Before starting a commercial grow it is important to assess your market and make sure there is one locally! Talk to different people in your community about their interest in mushrooms. Potential markets include, but aren't limited to restaurants, direct to consumer, co-ops or small grocery stores, collaborating with farms to offer a CSA add-on. Tailor your harvest targets to what the market is demanding. Slowly grow your operation as your demand grows. It's much better to sell out of mushrooms than to grow too many and lose your investment.
North Spore began as a fresh mushroom farm and at our peak of mushroom production, I think we were moving around 1000lb of mushrooms per week. About 70% of that went to local restaurants. We were fortunate to have a restaurant scene in Maine that was willing to pay more for access to a wide range of mushroom species that were locally grown. We also sold to small grocery stores and attended multiple farmer's markets on the weekends.