Coffee Roasting - New Business - Sales Agents or Food Broker

[Lariam]

I am starting a wholesale coffee roasting business and while I do have experience in the coffee part of it, the sales is another question for me. I am in Canada and wonder if anyone with experience can tell me ...is it better to hire a Food Broker right away or should we hire an independant sales agent. If we do hire a sales agent to go to the major stores for us and the individual coffee shops, how does the commission work? Do we pay commission on the initial sign up and sale or should we pay commission on each order that that coffee shop makes (let's say that coffee shop orders 20 bags a week, do we pay commission to the sales person that started the contract on each order or just on the initial set up?) I would really like to clarify this...I am thinking that to sell to Safeway and Save-on-Foods, etc., a Food Broker would be best but not sure how their commission works either.

Any comment and/or advice is much appreciated and thank you.