. “Together, we’re building a stronger, more collaborative export community – intrinsically linked to the Future of Food Competition – to achieve sustainable growth.”
Food & drink exports from the UK flatlined in 2024 at £24.5bn, with volumes declining by 12.6%. The picture improved in 2025 as volumes recovered in the first nine months of the year and exports reached £18.9bn, up 5.8% year on year, according to the FDF. However, despite the positive momentum, the FDF said food exports to the EU had dropped by almost a quarter over the past five years.
The FDF is also aligned with the FDEA’s goal of growing exports to £35bn by 2035.
Mauleverer has extensive export experience, including taking Fuel10K, which was acquired by Premier Foods in 2023, into 18 markets. He also co-founded export management company Fresh Marketing in 2006, is a former DBT export champion, a winner of a Queen’s Award for international trade and has sat on the FDEA management committee for the past four years.
Birrell is also a former export champion and has been part of the FDEA committee for four years. She has 25 years’ experience in international sales and spent 16 years with Nairn’s.
Abley worked at the DBT for more than 13 years, including a spell as a senior international trade advisor.
A former English teacher, Hall joins the FDEA full-time after working with Mauleverer for the past two years as events and communications manager for the Future of Food.
A flagship FDEA Meet the Buyer event is planned for 14-15 October this year at Tower Hotel in London, with 75 international buyers being flown in for the two-day gathering for face-to-face meetings with budding exporter brands.
FDEA is also calling on food and drink businesses – from startups to established names – to join the organisation by signing up at futureoffood.org.uk/export and also at collaborative.fdea.org.uk.
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