What Is a Food Broker? (And When You Should Use One)

A food broker is a contract sales representative who connects food and beverage manufacturers with retail buyers—think grocery chains, club stores, mass, and specialty.

They don’t buy or own your product; they sell it, manage the relationship, and help move it through existing retail channels. Day-to-day, that looks like pitching your items to buyers, negotiating pricing and promotions, coordinating new-item setup, and troubleshooting at retail so your product actually sells once it’s on the shelf.

Unlike a distributor—who purchases inventory and resells it to retailers (and typically takes a 20–30% margin)—a broker gets paid a commission on what you sell and does not handle warehousing or transportation. That distinction matters for your margin, your cash flow, and who “owns” the retailer relationship.

How Brokers Are Paid (and Why It’s Predictable)

Most retail food brokers work on a commission basis—commonly in the 5–8% range of the invoiced sales they help you ship. Because it’s tied to shipped product, commissions begin once orders are moving. That makes brokerage a variable, performance-based cost rather than a fixed headcount expense.

By contrast, distributors take title to goods and need a larger margin (often 20–30%) to cover inventory, logistics, and receivables risk. If you’re weighing your route to market, that delta is a useful rule of thumb.

What a Food Broker Actually Does

• Opens doors and gets meetings. Brokers maintain active relationships with retail buyers and category teams; they know reset calendars, assortments, and how your item fits.

• Manages the item through the maze. New-item setup, vendor onboarding, planogram submissions, promo calendars, and post-promotion readouts—brokers help you navigate the paperwork and the politics.

• Coordinates retail execution. Many agencies support store-level execution (display, tags, void correction) and provide feedback from the field. Sales calls are not cheap—industry materials estimate $300–$400 per call—which is why brokers focus on the highest-impact work.

• Helps prevent deduction surprises. They know retailer compliance expectations and common chargebacks (shortages, price discrepancies, etc.), and can help you avoid avoidable dings.

• Represents multiple lines—carefully. Reputable brokers avoid direct line conflicts (e.g., two head-to-head competitors) and allocate account team time where it drives the most growth.

Broker vs. Distributor vs. 3PL (Quick Guide)

• Broker: Sells your line to retailers; no inventory ownership; paid by commission; strongest at access, selling, and category navigation.

• Distributor: Buys product, stocks it, invoices the retailer; margin-based; strongest at logistics, coverage, and credit terms.

• 3PL: Ships and stores your inventory but doesn’t sell it; fee-based logistics partner.

When a Food Broker Makes the Most Sense

1. You’re launching into grocery for the first time.Fictional example (for illustration): a premium salsa brand has Amazon traction but no brick-and-mortar presence. A broker packages the pitch, aligns pricing with the category, times the ask to the buyer’s reset window, and lands a 50-store test—without the brand hiring a full sales team. (Illustrative only.)

2. You’re expanding from natural/specialty into conventional or mass.Moving from regionals to a Kroger or Walmart buyer requires different expectations on velocity, trade funding, and supply reliability. Brokers translate those expectations and align your plan with the retailer’s playbook. (Illustrative only.)

3. You have distribution—but you’re underperforming on shelf.A broker can triage: Is it tags? Facing? Promo depth? Store voids? They run a root-cause checklist and push fixes through the right retail teams. (Illustrative only.)

4. You’re adding a club or value channel. Club and value have unique pack sizes, price ladders, and financials. Brokers help you build channel-right assortments and negotiate multi-stakeholder approvals. (Illustrative only.)

5. You need to scale fast without fixed overhead.Because broker pay flexes with sales, it’s a smarter way to build coverage while you prove repeat, refine trade, and protect cash.

What Retailers Expect (and How Brokers Help You Hit the Mark)

Retailers reward suppliers who can:

• Ship on time, in full (OTIF) and keep shelves clean of voids.

• Prove an item’s category role (incrementality, not cannibalization).

• Execute promotions and read the results quickly to optimize the next one.

Speed matters after launch—NielsenIQ finds the performance gap between “growers” and “decliners” can emerge within the first four weeks, and more than half of new items with national distribution grow sales in year two when managed well. Brokers help you get those early details right.

Readiness Checklist (Before You Call a Broker)

• Sustainable margin after trade spend and a 5–8% brokerage.

• Retail-ready packaging & data (GS1/GTINs, nutrition, attributes, images, PDP content). Poor product attribution hurts discoverability—brands frequently miss searchable attributes online.

• Reliable supply chain (lead times, MABD/OTIF capability).

• Compliance basics (case pack, labels, palletization) to avoid preventable deductions.

• Clear channel strategy (which retailers, which packs, why now).

Common Questions

Will a broker “pioneer” my unproven item? Sometimes—but not always. Because the cost of sales coverage is real (think $300–$400 per call), many brokers prioritize items with demonstrated demand or strong proof. Be ready with data.

Can a broker also run my logistics? No. That’s a distributor or 3PL’s job. A broker sells; a distributor stocks; a 3PL moves and stores.

What’s typical broker conflict policy? Most avoid head-to-head competitors in the same category/retailer. Ask about line conflicts during onboarding.

Bottom Line

A food broker is your sales engine into retail—relationship-driven, category-fluent, and paid to grow what ships. If you have margin, retail-ready data, and a clear channel plan, a broker can help you scale faster and smarter than building everything in-house on day one. And when you’re ready, Woodridge Retail Group works this way: practical, transparent, and focused on helping suppliers win shelf space and keep it.